Fifth Child Studio: September 2013

This particular altered book is eons old and it was only half done! I have made numerous altered books - most have been given away or sold. This one was started for me to keep and I wanted to showcase all the different techniques that I had learned. What was my huge hurdle that I couldn't seem to jump over was that the book did not have a theme. Yikes....won't do that again. It took something to ignore that and focus on techniques instead. Once I got started, it only took a couple of days to complete this book. In finishing the project, I have two great ideas for my next books - yes, after all my other projects are completed. I am motivated to hurry and get them done so I can move onto new things! I only took photos of one layout this time.

I was lucky to have been a part of a "round-robin" with three other calligraphy friends....very talented lettering artists! We all purchased journals about the same size and made our trades once a month. It was usually at our Monday night calligraphy guild meetings. We all agreed that our journals were not to be serious and there should be lots of unexpected play involved. It was about expression and learning and not about the "end product". We also wanted our journals to be a meld of everyone's art and that was accomplished by having each player add to a page or not - add to a quote or not - add an embellishment or not - rubber stamp or not, etc. We did not sign any specific thing we did - it was truly a collaborative on each page. Each page was a part of all of us. I think this particular project was one of my most all-time favorite round robins.

The year went by way too fast and at the end of the year and I was getting ready for a move from Oklahoma to Minnesota. A month before I moved, we all met for lunch, brought our journals along and shared our thoughts and processes of our contributions. We asked "who did that part?" and laughed when we couldn't remember who did what exactly!

In my book, there were three pages that "needed" something added to it. I thought I would do the pages right away. But then, the book settled in my bookcase unfinished. In my new found determination to complete all my incomplete projects - I pulled this book from the shelf and completed it! And once I decided to complete it - it only took a short amount of time! I enjoyed the process and I look forward to another collaboration!

My calligraphy friend, mailed me a thank you and of course, I saved it. It is what calligraphers do - we save all our decorated correspondence!

Inside the covers, we all wrote the players names, greetings and any requests.

I started the "Table of Contents" and it wasn't long before some other embellishments were added. Truly, there was so much freedom in adding whatever you wanted.

Our guild had hosted Doug Boyd and the next two pages were inspired from his weekend class. Someone added beautiful flourishes - I love it!

I love the watercolor rose! I lettered this page using color pencils.

I was the only serious rubber stamper in the group. I was the one that added those elements to our journals.

This page is awesome!

I found myself completing the left side pages of the journals. The other three participants were very experienced lettering artists and were so very gracious to accept my lettering art without hesitation. They were in love with what I could do with my rubber stamps to enhance a page! It was a good marriage among friends.

Quotes written on tags for the pocket.

Wonderful playful letters and fun colors.

Our guild hosted Lisa Engelbrecht for a weekend retreat workshop. I was the workshop chairperson and the beautiful envelope and card was a thank you note from Lisa. I added the "E" to the envelope. The page on the right inspired me to continue the alphabet and Lisa's note was perfect!

Lisa's handmade envelope and card.

The lettering was done on fabric and a ribbon completes a quilt look.

I added a piece of "shaving cream" paper that I made - really like this technique for making marble backgrounds.

I really like this page.

I added the marble paper and rubber stamp image.

Again, the rubber stamp image was added by me.

It is amazing how a little paint spray can make a great background.

Do you see the angel image?

Transparency anchored with tiny punched flowers.

I really like the window element.

I really liked how over the next several months, these pages were continued to be altered.

Someone added a frame after the artwork was completed.

I took this photo while in Ireland and thought it would work well with the quote I did on the opposite page.

(Rosey Kelly inspired lettering) I did the embossing only to find out later it was backwards. I cut the paper, reversed it and sewed it back onto the page. What was very cool about it is that everyone thought this was planned. Really, in art, there are no mistakes!

This is a photo of my husband's family shortly after arriving in America from Ireland.

I made this letter in Carl Rohr's workshop. It was in my stash of "what to do with it" stuff until it found a home in my journal.

The dyed fabric was in my stash that I made months earlier. I chose this piece specifically because I wanted a dark background for my white gel pen. It wasn't until later that I realized that the stencil and white area left on the fabric worked so well with the work "dream".