Pages of Autumn

The feeling of fall is in the air in NYC. The days are less humid and the nights are cooler. Autumn is by far my favorite season and I was inspired by the colors of the season to create my newest mini-book

For the book pages, I zeroed in on a stack of paper towels that I had saved from a workshop I taught earlier this year. They were the paper towels I used to wipe off paint and were shaded in a beautiful fall palette.

I learned a tip from Leslie Marsh regarding painted paper towels. If you add two layers of matte medium to the surface, letting the first layer dry before adding the second, the surface texture of the paper towel changes to an almost fabric-like feel and it protects it from tearing.

For the book cover, I found the perfect scrap of mossy green handmade paper with leaf inclusions.

Ready to make the book, I realized that I did not want to create a typical, linear-shaped book. Cut to (pun intended) Spellbinders Labels Thirty-Three die set. I chose that largest die and easily cut my first piece of paper towel.

Folding it in half to create a single folio, I realized that the shape resembled an upside-down bell.

I cut two more pages from the same die template, folded them in half, and stacked them together to form a single signature.

Now onto the cover. Using the same die, I cut the moss green paper into the same shape. At the same time, I cut more paper towel using a smaller die from the same set.

I folded both pieces and glued the smaller piece on to the larger for some compositional layering. I shaded the edges of the smaller paper with a rough line from a pencil.

I inserted the paper towel signature into the cover and sewed them all together with a simple three-hole pamphlet stitch using brown waxed linen thread and a needle. 

To complete the cover, I added a bead, an image that I cut from Spellbinders Ephemera Papers One from their Media Mixage line, and a small, found washer. It wouldn't be me without some rust!

---------------------------------

Supply List

Spellbinders Paper Art Supplies:

MMM-001 Spellbinders^TM Artisan X-plorer

S5-187 Spellbinders^TM Nestabilities® Labels Thirty-Three

MP1-001 Spellbinders^TM Media Mixage Ephemera Paper One

Other: handmade paper, hand painted paper towel (acrylic paint, matte medium, paint brush), pencil, adhesive, waxed linen thread, sewing needle, scissor, bead