Andrew's Urban Paper Arts

Book Review - Papercraft: Design and Art with Paper

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:18:00 +0000

Papercraft: Design and Art With Paper
Robert Klanten, Sven Ehmann, and Birga Meyer

When I first saw the cover, I immediately placed it on order before it was released. I incorrectly assumed that it would be a how-to book on paper art & crafts. After I got the book, I quickly skimmed through the book, and much to my great delight, it was not a how-to book, but a well-curated “exhibition” on the art and craft of paper as executed by the designers and artists. I later discovered that the cover photo is a paper illustration of all the ingredients for its creator’s chili recipe.

As I went past the title page, I expected to find a table of contents, but it was not included – instead, a preface appeared. As I was reading it, I was relieved to find that it was not an “academic treatise”, but an entertaining, insightful, and beautifully written introduction (authored by Robert Klanten) to the use of paper as a physical and tangible medium for use in fine arts, fashion, illustration, animation, objects and graphic design.

Due to the lack of the table of contents, I had to skim through the whole book to count the number of chapters. I have found that it was grouped into five “chapters” which looked more like categories. Each “chapter” starts with the text written by Sonja Commentz, and her writings were just as creative as many of the paper works shown in the book.

The book itself is truly mind-boggling especially when all of the works are either done in two-dimensional or three-dimensional with nothing but paper. One could say that it’s sheer paper madness – murals, display, poster, collage, typography, objects, characters, toys, shoes, costume, trains, villages, repurposed/altered books, life-sized dioramas, installation sites and many more.

From examining the colorful and good sized photographs, I saw that many different paper craft techniques were employed in various projects: folding, kirigami, cutouts, silhouettes, sculpting, scoring, and embossing, to name a few. The coffee table size of the book allows many of the photographs to be large enough for me to be able to look at some of the works in detail so that the paper techniques can be figured out.

At the end of the book is an index where the first letters of the company names and even the artists’/designers’ names are sorted. The strange thing is that there is a table of contents included - not for the book itself but for the CD which is attached to the inside back cover. The included CD contains both the videos (DVD) and the templates (ROM) for 18 “urban paper” artists’ models. The video portion contains interviews, animation and demonstration. One of my favorite paper animation videos, This is Where We Live, done by Apt & Asylum Films is included and I was absolutely delighted to have it in my possession.

In summary, this book is the most inspiring book on paper creativity I have ever come across. I wish that it would be given a better title to do it much greater justice. Anyway, I love and am grateful for the fact that I have many of the great paper work in one bound physical copy instead of an electronic list of various paper artists’/designers’ websites. I highly recommended this book for anyone who loves the look and feel of paper anywhere and everywhere.

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Two Books: ECO BOOKS vs re-bound

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:17:00 +0000

I just wanted to give you the differences and similarities between these two books. Let me start with similarities first - here's what both books have in common:

1. 144 pages

2. handmade books from materials destined for trash cans

3. One book artist, Rhonda Miller, has the same submission in both books - cereal box books. However, instructions for her cereal books are found only in ECO BOOKS.

4. Credit/gift card books are in both books but done differently by two book artists.

5. Both have photo illustrations, and their instructions are mostly written in text. However, Re-bound has more close-ups and more detailed illustrations.

Now here are the basic differences:

1. There are 40 books with instructions in Eco Books. Re-bound has 16. However, Eco Books were designed by 23 book artists, and all of the 16 books (with instructions) in Re-bound were done by one book artist. Problem with Eco Books is that the instructions for several type of stitches are at the back of the book.

2. A good number of books (13) in Eco Books were bound together with Coptic (single & multiple). Coptic stitch is not easy for beginners - none of the books in Re-bound requires Coptic stitch.

3. Re-bound is divided by chapters; Eco Books is not but there are "separators" i.e. an interview with a book artist, a list of reuse centers (can be dated pretty fast - I checked out one of them and it moved), a short story about a workshop in a third world country, and information on recycling paper.

4. Re-bound has one separate gallery section for multiple contributions by book artists; Eco Books has several "mini-gallery" sections throughout the book.

5. The spine. Re-bound is the real winner, hands down. See photo and you will see why. Re-bound's pages and cover are thicker and stiffer than Eco Books.

My favorites:

1. Re-bound - wide variety of binding styles, tabs book, paint by numbers canvas used as book covers, and another book cover woven with cut strips of potato bags. There's one really cool book in gallery section - it's made with soda/beer tabs!

2. Eco Books - dental floss box as scroll book, coffee codex (done with coffee filters), book preserves (small books in a jar), egg carton & produce tray used as covers. Lots of cool ideas.

What about the prices? They're pretty weird. Let me show you what I mean...

If you're buying them at full price in US:
Eco Books is 22.95 and Re-bound is 24.99.
Therefore, Eco Books is cheaper than Re-bound in US.

But, in Canada,
Eco Books is 29.95 and Re-bound is 28.85.
So, Re-bound is cheaper than Eco Books in Canada.

It seems weird to me. Not only that, if you buy them in Amazon.com, Re-bound is only 88 cents more than Eco Books, and I think that Re-bound is a better value only because of the nice spine.

So, I'm assuming that the question you have in mind: Which book do I recommend that you buy?

Well, as far as I am concerned, the real question is not which book but whether I would buy both books. Yes, I would buy both just because they are really different, and I got a lot more ideas from two than one. They're both great.

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First Impressions: Unboxing Wacom's Intuos4 Small Tablet

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:07:00 +0000

Right now, I am taking DJ Pettitt's on-line image-editing class, Memories and Manipulation, and althought this is not required for her class, she mentioned Wacom tablet. So, one day, as I was looking for other things at an office supply store, I noticed several tablets from Wacom. I decided that I would read on-line reviews of the Wacom tablets.

Wacom Intuos4 Small Pen Tablet

After I read the reviews, I decided that Intuos4 would be the best one to start with as I need it for my commercial work. I have been waiting for a long time to get one, but have been dissuaded by the high cost of tablets and software packages. I got it last Thursday (January 7th), and instead of adding one more review to a huge pile of reviews already written and published all over the Internet, I would give you my "first impressions" visual style by slowly "unboxing" and take one thing out at a time...

Oh - that's not a pencil sharpener - it's a pen holder and a storage for the pen nibs.

In addition to the above items, I bought professional pen accessory kit and 4 port hub - I needed more USB ports as I have only two.

I started to use it last Friday, and I LOVE it! I should have gotten it a long time ago, as it did speed up the processing of the photos for these three blogs. I'd rather not write a long review as I am still learning how to use it, and there are plenty of reviews in Amazon.com's - click on the link below. There are other sites as well - just use your favorite search engine.

Wacom Intuos4 Small Pen Tablet

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Product Review: Paper Toys

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:48:00 +0000

Paper Toys (Deluxe Metal Box)

Since I bought this box from Amazon.com, I decided to review it as a "product" instead of "book" even though it does contain an instructional book. I love this metal box, and the back of the metal cover seemed more interesting than the front. The contents are well-protected - a thick sheet of foam is on the top.

With the foam sheet removed from the box, you can see the book, sticks, strings and other things.

The last remaining pieces are large "cards" - the pieces are perforated, thank goodness! I love the fact that it is in four languages - very European.

Enough pieces to assemble 8 paper toys.

I picked the easiest one. The rest of the toys are a bit more challenging.

Here's the completed one:

It was an interesting experience - it's almost like being in a paper-engineering class. The toy box was not quite easy - I recommend that you practice folding, glueing and assembling with other easier paper model kits first. Also, the best glue for this kit is the super tacky white glue. You can order this paper toy kit from Amazon.com by clicking on the photo or text below:

Paper Toys (Deluxe Metal Box)

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Book Review: Fantastic Recycled Plastic

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 04:13:00 +0000

You may wonder as to why I posted this photo below in this book review. Keep on reading, and you will see why it was placed here.

Just before I went to the Wildacres Retreat last November of 2009 for Nature Printing Society Workshops, I was reading one book,1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse: Remake, Restyle, Recycle, Renew (1000 Series)which I have written a book review that was published in another post. One of the artisans' work caught my eyes - it was David Edgar's fish. I had forgotten about the book until I walked into a canteen on the lower level of one building and saw this fish below. I gazed and gazed at this creation, and I wondered to myself as to whether it was the same person who created the wonderful works with recycled plastic.

So, I took a picture of the above creation with the hope that I would check to see if it was the same person as the one I saw in other book. Few days after the retreat was over, I got home and looked up on the Internet to find more information about this person. I found out from his website that a new book came out, so I immediately ordered it from Amazon. I am a very happy owner of his book, and here's my book review.

Fantastic Recycled Plastic: 30 Clever Creations to Spark Your Imagination
Lark Books
November 2009
Paperback, 144 pages

I discovered this book on the Internet after I saw David’s Plastiquarium creation (Wildacres Cascader) at Wildacres Retreat Center in Little Switzerland, NC last November of 2009. As soon as I saw this book, I ordered it right away. I found it to be one of the most informative and creative how-to books on creative repurpose and reuse of the plastic bottles and containers.

The authors start with David’s account on how he started to work with recycled plastic, and a brief history of plastic. W ell-detailed technical information on the packaging resins was provided on their characteristics, properties, and identification codes (1 PET, 2 HDPE, to name a few). With these plastics as medium in mind, explanations were provided on the use of various cutting, forming, and fastening tools in the art or craft projects.

The chapter on the basics is very informative and full of details – even the anatomy of the bottle is identified and explained. Basic techniques on deconstruction, fastening, and forming are presented in both text and photos. The rest of the book is focused on projects that were grouped based on the following categories: jewelry, dimensional figures (birds, fishes, insect, sea lives, and reptiles), holiday decorations, lighting and toys. Each project-based chapter has a gallery of other artisans’ works that are very fascinating, clever and inspiring.

Many years ago, I have done one craft project that involved cutting up a few bottles, but I have never produced anything like the ones in the book. When I first opened the book, I was blown away by what can be done with these plastic bottles, and I am inspired to come up with more creative use or design.

Several templates are provided at the end of the book, and also provided is a list of artists/craftspeople who contributed their work for the galleries in the book. However, their e-mail addresses and/or websites were not listed, and I would have to use search engines to find them if I wanted to contact them for purchase of their work.

From reading one of the last pages, I discovered that David and Robin developed the proposal for this book during their summer residency at Wildacres Retreat Center. If I had not seen his creation on the wood paneled wall, I would not have known about this wonderful book. Even though you might not be inclined to start any of the projects, I still recommend this book for helping you see these “discarded” bottles in a new light – as an eco-friendly medium for creative reuse projects.

You can see more of David's work in his Plastiquarium website - click on the gallery and you will see a fantastic fish collection.

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Update for Fellow Readers & Users

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:54:00 +0000

Happy New Year to you! I hope you had a nice New Year's Day reading lots of books or trying out new products, and indeed, it was a great start for me. I'm so excited about the new year as January is always my favorite month: lots of new products to try out (I'm getting Wacom Intuos4 tablet soon!!) and lots of new BOOKS!!

I just got great books in the mail and from the museum shops that I visited last Saturday (Jan 2). I am now enjoying some of them, but I'm now taking an on-line class on Photoshop given by DJ Pettit, and wow, it's really great. Oh, most of the photos in this blog were processed with Microsoft PhotoDraw, not Adobe Photoshop or Elements as many people thought. I am now finding Photoshop Elements 8 (a.k.a. PSE8) to be much more powerful, and I'm trying to harness its humongous power.

Anyway, I am currently working on a multiple posts, and I decided that I would publish a bundle of them as "e-mag" instead of publishing them singly. In Andrew's Creative Life blog, a table of contents containing links to various posts in three blogs ("e-articles") including this one will be published. I am also planning to publish them as biweekly issues - sorry, twice a month, not twice a week. Of course, they will always be positive, colorful, exciting, inspiring, informative, and educational! Stay tuned!

New Year's Greetings

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:30:00 +0000

Book Review: Art Making and Studio Spaces

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:29:00 +0000

Art Making & Studio Spaces:
An Intimate Look at 31 Creative Work Spaces

Lynne Perrella

I have taken classes from the eight artists featured in this book including the author, Lynne Perrella. But I have been in only two of the studio spaces shown, so before I got her book, I was more than anxious to see what the rest of my instructors' workspaces looked like. I also was curious as well about other artists whose classes I have not taken yet or have heard about in the media.

The "tour" began with the author's studio. As I looked at each artist's spaces through Lynne's and the photographer's eyes, I began to wonder if that my conception/definition of a typical artist's workspace was pretty limited. In this book, the stores and outdoors were considered as extensions of the creative space for some of the artists. One could think of the whole world (including libraries, museums, stores, et al) as one large studio for the creative people.

This book is more like a photo-documentary on the workspaces of 31 artists (one couple counted as two) - twenty-nine artists are residing in this country (USA) and two are in Australia. Lynne's descriptive writings provided personal observations of the space, and also the details on the artists from various fields: quilt making, photography, mixed media, graphic design, landscape architect, book arts, collage, assemblage, sculpture and even antique restoration. I found it interesting that Lynne would include a restorer's workshop as part of this tour - once again, this book challenged me to rethink my preconceived idea on what typically constitutes a "creative" space.

Due to the limitation of any publication, not every nooks and crannies are shown for all of the artists' spaces. Not only that, I know that some of the studios were really not that neat when the photographs were taken. Very few artists would allow anyone to take pictures if their workspaces happened to be very messy, and I appreciate seeing a number of "messy" studios in the book. However, I have been in another one and I can tell you that it is always that neat and organized at all times.

Since there were no artists shown in the photos, I believe that including them in the photos would give us a better sense of the scale and size of their workspace. Some of the studios were not shown as a whole room but as mere glimpses or partial views.

Even though this book was not meant to be used as a reference or DIY book for better organization or creation of a studio space, I was inspired by how these people effectively utilized the limited space to create a truly conducive and supportive environment for their own personal creativity. it is very interesting to notice the various locations of their "laboratories": garage, separate building, basement, backyard and even a barnyard full of farm animals, to name a few.

I would most likely look up other books for more practical ideas on storage or organizations. However, I would go to Lynne's book for more aesthetic inspiration and ideas on how I can make my own creative space that would truly reflect my interests, my style, and my personality.

Art Making and Studio Spaces
Quarry Books
January 2010
Paperback, 176 pages, 150 photos/illustrations

Disclosure notice: As per FTC disclosure requirement, I have received this book from its publisher in exchange for my personal review in this blog. Also, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

Book Review: Collage Lab

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:02:00 +0000

Collage Lab: Experiments, Investigations, and Exploratory Projects
Bee Shay

This is the first book in the publisher’s new Lab series, and its format provides an experiential and experimental approach to building your own personal and unique repertoire of collage skills and techniques.

This book is a combination of prompts, step by steps, tutorials, techniques, material lists, and examples – all put together on each full spread (book laid flat for full view of two pages) to provide a comprehensive, but not necessarily exhaustive, view of each of the building blocks. It would be nice if it could be bound with metal coil or plastic spiral instead of glue so that it could be laid flatter on any surface.

There are 52 laboratories in this book, grouped in 12 units with four or five labs each. Going through each lab is like laying brick by brick to build a pyramid-like wealth of knowledge and experience in the art of collage. It provides ample opportunities to try out different ways of using a specific technique, and encourages the learner to allow room for mistakes – instead they can be viewed as accidental discoveries.

Even thought this book seemed to be focused primarily on the beginners or anyone’s first foray into the art & craft of collage, it does provide new ways or ideas even for the most advanced students. For example, I learned a new way to convert a colored photo into a pencil drawing by printing it out in black & white, gessoed it, and then fill in by hand with pencil strokes.

In summary, having a book open in front of your art projects is like having a private tutor sitting next to you as you develop and build your own wealth of knowledge in the mixed media world.

Collage Lab
Quarry Books
February 2010
Paperback, 144 pages, 150 photos/illustration

Disclosure notice: As per FTC disclosure requirement, I have received this book from its publisher in exchange for my personal review in this blog. Also, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

Cool Wrapping Paper

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:59:00 +0000

Last night, an UPS guy dropped off a large envelope at my home, and I was expecting a book. Much to my delight, I also got a set of wrapping paper which was given to me as a gift from Craftside.
The label on the wrapper reads:

The Story of Craftside’s
“Up-Cycled Wrapping Paper”

This gift from Craftside was created with the environment in mind. While the front of this wrapping paper has a cool, retro design, the back includes colorful images and text from our craft books. This is because our wrapping paper and gift tags are made from our printer’s scraps that are normally thrown away! This is how it was done…

The wrapping paper is made from the “makeready” of two of our newest paperback editions: Intertwined and Sweater Surgery. Makeready is the waste created as the printer calibrates the correct ink colors, “making the press ready” for the actual print run that will create the finished sheets. Usually, these 200-300 sheets of makeready are thrown out. Craftside used these sheets to make our wrapping paper.

The gift tags were created from scraps as well – they were made from the makeready of the paperback covers.

We hope you enjoy Craftside’s “Up-cycled Wrapping Paper.”

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Wow, that's really cool! I love the idea of repurposing the waste paper - turning them into wrapping paper. And the paper's of a good quality. Included in this set are two pieces of wrapping paper - one "retro" and one Japanese style flower motif - each measures approximately 9 inches square folded.

They measure approximately 19 inches by 37 inches when unfolded.

You can see that the back of the wrapping paper were actually test prints for one of the paperback books.

These cool sheets will be given out by Craftside at CHA, Maker Faire, Renegade and any other craft show that they are going to. Those of you who are going to CHA 2010 in Anaheim, be sure to visit their booth so that you can have a set. Since I won't be going to Anaheim next year, I am glad I got a set in the mail instead.

Note: Printed designs on wrapping paper, and printed images on the back of one wrapping paper © 2009 by Quarry Books.

Photo credits: Andrew Borloz of Urban Paper Arts.

Disclosure notice: This post is my personal & unpaid endorsement of the above product sent to me for promotional purposes.

Book Review: The Art of Decorative Paper Stencils

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:44:00 +0000

The Art of Decorative Paper Stencils 2: Traveling with Stencils
Kanako Yaguchi

Author's note: I have already written a review for this book that I purchased from Amazon.com last July, however, here's another one due to the fact that I got a reviewer's copy directly from its publisher last October.

This book is an unusual hybrid combination of traveling memoirs, paper crafts, patterns, and stenciling. The author has taken the art of kirigami (Japanese art of folding and cutting) to the next level by showing how it can be used to record the travel sights or memoirs. I have traveled to Japan and Europe several times, but I have never thought of looking for specific shapes & forms that are vernacular (native) to the country that I was touring.

The book contains many different patterns that were inspired by six different cities that the author visited: Kamakura, Japan; San Francisco, CA; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Prague, Czech Republic; Berlin, Germany; and Vienna, Austria. Also shown are different ways that the patterns can be arranged: singly, grouped, or overlaid. For the page layouts, the author used the paper from the local areas that she visited – brochures, tickets, food packaging, or any found material. Not all of the folding patterns are circular – some of them are edges or borders.

Included in this book are six projects where the cultural stencils can be used: scrapbook pages, cakes (stenciling with powdered sugar), hanging mobiles, flowerpots, wrapping cloth, and bowls. These projects provided a wonderful way to relive the travel memories at home. Seven sheets of decorative paper are attached at the end of the book for personal projects

Using the design method presented by the author, I plan to create decorated paper with my own hand-cut stencils that will be influenced by the cultural style of various countries. I find this book to be great for those who want to visually journaling the travel experience with scissors instead of pens.

Disclosure notice: As per FTC disclosure requirement, I have received this book from its publisher in exchange for my personal review in this blog. Also, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

Book Review: 1000 Creative Ideas for Reuse

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:27:00 +0000

1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse: Remake, Restyle, Recycle, Renew

Garth Johnson

Thinking that it was a "how-to" book, I ordered this book based on my artist friend's recommendation. Instead, it turned out to be more of a photo-gallery type reference book. As I was going through the book, the wonderful memories of inspirational and mind-expanding visit to the Portland Museum of Contemporary Crafts (Oregon), Museum of Art & Design (New York), American Craft Council Fair (alternate crafts section) at Fort Mason (San Francisco, CA) came to my mind.

In every visit, I was fascinated and amazed with how ordinary or found materials can be repurposed, recycled, or even re-manufactured into an entirely different entity. I saw several of them again in this book, and from the same book, many more examples of material reuse from many different categories were shown: fashion, home accessories, book arts, mixed media, and interiors.

Each photo (1,000 of them) has a number and the name of the artisan. If one wants to know what materials were used, one will have to find it in the image directory at the end of the book using the number as the index. However, the image directory is a bit confusing and difficult to read because it was not in the expected columnar format.

Despite the shortcomings of the book's layout design and the misleading title, I have found it to be inspirational as it enables me to come up with more ideas for what I can use with my own found materials. And if I need more information, I can look up a list of resources in this book.

Overall, I find this book to be a good sourcing tool for scouts who are looking for exceptional or "green" items to be sold in crafts fairs, galleries or other retail venues. It is also an excellent idea-generating tool for those who want to create, design or maintain a "green" lifestyle by either recycling with found materials or buying the handcrafted objects from the artisans.

Disclosure notice: I purchased this book from Amazon.com with my own monies, however, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above book or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

Book Review: Dirty Fingernails

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:48:00 +0000

Dirty Fingernails: A One-of-a-Kind Collection of Graphics Uniquely Designed by Hand

John Foster

Ever since I graduated from University of Bridgeport in 1979 with a degree in industrial design, I have been watching the current trends in various design disciplines. From taking two courses in graphic design and package design, I remembered how labor intensive and time consuming the whole creative process was without the aid of computers. Done entirely by hand and/or by photomechanical means, the final production-ready artwork was expected to appear perfect as if it was already printed, and any visible evidence of “hand made quality” was considered to be unprofessional, substandard and amateurish.

With the advent of the new digital technology during the past two decades or so, I noticed that most of the designers’ drudgery work was either replaced or eliminated by computers. At first I was fascinated and awed by what could be done on the computer, but as the years went by, I was dismayed at the number of the look-alikes that were either copycats or ripped off from the originals. Not only that, the quality of ‘humanness’ or ‘hand-designed’ feelings seemed to be absent from the digital creations.

That issue appeared to me as the author’s lamentation, and he seemed to feel that the originality of any design could be best achieved and preserved by utilizing the low tech approach: creation by hand. Many of the letterforms shown in this book were either hand-lettered with mark making tools or handcrafted as 3-D objects with paper boards or other materials. Trompe-l’oeil technique was cleverly used for letterforms created with found materials in some of the photographs. Some of the illustrations or backgrounds were either hand-rendered or hand-painted.

Most of the work in this book seemed to have something in common – a lot of them are urbane, nitty-gritty, and streetwise with few of the having some graphic elements reminiscent of the 1950s. Information was provided for each one-of-a-kind design as to what specific materials were used and how the final design was executed or printed – one of them was done with hand-cut stencil. Some of them were individually customized after the printing, and even fabric or hand sewing was used in a few examples.

From looking at this book’s collection, I can see how the utilization of hand-rendered graphic elements in the creation of any design have made the final product (layout, package, or promotional item) unique and stand out from the crowd. Not only that, these designers seemed to achieve a higher level of professional satisfaction by getting their hands dirty in the design work by using the low-tech means instead of having everything done completely on the computer without having to touch anything except the keyboard and the mouse. These successful designers have successfully combined the best of both low & high tech worlds together in their work. Overall, I think this book is an excellent reference book on how the hand-creations and digital technology can be effectively used together.

Disclosure notice: As per FTC disclosure requirement, I have received this book from its publisher in exchange for my personal review in this blog. Also, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

Book Review: Bookcraft

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:47:00 +0000

Bookcraft: Techniques for Binding, Folding, and Decorating to Create Books and More

Heather Weston

This how-to book starts with an introduction to materials and tools used in book arts. It also points out some basic bookmaking rules on paper grain, cutting and gluing.

The first chapter is heavily focused on binding methods. Thirteen book structures were shown with highly detailed and clear step-by-step instructions from start to finish. Its primary focus is on various on how the signatures/pages and covers can be bound using the simple gluing and/or stitching. It seemed to me that this chapter’s basic goal is to create a repertoire of basic bookmaking skills for the novice, and it is my opinion that it did succeed in meeting this goal.

The second chapter covers most basic principles and processes for creating the pages and covers. Various methods were shown in a demonstration type photo-illustrations such as cutting, “surface sculpting” (debossing and embossing), and folding.

Its third and last chapter is a gallery type section that shows how the techniques covered in the previous chapters were used. With the book as an art form in mind, eighteen books created by the author and other bookmakers were presented by using the book structure/pages as a ‘canvas’ or ‘media’ creatively and imaginatively to tell stories or communicate via visual and/or textual means. I found the last three books at the end of the chapter to be very intriguing and fascinating because of the way the “boundaries” were being pushed to the point where they almost ceased to be viewed as “books”.

Overall, this book serves as a nice introduction to the world of book arts. The photographs are beautiful, and the instructions are pretty clear. I would most likely use its first chapter to refresh my memory on various book structure designs. No matter how many books on book arts I have bought over the past years, I always find something new to learn. In this book, I have learned a few new things from this book such as hybrid structures and “debossing”. But for some of the techniques presented in this book (one example – pop-ups), I would look in other books for more detailed information.

Disclosure notice: As per FTC disclosure requirement, I have received this book from its publisher in exchange for my personal review in this blog. Also, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

Book Review: Vintage Collage Journals

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Vintage Collage Journals: Journaling with Antique Ephemera

MaryJo Koch

When I first saw the title, I was not crazy about using the antique or vintage images for my visual journaling projects unless they related to a specific event or experience. As I looked at some of the beautiful illustrations done in watercolor, I experienced some sort of déjà vu and I wondered why. I now realized that I had gotten two or more of the author’s series of art books relating to nature & wildlife a while ago.

Her journals are full of fantastic illustrations, beautiful handwriting, and well-composed & seamless arrangements of collage elements. Four types of journals are explored in this book with some of the processes and techniques explained in detail: travel, food & wine, nature & garden, and family keepsake. Maryjo’s style is consistently the same throughout the book.

The primary focus of this book is on collage and painting techniques for journaling purposes. Of special interest to me are two of painting techniques from this book: 1.painting spotted egg image on paper with gouache; and 2.using a scumbling brush for page edges. In many of her journal pages, the artist used different collage elements such as napkins with vintage images, postcards, stamps, cancellations, flowers, birds, menus, wine labels, and music sheets in such a way that it is almost impossible to see the seams. Some of them are available as clip art (seven pages) at the end of the book for personal use.

Also contained in this book is a brief tutorial on pressing botanicals. Although there are many beautiful drawings, handwriting and watercolors shown on Maryjo’s journal pages, instructions were not provided as they were beyond the scope of this book. But Maryjo did a great job of making the collage elements and hand-done illustration blend together. If one is looking for ways to achieve the vintage look in the journal pages, this book is indeed full of various collage, blending and tinting techniques.

Disclosure notice: As per FTC disclosure requirement, I have received this book from its publisher in exchange for my personal review in this blog. Also, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

New Book Review: Self-Made Stationery

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:44:00 +0000

Self-Made Stationery: Handmade Goods Designed for Me
by Kazumi Udagawa

This practical book shows different and clever ways to improvise your own stationery items from supermarket/food packaging, discarded travel ephemera, tickets, junk mail envelopes, and loose paper. There are only four chapters on how the following items can be created from scratch: notebook, memo accessories, files, folders, cases, small stationery items, and decorative gift items. This may not sound much, however each chapter is loaded with many different ideas, demos, and examples.

In the first chapter, she customized her store bought organizers by using the coffer filter as a ticket or card holder; by inserting small mini booklets; and by adhering small maps or clippings next to the notes on the pages. In this same chapter, she shows how you can create your own tear off memo board with the perforated sheets of paper.

In other chapters, she also showed different methods for organizing and storing the small paper pieces, and ephemera. For example, instead of putting them in boxes, she used plastic page sheets for business cards to store her personal “knickknack” collection of small paper pieces – packaging logos, postal & parcel items, travel items, character items. I have created my own travel notebooks with storage for the receipts, but the book gave me more ideas to make the travel notebook more interesting and effective.

The last two chapters are focused on creating the small stationery and decorative gift items with recycled/repurposed materials. At the end of the book are fourteen (14) pages of templates – corner bookmarks, message tags and greeting card pictures.

It is a great reference book for those who want to reuse/recycle junk mail, catalogs, discarded food wrappers and paper goods. Each time I opened this book, I found new ways or came up with new ideas. I would recommend that you look in this book for any stationery needs or gift before going to the store – you might end up making your own as most of them will take less than 10 minutes.

Post-publish note: It is now available in Amazon.com and you can order it by clicking on the title above.

Disclosure notice: As per FTC disclosure requirement, I have received this book from its publisher in exchange for my personal review in this blog. Also, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

Squam Art Workshops - Fall 2009

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:28:00 +0000

Click on the above image for the story about the Squam Art Workshops.

Book Review: Good Mail Day

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:49:00 +0000

Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art

I wrote a book review for this wonderful and informative book and published it in Amazon.com - take a look at it by clicking on the title above! Look for my name (Andrew Borloz) and you will find some details on what's in this book in my book review.

Disclosure notice: I purchased this book from a local bookstore with my own monies, however, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above book or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

Book Review: How To Be An Explorer Of The World

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:15:00 +0000

Author's Note - this blog post was originally published last year (November 3, 2008), and I was reading it again. I still think it's a great book and I want to republish it again.
I went out today this morning to a bookstore to see if I could get two magazines that I wanted. Nope, they were not available just yet. While I was in the store, I decided to go to the crafts section and see if there were any new books.

Sure enough, there were a couple of them. I picked one particular book,How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museumout from the shelf, and skimmed through it. I was elated to see that Keri has written a book that can help you to see the way I see. No, my deafness does not give me any advantage of being able to see differently. As a matter of fact, and in my own humble opinion, Keri Smith does a much better job than me in seeing things differently or in new ways. I am sure that her book will definitely help you how to do that. So, please do me a favor - get the book yourself and I will feel a lot better knowing that you can learn to see the way I see, or should I say, the way Keri sees. Have a great day!

Disclosure notice: I purchased this book from a local bookstore with my own monies, however, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above book or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

About the New Camera

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:12:00 +0000

Canon PowerShot A1100IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Silver)

At the beginning of last month, I had to buy a new camera as the springs holding the lens covers together broke in my old camera's during the photographing of the cardboard play domehouse. Yep, that's the new camera that I used for the close-up photos of the beautiful daylily stamens as posted in my other blog. This camera is much lighter and thinner, and it fits in my pocket perfectly. I have been using this camera since the beginning of July for the new posts in all of the three blogs. One thing I have to keep in mind is that I should not put the camera and the keys or coins together as most of the camera's surfaces (including the back screen) are easily scratched. I will need to buy a protective case for this camera. A good number of this camera's features are similar to my older Canon camera, and it did not take me that long to become used to it. I'm very pleased with it, and if you need more information - click on the underlined product name above.

Book Review: Face Parts

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Last Friday, I stopped at a bookstore on the way to a class in New York City, and I was browsing through the art instruction section. I decided to look for anatomical reference books, and I did not like most of them. But I came across this book, Face Parts (author: Simon Jennings) and I have never seen anything like it.

Face Parts

This book provides, not necessarily exhaustive, but just enough information on the facial features to generate ideas for any project. Not only that, it provides excellent examples of how the whole or parts of the face can be drawn, painted, sculpted, photographed, digitally processed, or created with found objects (!). It also shows the three different styles used by Picasso, Miro, and Modigliani in drawing the eyes. And it provides suggested "art directions" i.e. etchings, graffiti ("defacing"), pictographical represenations, and typewritten portraits, to name a few. It even contain a photocopyable images of the turning face and winking eye, so that you can created an animation flip flick book. This is really a neat and one of the most interesting reference books on faces.

Book Review: The Street Art Book

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:06:00 +0000

The Street Art Book: 60 Artists In Their Own Words

I got this book, The Street Art Book (author: Ric Blackshaw and Liz Farrelly) while I was in New York City last week, and I wondered why I did not see it sooner. I have acquired several other books on "street art" and more often than not, they're more of the coffee table variety - just pictures of the art itself. But this book is different as it's more of a street style book than an "art book". It contains tons of information on various artists, their techniques (stickers, spray paint, markers, and stencils), their style, and their bios. I have never seen so much information in a small book like it, and yet, it has references to other websites where you can get even more information. A number of paintings on public spaces are indeed illegal, but I thought they were really great, and talents & cleverness are evident in these street art. For example, the parking space lines were transformed into stems by stenciling in the flying seeds at the ends. They're probably illegal, but I have thought about another way of doing street art without getting caught - photograph the street scene and do some graffiti on the printouts. I know that it's not the same thing as actually do the work right on the building walls or streets, but at least I won't get caught! Anyway, despite some partial nudities and "dirty" or nitty-gritty side of urban/city life in this book, I love it!

Exciting News

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:45:00 +0000

Early this morning, I just read the press release and the postcard for the International Fiber Arts Festival in Vancouver, Washington. I have already made plans to attend the opening reception for Nature Gathered exhibition as well as Art in the Heart Festival and the Fiber Arts Festival. I can not even imagine how exciting these special events will be for me. Here's the postcard (front and back) as well as the press release from the Sixth Street Gallery.

FIFTH ANNUAL NATIONAL FIBER ARTS FESTIVAL
A Perennial favorite comes to Sixth Street Gallery

Vancouver, WA, July 22, 2009 - Opening August 5, Sixth Street Gallery presents the Fifth Annual Fiber Arts Festival. Also showing is Nature Gathered, a show of twelve artists from across the country. The show runs August 5 - 30, 2009. Opening reception is during the First Friday artwalk on August 7 from 5 - 9:00pm and coincides with the second annual Art in the Heart Festival.

This year's Fiber Arts Festival once again shows the vast diversity of the beloved art and craft medium. From weaving to stitching, from wall art to sculpture, from traditional to contemporary, this show has a little bit of everything. Twenty artists from across the country show work that ranges from playful to somber but is always beautiful.

In July 2008, a group of twelve mixed-media artists from across the United States, entered into a year-long art challenge to celebrate their love for all things in nature. Each month, the group chose a different nature-based subject to interpret and create in a variety of mediums, limited only in creating art that fit on, or within, an 8" by 8" canvas. Finished pieces use photography, paint, fabric, metal and fibers to represent the artists' vision of subjects as diverse as birds, seasons and the heavens. Each piece is a unique glimpse into the world of nature. For additional information, please view their blog.

Sixth Street Gallery is an all-volunteer, cooperative gallery located in the heart of downtown Vancouver. Since 2004, Sixth Street has been a venue for performance, spoken word, and visual arts as well as providing art education classes for all ages. For more information, please visit www.SixthStreetGallery.com.

Nature Gathered Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:59:00 +0000

Yes, I will be flying from New Jersey to the West Coast next month. I plan to be in three states: Oregon, Washington and California.

Yes, I will be there in Vancouver, Washington (across the river from Portland, Oregon) for the Nature Gathered Group's opening reception (6 pm to 10 pm) at Sixth Street Gallery on Friday August 7th. I am really looking forward to seeing others' work there.

Yes, all of my pieces will be for sale there, however, they are to be sold as one set of 12 pieces together. They look best as a set than as individual pieces. You can contact the gallery for the price of this set.

I hope to see some of you at the reception. Those of you who are unable to come to the reception, you can view the exhibition which runs from Friday, August 7th to Friday, August 28th (Wed-Sun 12pm to 5pm) at:

Sixth Street Gallery
150 West 6th Street
Vancouver, Washington
(360) 693-7340

And if you still are unable to either come to the reception or view the artworks, you still can see them in our Nature Gathered blog.

Book Review: The Uncommon Quilter

noreply@blogger.com (&rew) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:40:00 +0000

The Uncommon Quilter: Small Art Quilts Created with Paper, Plastic, Fiber, and Surface Design

I bought this book (author: Jeanne Williamson) from a museum shop in Jacksonville, Florida after I saw the quilt exhibition, A Survey of Gee's Bend Quilts which I reported in my art travel blog. Before I purchased it, I went through it, and immediately, I felt that I had to buy it right away. I have never done quilting before except that I have sewn square patches of fabric together to form a pillow. Until I saw the Gee's Bend quilts some time ago, I often thought of quilts as nothing more than blankets of repeated patterns. These two exhibitions, one at Whitney Art Museum in New York City some time ago, and one at The Cummer Museum in Jacksonville, FL, made me see the quilts from a different perspective. And this book has already helped me to see the everyday materials in a different light - especially from the produce section of the grocery stores. I have saved the tomatoes or oranges bags that looked like nets, but I was at a loss at to what to do. This book showed me different ways to use them as part of an artwork - in this case, the author used them in her art quilts which were much smaller than blankets. It also showed excellent examples for producing great composition - using textures, colors, and shapes. I have already developed several ideas of my own using the same principles that the author demonstrated in her book. Also, if you look at the cover of this book closely, they were actually cut out from plastic shopping bags (the ones from nice stores)! I highly recommend this book if you need to see the everyday materials from a different perspective, and also how to use them creatively and effectively in your artwork even though you might not want to sew.