Sue Bleiweiss

Unlock your creativity journal

I finished the third journal this morning:

More pictures of this one in the shop.

I have one surface left from the four that I made last week.  So I pulled out some supplies and this will be tomorrows project:

That's tomorrows project.  The rest of today is being spent doing some major re-organizing in the studio.  I've finally gotten some new shelving units and I'm getting all my fabrics and supplies organized.  Actually I'm trying to clear a path to the loom.  I've gotten an article assignment from Handwoven Magazine and the yarn should be arriving today.  But the only way I'm going to get to weave anything is if I find a clear path to the loom first!

A couple new journals

Remember the surfaces that I blogged about here?  Well I started working with them yesterday.

"Watercolor memories" journal:

Filled with tons of sketchpaper and quite a few of my own hand painted papers:

and "Window into my imagination":

which also has some of my hand painted metallic papers inside:

Both of these are now in the shop where you can also see more photos of the insides.

Hope you're having a great day!

Chalkboard cloth & cork paper

Odd title for a blog post isn't it?  Well the last time I ordered some fabric I bought a yard of chalkboard cloth because I was curious about it.   This is cool stuff!  It's essentially oilcloth with a chalkboard finish on the front.    Then last week I ordered a few things from Dickblick.com and I came across this cork paper.    Also very cool stuff.  I decided that the two of these materials would work well in a journal and so here is the chalkboard journal:

You can actually write on this chalk cloth with a piece of regular chalk and then wipe it off with a cloth. 

This is the perfect journal for people who like to doodle.  I put three signatures on the inside and has a wrap of chalkcloth with a clear plastic wrap over it so that the doodles don't get smudged when the journal is closed.

This is now in the shop and there are more pictures here.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

paper & paint

I started painting paper at 5:30 this morning and I couldn't stop!

and some metallics:

And I can't decide which side of these pieces I like better.  Side 1:

or side 2:

and some more:

and you'd think at that point I would have had enough but there's still more that is still drying!

And what's all this paper for?  Well it's the start of the samples for the Creative Mixed Media Journaling Techniques class that I'm writing that will start in September.  You can read all about it here. 

Sketchbooks

I was walking through the fabric store the other day and happened to find myself in the silk aisle and saw this print and could not bring myself to leave without it.  I thought it would be perfect for using for a sketchbook:

And while I was making one I thought I'd use that shibori piece that I showed you in my last blog post to make another one:

both of these are in the shop.

My Mixed Media Surfaces online class started today.  The beauty of an online class is that you can sign up and join in even once class has already started so if you're interested, check it out here.

Now I've got to get back to working on the journaling techniques workshop.  Samples from that new class are coming soon!

More surfaces

Been playing a bit more with tissue paper this weekend...

This next one was done with liquid watercolors which I am growing quite fond of working with.

While all that was drying I was poking around in the upstairs fabric stash closet and came across this piece:

I did this piece quite some time ago using a shibori pole wrapping technique and then stuffed it in the closet and forgot about it.  I think it will make a great piece to use for a sketchbook so it's now been moved to the work table.   Speaking of shibori, Linda Stokes has a great article in issue 3 of Fibre&Stitch about shibori.   She's created some gorgeous fabrics using this technique.

Hope your all having a good weekend.  It's too cold here to go outside so  I'm heading back into the studio to start working on the samples for the Mixed Media Journaling Techniques workshop that's scheduled to start in late September.  I'll have a full class description with lessons in a week or so stay tuned for lots of samples over the next couple of months!

Yesterday's surface

becomes today's journal....

"The Key to Creativity"  Approximately 9"x8" closed

The inside has some handmade papers and the center signature has a smaller signature nested inside with a page filled with my favorite quotes about creativity.

and of course some pockets:

I had some of the outside surface left after I cut the piece I needed for the journal so I made them into some ATC's:

These are up for grabs if anybody wants one.  Just drop me an email with your snail mail address to suebleiweiss@yahoo.com.   Sorry, they're all taken!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thanks and a sneak peek

Thanks to everyone who gave me some feedback on the class I blogged about yesterday.  We've decided that it's going to run as two 13 week sessions with a 4 or 5 week break in between.   You'll be able to purchase the sessions separately or as a group.  I have put together a very comprehensive lesson plan filled with a huge variety of techniques and fun stuff to explore and I think it will be a great class.  Some of the lessons will be spread out over 2 or 3 weeks so you don't have to worry about getting bombarded with a new lesson each week.  We'll have more time in between each one to really have fun with each one.  I'm looking forward to doing a class with a longer session because it will give me more time to get to know the students and give me more opportunity to share techniques and ideas.  I'll have the final lesson plan all worked up in a week or two and let you know when registration will begin.   The first session is scheduled to begin on 9/23/08.   More details in the coming weeks.

and a sneak peek at a new surface technique I am playing with today:

It's amazing what you can do with a piece of white tissue paper...

Collage Mania II donation and a question

You may or may not have heard about Virginia Speigels Collage Mania II event to raise money for the ACS to be held in May of this year.   You can visit her website here for all the details.  I decided that even though collage is not really my thing I would create and donate a piece for this very worthy cause and here is the piece I created:

8"x10"  Background is layered painted tissue paper. Purchased mulberry paper and skeleton leaves.  Mounted on mat board. 

Now I have a question for all of you.  I am toying with the idea of creating a new online class entitled Creative Mixed Media Journaling Techniques.  This would be a longer term online class.  Either a 26 week class or a two part class that runs 13 weeks each and would cover a wide variety of mixed media paper and fiber techniques.  Here's a working description of the class:

In this workshop students will create one or more journals centered around the themes of their choice.  We’ll spend 26 weeks exploring a wide variety of fabric and paper art technique that the students can use while filling their journal.   Some suggested themes to explore might be nature, home, family, cooking, travel, music, or broader themes such as texture or color.  For those who don’t wish to choose a theme at the beginning then a sample journal filled with samples from all the lessons can be created.   Students will be guided through several techniques that they can use to embellish the pages of their journals and will be encouraged to suggest different techniques and processes for study during this workshop.  We will not be limited to just what’s on the workshop syllabus!  It is expected that students will ask “what if” as we work our way through the workshop and that will lead to further topics for discussion and exploration.  The instructor is very open to adding additional lessons and instructions as the workshop progresses.

This workshop is designed to be very interactive and the instructor will encourage regular updates from all the students and will be available via the forums and direct email 7 days a week.

The class will explore a wide variety of techniques for working with, coloring and texturing both fabric and paper.  Image transfer processes, wet and dry coloring media, making paper, alternative paper surfaces and a ton more techniques for both backgrounds and embellishments. 

So I'm wondering what the interest level is in a longer term class.  Is 26 weeks too long?  Is it better to have two 13 week sessions and the choice of signing up for one or both?  I'd love to get some feedback on this.  If you'd rather not leave a comment feel free to email me directly at suebleiweiss@yahoo.com

   

What a mess makes

This is what the work table looked like halfway through this morning after a flash of inspiration once the coffee kicked in...

and from that mess came this...

"Nature Notes Journal"    The paper is mulberry paper from Creative Papers Online which is my favorite place to buy speciality papers like this.  This is a nice heavy weight mulberry paper perfect for this purpose but I did re-inforce the spine and added a stiff backing to the back of the journal to make it easier to write in.

and the inside:

Filled with 3 signatures of nice cream colored cotton paper perfect for writing on and of course some pockets too. 

Now I gotta go clean up that mess!