At the workshop

Today was the Altered Books workshop. It's a vast subject to try to tackle in one day so we focussed on a few key stages. First was editing the number of pages. Some were removed, others were stitched together by machine or hand.

We altered the structure with secret doors, flaps, apertures and niches.

The hall which is most often transformed with drapes and flowers and used for wedding receptions in the summer months instead saw transformations of other sorts as the tables quickly filled with lovely books.

Of course I'd taken along piles of altered books and sketchbooks for inspiration and reference during the day.

Although I'd asked students to bring their own choice of books to alter I also gave each of them a antique or vintage book that I'd found which I wrapped in antique newspaper and old maps.

Pages were soon edited with gesso layers or flooded with glorious washes.

There are so many techniques that can be used in altered books to decorate the pages. Today we used collage and I took along a box of interesting painted papers, found papers, prints and photos for the students to dip into. When I saw Wendy with this bit of drypoint print I almost regretted popping it into the scrap box - I love checkerboard!

There were too many lovely details to photograph during the day, but this use of stitch caught my eye. Can't wait to see how it develops...

The students all did a brilliant job and I hope went away filled with lots of ideas to keep working in their books. Linda and I always describe our books as a work in progress, there's just so much you can always add!

The next class is 'Monoprint' in a couple of weeks time. It's full, but I'm hoping to book some more dates so if you'd like to join me for other classes please drop me an email and let me know whether a weekend or weekday would suit you best.

Thanks for dropping by,
Laura
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