another venture into the art of bookmaking... (well a part of it anyway)

Several years ago I took a papermaking class, at the time, it was a class that offered me nothing toward graduation (it was a filler for me, since all the credit I needed at that moment was only from Senior Studio). It wasn't a class I enjoy too much at the beginning, although I liked it.

Only by the end of the class that I enjoyed (not the project though) Then after that I wanted to take bookmaking, but it was full, much too quick. And I didn't feel like fighting for a spot with anyone. I did learn how to bind a book, though, and basic bookmaking.

I made a book for my last Senior Studio class, and my advisors loved it (as well as the people that showed up at the show) So I guess it's good. :)

Now, I tried my hand at another thing. Paper marbling.

Since I can't get the supplies here that are especially made for paper marbling, I had to go for homemade method stuff. And one I chose to do is with liquid starch. My first trial (which is barely an hour ago) was all right, the color wasn't as bright as I thought it was gonna be.

I used generic store brand liquid starch (which now that I can see it didn't seem to be thick enough) I might just make it from scratch.

The paint was a set of acrylic paint, which works well, but I have to play around with the consistency, although I read somewhere that oil paint will give more vivid color. Also I have to try with alum threat paper too.

I watched the vid of paper marbler, and the sizing he used was left clear once he finished with one sheet, so I don't know. Oh well, gotta try my hand in a few things I guess.

Another thing, I finally made that The Devil Wears Prada fanfic listing that I've been meaning to do for a while. The list keeps going longer and longer though. It's my favorite fandom at the moment (gotta give props to Meryl Streep.. she did really awesome Miranda, and man, I'd do her!)

Anne Hathaway is good too. :)

Now I'm gonna go watch a few Marbling demo on youtube. Maybe I'll get a better idea.

Finally the internet works!!

The DSL line at the store was out of commission for almost a week, I nearly pull my hair out! The reason being that I forgot to pay the bill last month. (I sometimes lost track of bills.) Well, I had my cousin went and paid the thing, which they should've turned it back on for me, which they said they did, but 3 days later I still could not use it. So I had to called over and over again, until the day before yesterday, they called me up and said that it should work now.

And Voila! It did.

So, now I can entertain myself while minding the store.

On the papercraft note, I decided to make another cryptex, this time it should be neater and cleaner, I'm more careful and also I got one of those circle cutter from Olfa my favorite is the SVR-1 I have 4 of them and a spare of A. They are reliable blades, I love them, and while I'd have to go through a pack of spare blade to finish a job, I would use less than half of that amount with Olfa, they are quite sharp (as my finger could attested to that). I swear by them.

Being the freak that I am, I always have packs and packs of spare blade around.

You never know when you're going to need them. :)

Well, I did the apple off of the same site as the Cryptex one. Still it's not that complicate, and looks quite pretty. :)

Now I better go make a phone call. I still have another 5 squares to cut as well, which I forgot to bring. grrrrrrrrr...

I've decided that I'm going to make the Dragon from The Tale of Earthsea over again.

Since the page I got it from scanned the template from the book, I wasn't sure of the sizes, and if they are all in the correct proportion, because my first one I ran into that problem, the scale won't fit over the tale, so if they don't fit the tail, then the rest won't make any different, so I'm making it over again, and this time I'll fit it first before I glue it in.

So, tonight I'm gonna do the menu, as much as I could and then I'll start with the r/c illu of my friend's, but I'll have to get a hold of her first, cause I'm not sure of the size. Otherwise I would've started it awhile back.

Then after that, I'll go back to the dragon.

Quote I really liked today :

'Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that the dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.' G.K. Chesterton

Done with Cryptex.

I found a site (through another site) it's a papercraft site with a Cryptex!

It was awesome, I mean, to design that and it actually make sense and work (with a set password and stuff) Took me about a week, because I started with the key (that's what the guy called it, it's the piece that has the top and the core) one night and then the next night I did the second key (a piece with the bottom which has the 'lock') then I had to make 5 dials. So, I did that one per night. Because my neck was killing me and I think I can cut a relatively round circle with an X-acto knife and freehand now.

And well, here is my piece. I'm quite proud of it. Now if only I could finish that damn dragon!

Speaking of dragon, I'm still looking for a suitable one so I can cut onto a vinyl sticker and put on my laptop as a decor. :) I think that picture from the book Dragonhenge will make a good starting point, but well, I still have other things to do before that.

And a menu too.

Today I bought a new journal, it is pretty good with leather cover and very nice and thick handmade paper. I'm happy with it, finally, I rarely find a good one that I like, so this is good. I mean I can draw on this, pencil, pen and ink, watercolor. Not that I would do watercolor, I'm just too lazy to clean up afterward, so it's either pen and ink or most likely pencil. I think the reason I never pick up watercolor or oil or acrylic painting because of that, the fact that I will have to clean up. Just not very appealing to me. That and I never get a proper introduction to them. Oh well, someday, when I have more time, I guess, as of now I'll stick to what I know, mostly.

Cin!! Well, I have to see if there's anything going on in Dec, what's the date of the competition?
Maybe I can take a drive out, but I won't know for sure.

My new toy tonight...

I needed a new camera, well, I lost mine for years now and I've been using my mother's little Nikon, which for some reason doesn't work anymore. I don't think I dropped it (or I would've remembered) but I can't really be sure since my backpack wasn't in my possession several times last week. (my mother was holding it for me, and well, if she tossed it on the floor, I wouldn't have known that)

So I finally decided that I'd get one for me... I saw a commercial for Panasonic Lumix on TV several times and I thought, cool! It looked nice on TV, but when I saw the actually camera I didn't feel that 'thing' that make me wanna buy it. I don't know. It just didn't do it for me. Then I saw the Olympus one. I liked Olympus and it looked pretty good and pretty small, enough to tug into smaller pocket of my backpack and not being a bother. And so I decided to get it.. it cost me about $233. I figure, whether I buy it now or a week after, it'll still cost me, so despite the fact that I just ordered several things from amazon.com I just put it on the card.

I didn't get the pic of the actual camera because of the obvious reason. :)

I ordered several things this month (I hadn't ordered anything in several months now, to minimize the shipping, I would keep a list and put them in one order) This time I got...

1. Supernatural season 1&2
2. Criminal Minds season 2
3. Music of the Heart (because it's Meryl Streep and I'm on Meryl Streep kick right now)
4. ... First Do No Harm (and Meryl Streep)
5. The Fist Wives Club (because I wanna see Bette Midler)
6. The Harlequin Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series #15

The package should get here by next week (the estimate was between the Oct 25 and Nov 5) Well, I don't know, I hope it gets here soon. I can't wait to see the package and stuff for the series, and the new Anita Blake book (although it reads more and more like soft porn these days) I don't know, I'm just one of those that if I get them in series then I'll keep buying, even when I lost interest sometimes.

I'm also dabbing into some Papercraft lately. I'm making the Dragon from The Tale of Earthsea right now.. I got it from .. Tehanu's Flight and I'm taking my time with it, slow build seems to be the best way to go about this, since I tend to hurry things up for now reason other than I want it to be done. But if I do that then it won't work. I really wanna finish this.