Saturday, March 28, 2015

Bookbinding, Book Making Skills!

    Picked up this great book at the library and thought I would try to
learn a new skill.  Bookbinding!  The book is called Bound
(Over 20 Artful Handmade Books) by Erica Ekrem. Find it here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Bound-by-Erica-Ekrem?keyword=Bound+by+Erica+Ekrem&store=book
 
    First it was a little hard to wrap my head around the actual binding
process but with the help of the wonderful diagrams I was able to catch
on pretty quickly using the Coptic Stitch.
 
    I have a few rolls of vintage wallpaper which I have been wanting to
use to make books.  The directions on how to make the book covers are
excellent and also easy to follow.
 
    Anxious to make some of the other books, I ordered some leather scraps
on Etsy.  I received a beautiful assortment of various colors and textures
from ORTULeather.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ORTUleather/search?search_query=scraps&order=date_desc&view_type=gallery&ref=shop_search
 
    The leather books will make beautiful sketchbooks for my personal use and
gifts...a couple below have already been claimed by very anxious little hands and
are filled with drawings/secrets I am not permitted to see! :(
 
    I have also been working on a brochure for my illustration work.  I plan to
send it to be printed this week.
If you love this wallpaper (striped and floral)
and would like your own free sample leave a friendly comment below then email me raradesign@yahoo.com.
While supplies last!


Gift tag bookmarks are fun to make too...

This simple book has a fabric cover and gift tag pages
I dyed with tea and hibiscus flowers at Christmas.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Love Note to Reading

 Found a bookmark sized scrap laying around blank so I was
persuaded to paint.  

  Thought it would be interesting to tell a little story, 
to have a story within a story.  

  A love story.  


 Who better to tell it than a foxy fox named Scarlet? 

Copyright Rachel Bollman 2015

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Anyone hungry?

  Working on several creative projects right now.  I wanted to paint
the two Little Miss Big Ears sketches I posted last week but didn't have
time to finish this week.   I started one and will try my best to share
with you soon.  Lately I have been working mostly digitally and
I miss painting with watercolor.
   Here is a painting I did in January for a picture book workshop.
Reworking this story based on comments from Lindsay Ward and
Laurie Knowlton.
    Have a great week!  *V*  Happy Spring!  ~Rachel


Sunday, March 1, 2015

Ready or Not

  Super busy and forgot to post yesterday.
Working on several projects at the same
time and my head is spinning.  Apologies
to those who checked in yesterday.
  Nothing finished that I can share so
thought I would give you a glimpse of
some delicate sketches for a story in progress.
  Introducing Little Miss Big Ears, babysitter
extraordinaire.  You may have gotten a peek
of her already on twitter.. a few ink
drawings.  If you want to see those check
out my twitter page.
https://twitter.com/RachelBollman
  I must go, Downton's about to start!
Cheers!