Sue Bleiweiss

Tea?

I've had this teapot shape in my sketchbook for a while...

9" x 3" x 3" 

Kitchen foil box a book update!

Every time I put the roll of kitchen foil away I think of something else I want to make with it so for now we're doing without a roll of foil in the kitchen.  I decided that since it worked so well for books why not try it with my next favorite thing to make...

 
This box measures 5 1/2"x7"x 2 1/2" and is foil inside and out.  I lined the bottom with some black ultrasuede.  The hinges and the keyhole you see on the box are grungeboard pieces.  Gosh I do love that stuff!

In Terri's blog post yesterday she showed a couple of the books that will be in our new book "Creative Ways with Books & Journals" which should be available in November so I thought I'd show you one of mine too:

Yup, that's kitchen foil.  All my techniques for making kitchen foil books will be in the new book. 

postcards, presents and a new book...

The other day when I went to the mailbox look what I found inside:

 

This gorgeous marbled silk scarf made by my good friend Sandy.  I absolutely love it! 

and more kitchen foil stuff, this time in the form of postcards instead of books:

 

 

 

and lastly I decided it was time for a new sketchbook:

 

I made this using lokta leather paper and an 8" text block from the Paper Studio.  I love working with this paper, it's really more like a piece of fabric and it has the nicest suede feel to it.  

And speaking of bookmaking... my new online Creative Book Making class starts next week!

happy birthday to me!

Yesterday the UPS man carried a big box up the driveway and inside was a birthday present for me from my hubby:

 

a nice new Kutrimmer 1038 for cutting book board!  I spent some time cutting bookboard with it today and it cuts so nice and accurately with very little effort on my part.  I love it!   I wish that it had arrived one day earlier though because the day before it arrived I spent a good amount of time cutting book board to make a box for a special someone...

9"x10"x3 and inside:

and I couldn't resist making a coordinating sketchbook:

 

I hope she likes it!

it's all Terri's fault...

that I spent this afternoon in the studio making a box.   You see, Terri sent me a link to Martha Lever's blog .  Martha does the coolest lettering and calligraphy work which is something that I've always wanted to learn but have not had a lot of luck teaching myself.  Well I saw that Martha was offering a Calligra-fun online class so I signed up.  It's a great class by the way, Martha is a terrific teacher.  You'll find the link to the class on her blog on the right hand side.  Anyway, once I signed up I had to buy some markers to play with in the class which then led to purchasing more markers because I was having so much fun which brings us to the box...

 

I decided that storing my markers in a plastic zipper bag wasn't really working so I made this box.  It's a large box, 9"x10"x3" and inside...

Now that's a much better way to carry my markers around than in a plastic bag don't you think? 

Playing with lutradur

In this post I had mentioned that I came across some lutradur in my studio and decided to actually do something with it.  Well wouldn't you know that the very next day C&T posted that their May challenge was to work with Lutradur!  So here are my entries for the challenge...

First I started with making a box ...

4"x4"x4".  This is black lutradur painted with Lumiere paints, then a layer of black Mistyfuse was fused on top and I added some bronze foiling.  Then more paint sponged on with a paper towel.  I used Timtex as the stabilizer for the box (actually all the projects in this post were made using Timtex as the stabilizer) and the inside is lined with more of the painted lutradur.   This surface looks like old weathered copper in person.   It's terribly hard to get a good photo of that really shows how shimmery the surface is. 

I had some of the surface that I used for the box left over so I made a couple of ATC's...

Then I moved onto working with the black lutradur that I painted with the metallic paints that I showed in this post.    Since I was working with some small random shaped pieces I decided to do a couple of  collage postcards...

I made these by fusing Mistyfuse to the backs of all the pieces that I had and then created the collages on a piece of Timtex cut 4"x6".  Once I had the pieces in a configuration that I liked, I covered it with parchment paper and ironed to fuse everything in place.

Then I moved on to working with some white lutradur.  I wanted to create something with a vintage look so I painted the lutradur with some brown dye-na-flow paint and then sponged over it with some ecru to lighten it up a bit.  When it was dry, I rubber stamped some text over the surface and then couldn't resist using it for a journal...

9"x6"x 1 1/2", suede cord wrap close, 3 signatures inside

and a close up...

This was my first time using lutradur and I have to say it really is a nice material to work with.   It takes paint very nicely, it's easy to stitch and cut.   I have several more pieces that I painted up earlier today drying so that I can continue to work with it. 

Boxes & bookmarks

I finished another textured tissue paper box:

and the other day when I saw Nikki post about her gorgeous bookmarks I knew I had to have one.

 So I popped right over to her Etsy shop and bought one for myself!  I'm glad I did because it's truly the most beautiful bookmark I've ever seen!

boxes, atc's and postcards...

The Danforth Museum asked me to make some boxes for the gift shop and I just happened to have a couple of tissue paper surfaces on hand so I thought I'd make some potpourri boxes from them:

For the windows in these I used some of that cool knitted metal mesh fabric from Joggles and the tops are embellished with copper leaves.  You can learn how to make these boxes in my Creative Box Making for the Fiber Artist online class.

I've also been working with some painted canvas fabric.  I started by painting up a couple of large pieces of canvas:

and

Once they were dry I added some scribbled text and paint just like I did with the denim jacket in my previous post.  Then I spent a day turning them into ATC's:

I like to have a stack of these on hand for passing out in my classes at the Danforth and I've started including one with purchases from my Etsy shop too.  I also made up some postcards:

I put some of these postcards in my Etsy shop. 

Now I've got to go unwrap some silk fabric that's been drying on some pvc pipes for the last several days - stay tuned for those photos tomorrow!

back to boxes....

Making boxes from book board and paper is much more challenging in a lot of ways than making them from fabric and timtex.  First you must decide on the shape of the box, cut out the pieces measuring very carefully and glue everything together.  The depth of the book board has to be taken into consideration when measuring and cutting otherwise when it comes time to glue the pieces together they won't fit properly.  All of the boxes I've created to date are ones that have attached lift up lids which is a great box style but I really wanted to make boxes with lids that are not attached.  Several pieces of book board and paper later...

This box measures 4"x4"x4"

The cover fits a tad bit more snug than I'd like it to.  I should have allowed for 1 more book boards width when I measured for the lid.  Live and learn right?!  

The writers box, shop update & class announcements...

My newest box:

I call this the writers box.  This is a drop spine box and inside you'll find:

A blank journal and a space for keeping pencils and pens.  I've put this box along with several others in my Etsy shop.

And for those of you who live in my area, my spring teaching schedule at the Danforth Museum is out and classes are open for registration.  Here's the schedule:

Book Making Techniques
Tuesdays, 10 am-1 pm 6 weeks starts 4/28/09

Creative Boxes & Structures
Thursdays, 1 pm – 4 pm 6 weeks starts 4/30/09

Fabric Painting & Dyeing
Fridays, 9:30am – 12:30pm 6 weeks starts 5/1/09

Fabric Postcards & ATC workshop: Saturday May 16th 9:30am – 4 pm

Hardcover Bookmaking Workshop: Sunday May 17th 12:30 – 4 pm

It's going to be a busy 6 weeks for me but I'm looking forward to it.

And in online classes:  The Creative Box Making for the Fiber Artist class starts this Friday.  It should be lots of fun and I can't wait for this class to start.  Terri's Faces on Fabric class started just this past Monday and registration is still open so if you want to learn her techniques for those fabulous faces she creates there's still time to join the class!