Altered Book Workshop - 3-13-11

I had the pleasure of sharing the joys of altered books with 13 lovely ladies at Liquid Marin in San Rafael, CA on Sunday afternoon. After creating 4 basic structures in their vintage books, we got to "play" with the collage kits i provided.  The first theme was, you guessed it, Vintage Birds.  Their kits included assorted ephemera, printed papers, stamps, buttons, lace and leaves.

Here are the students books all lined up after class for "show and tell".  Please note i rushed everyone along - so most people were not completley finished with their spreads.  But even so you can see the talent in this group.  It is always amazing to see how the same materials in an individual's hands, can turn into something so different.  It is great for the ladies to see what everyone has created - we can always get new ideas! 

The second theme was a riot of colour with flowers and butterflies.  I used one of the structures, where i created "tags" on the pages in the middle of the spread. Punch a few holes, add some flirty fibers and you have a very fun interractive idea.

  Oops that green glitter flower on the left must have gotten unstuck from the pink flower on the top right in this photo.  Glue dots to the rescue! BTW - the flowers are dollar store specimens, just taken apart and glued to the book.  Much cheaper than those prepackaged tins of flower petals from the craft stores.  I also used a bit of the new Washi tape on these pages. 

Here is the dazzling array of creativity from my students.  Most used the tag page idea for this spread as well.  I think the pretty colors just cried out  "spring party" - so lets use tags to celebrate the season.

The final theme packet contained asian inspired elements like textured mulberry paper, asian text, origami paper and mizuhiki cord.  A structure was created using folds to create three dimensional triangle flaps, that even hide a secret pocket.

I had so much fun with this group  - i think they had fun too!  Thanks to everyone for a fabulous afternoon.  And to Liquid Marin for creating this great local space for artists and crafters to learn and create!