Campground Directory - Sewn Art Journal

Last week I swore to myself that I'd post more often but finding the time to blog isn't my first priority. I'm starting to prepare for a 3 week road trip with my husband, and am starting to panic just a bit because I've done very little except research. Usually by now I'd have a packing list ready and at least one pile of clothes. Nada! I'll get to it next week when the deadline is looming larger.

One thing I have worked on for the past few days is a sewn journal that will be a gift for a special friend. It will have 24 pages with lots of room left for writing and photographs. Here are a few of the pages. They don't look very exciting yet but I still have many embellishments to add before I bind them. For instance, on this page (below) I didn't leave room for writing so I'll figure out a way to add a journaling spot, other than the orange in the upper right hand corner. The page above has two spaces for writing or adding a photo.

The pages of my book are made of all sorts of papers: scrapbooking paper, ledger paper, security envelopes turned inside out, menus, painted washi, magazines, children's books, art showing announcement cards, color copies of my journal pages, wallpaper, book pages, masking tape, and many others. The featured photo above is a print on matte photo paper of a plant we once saw in Arizona.

This page also has room to write. The red band is sewn only at the edges so an narrow envelope or  paper or a photo can be slipped under the band.

I've been tearing old magazines apart, as here with a bit of an art doll from one magazine hiding behind a brick wall from an interiors magazine and the word which I hope will prompt some writing about surface. The brick wall is actually a flap which is lined with card stock for stability. The writer can add a comment on the back side of the wall.

Cook Book - Food Book Video

I've made a video of my latest Remains of the Day journal which I mentioned in my last post.  Go here: ROD Cook Book Journal Video to view it.

Although I've lived in Oregon for 47 years I still have my Arkansas accent which I'm aware of only when I hear a recording of my voice. Oh well, accents are interesting.

I've decided what to do with this journal... I'll include my more personal recipes and tell how I got them and from whom. For instance, I wrote about Election Day Chicken, a verbal recipe given to me on November 8, 1960, the day I first voted. We lived in Oklahoma City at the time and various homes were opened in the city to serve as voting places. I walked to the end of the block after a day of teaching, so anxious and proud to be able to vote. The most wonderful smells emanated from the kitchen and I asked the homemaker, "What's cooking?".  The recipe was simple and the dish turned out so good that it's been a favorite ever since, one I make most Election Days.  And then there's the curry recipe I got from a friend who's a transplant from India, and Novella White's Pecan Pie which my family swears is the best ever. Novella was my best friend's mother.

I think this will turn into a family treasure which my grandkids will fight over for who gets possession when I die.

COOK BOOK - FOOD BOOK – GOOD FOOD

Something this much fun should be celebrated.

Crafts have a bad rap. I had forgotten how much fun I have using my technical skills in the studio. I’ve been busy as can be making another Remains of the Day art journal, this one about FOOD. As a former home economics teacher and a lifelong rather good cook (so my husband proclaims and he’s sticking to his story as long as it produces a few good meals every week) I have a love affair with good food, whether it comes from my kitchen, one of my friends’, or a favorite restaurant. It’s natural that I spend some time writing about the food in my life.

Once I decided to make a book about food I started collecting all sorts of related ephemera: labels from cans and bottles, recipes, photos, fabric, grocery bags and receipts, advertisements, and restaurant menus. I built my basic pages from menus and grocery bags and added all sorts of ephemera with my sewing machine. I typed a page of cooking terms and printed it on vellum which I then cut into strips and folded them in half to use to finish the edges of some of the pages.

Believe me, it’s addictive to make pages for these books but there’s a limit to the size of such a book since I’ll be adding writing and recipe cards and photos and it’s already quite fat at 22 pages divided between three signatures.

The cover is made from a Trader Joe’s paper bag. Both the cover and the inside of the cover were cut from one bag and a sturdy piece of light card stabilizes the inside. I did lots of machine sewing all over the cover and added handles from the same bag. That’s recycling, for sure. So far this book doesn’t have a tie but when it’s finished I may have to add something to keep it closed.

I work on my books at a rather small table which quickly becomes way too messy so I went hunting in the store room for something to corral the mess. I found a large tray that was once used in the darkroom, 2 small plastic boxes, a plastic shoe box, and a long drawer divider. The 2 small boxes (for small bits and labels) fit perfectly in the shoe box, leaving room at the back for larger paper to stand. And the space in front is large enough for magazines and full sheets of paper. Alongside the big tray is the long tray for strips of paper. And at my feet is my big cookie jar of ribbons and a tote full of fabric scraps.

Stay tuned. I intend to make a video of this book before long.

Sewing Wild Oats Video

My scrappy journal isn't complete without lots of writing and photos but the sewing is done and it's been sewn into it's cover. I took advantage of a long sun break to set up a video station and shoot my first video. There's no music, no voice over, and only the sound of the pages but I did it with my little point and shoot camera's movie setting. Now that I know how I'll add more to my blog in the future. I hope you enjoy seeing the journal.


Sewing Wild Oats from Jo Reimer on Vimeo.

Resisting the urge to buy more stuff

I’ve shown you a bit of the journal I’m making in a class exercise led by Mary Ann Moss called Remains of the Day.  I have enjoyed this experience and I’ve had lots of fun making the cover and the pages and thinking about how I’ll use the technique to make lots more books. I really like making and using books and journals that focus on art and life and I intend to continue until my hands won’t hold a pen or scissors.

As I understand the idea of a Remains of the Day journal it’s to use the waste paper that comes to me during the normal course of daily living to create something else that’s useful and beautiful. There sure is plenty of that!  Bills, flyers, notices, ads, notes and lists, semi-personal letters, and so on… mostly mail that is skimmed and quickly tossed into the round file.  Yet with every video where Mary Ann shows a piece of ledger paper, or Hambly overlay, a huge spool of red thread that won’t run out, or decorative label, or vintage something or another I find myself wanting something just like it for my own journal, even when it’s not the remains of MY day. It’s related to how a friend and I laugh about our shared urge to buy yet another art supply when our studios are already crammed.  Purely greed!  When will it end?  It won’t until I intentionally end it and begin a new process.

Again at the beginning of this new year, as I did last year, I remind myself to use what I already have in a creative way and stop buying more stuff.  That’s why this class appealed to me in the first place.

Here's what I keep reminding myself: this process is about using today's ephemera that would otherwise get tossed into the trash, things like credit card offers, junk paper, printed emails, paper that clutters my file drawers that is no longer useful, 10 year old bank statement (with the account numbers and names cut off), fabric scraps, kids homework, a church bulletin, etc.  Instead of throwing it all into the recycle bin cut it into page sized pieces and sew it into a book in which I write about my day and into which I glue or stitch some pictures taken that day.

This junk paper that’s generated in my daily life can take on an importance that someday will seem as interesting as the vintage ephemera that seems exotic to me now. I can use it in an artful, thoughtful way to reflect through art-making and journaling about what I’m doing with my life and what I am leaving behind, by making beautiful and interesting books out of the remains of my own day.

One of my treasures is a bundle of papers left by a great, great grandfather. It’s not a book and it’s not very personal but it does represent the remains of his work day and what was important to him back in 1827 – 1865 … a bundle of IOU receipts and a few letters, tucked into a handmade case of linen pockets. Maybe my books will be valued in a similar way in future generations if I’ll make sure to include bits and pieces of my current life, write about my beliefs and activities, and include other notes about what is important to me today… letters to the future instead of notes from the past of strangers.