Dolphite

Today Dolph demoed a technique he developed using graphite and shellac. Using a mixture of ground graphite and liquid shellac he painted onto a board that he had embellished in different ways. After the graphite had time to dry he used a dry rag to polish it up. The raised areas burnished nicely with the end result creating a beautiful metallic look. Even subtle marks come alive. The class dubbed this technique "dolphite".

Tomato Fan

Dolph started out the morning giving each of us a TOMATO FAN, celebrating the "Ripley Tomato". From there he moved on to demo a text block bound with tapes. We sewed a sample text block in preparation for our first book. We spent the afternoon tearing paper and designing the book we will bind tomorrow.

Dolph Smith at Penland

This week I'm assisting Dolph Smith (photo 1) 7th session at Penland. He is teaching a class called "Shake, Rattle & Roll". Here is the description from the catalog-

This class will search for a book niche somewhere between pop-up and built. We will consider the book as tool; the book as display case; the book as container with storage space and windows, perhaps with movement behind the windows; the book as three-dimensional sculpture with three-dimensional illustrations; and we will explore the elements of sound and touch. We will attempt all of this using wood, copper, found stuff, milk paint, graphite, and who knows what else? It will all

work out.

Photo 2- Dolph and Jessie- his wonderful wife of 50 years.

Photo 3- Zennias that Dolph and Jessie brought from their farm in Tenn to grace the book studio.

It's a full class and we are looking forward to an exciting week.

Digestives

This week I have been completing work on a project I am involved in with BookWorks in Asheville, NC. Here's the specifics:

2009 Small Book Exchange

12 BookWorks Coop members will each make 15 copies of a 3 x 3 x 3” artist’s book on the topic of Cabinets of Curiosities. Two copies of each member’s edition will go to each of two boxed sets (boxes to be made and donated by Gretchen Winger, Gwen Diehn, Laurie Corral, and Dan Essig), one to be raffled off and the other to be sold to raise money to support artists’ residencies at BookWorks. One other copy of each person’s edition will be silent-auctioned at BookOpolis. The drawing for the raffle will happen at BookOpolis, September, 25, 2009.

This is my third year participating in this exchange. It's fun, but I always forget that making 15 of something is TOTALLY different from making 2 or 3 of something. I learn a lot about myself and the way I work- very valuable.

My "book" entitled Digestives consists of "crackers", laminated Reader's Digest pages, inside a cracker box. My statement reads: Reader's Digest Condensed Books are cabinets of easily ingested curiosities. Munch, munch, crunch,crunch - page by page - goes down smooth.

Shameless Self Promotion

Want to learn how to make cloth books? Come join me-

Sometimes it doesn't come together- Part 1

Over the last 2 weeks I have been working on paper mache animals and a crown entitled The Dissimilator. I was excited about the crown idea. First I made the armature out of binding wire and wrapped the base in fabric. (photo 1) Next I cut out the "pages" from a double sided paper. I painted the pages with an image, but didn't like what I had done. I repainted and reworked the idea, but still wasn't happy. (photo 2 and 3- blue spots are painter's tape temporarily holding the pages in place.) After hours on this I decided to abandon the crown all together.

That point is always a hard call. My general philosophy in the studio is to stick with something I'm struggling with. I might need to give it some space, but usually pushing thru and wrestling with the ideas and materials leads me thru the struggle to a successful piece. Paying attention to that tension is important. Every once in awhile there is that piece/idea that can't be redeemed no matter how much time or energy you give it. Success then is the recognition that it's time to move on, that what you received from your time wasn't in a neat package. Knowing the difference between the two- sticking with or moving on- is part of what goes on in the studio. "Am I connected to this piece? Is there anything that intrigues me? Do I just want to throw it out the window." Experience tells me that there is often good "stuff" in the works you want to abandon. Sometimes I am too close to see what is there until there is time away.

What I realized with this crown is that after 3, 4 then 5 days of time away, I didn't want to abandon it. I'm intrigued by the shape and desire to work at it a bit longer after a break. To be continued.

Birthday Project

It was my birthday this week. Instead of a party, my friends, Mark and Beth, helped me construct a cardboard booth like Lucy's in PEANUTS. We put it outside the Penland dining hall at lunch. For 5 cents you could get 2 minutes of psychiatric help and a prescription. My husband, Dan (a psychologist in real life), stood in for Lucy. There was a lot of laughing going on!