Huh. Forgot to tell you what else I did yesterday -- started making two new books! In the process of packing, I've realized that it'll be a lot easier if I make all my WisCon art stuff *before* I go. The hanging pieces are done (unless I get inspired), but there are several others I really did want to do. So last night, I put together book blocks for "Minal in Winter" and "The Fallen Star" (the latter modified so it no longer has the names of my cousins in it :-). I'm going to try embedding bookmarks in the binding this time. So for "Minal", I'm using dark red raw silk (suitable for a sari) for the cover, which so far looks gorgeous, and then attaching a peacock feather to a gold cord, which I'm going to glue to the inside of the binding. So in theory, the peacock feather will always be attached as a bookmark. Neat, huh? For "The Fallen Star", I think I'm going to go buy a little silver star, and then attach that to a ribbon braided of dark red, purple, and silver-grey silk embroidery threads. (What would really be a perfect cover for that story would be a quilted cover, using that same red silk, along with the green and blue silk I have. But I don't know how to quilt! Can I just use my sewing machine to sew the edges of pieces together? Is there anything more to it? Should I be sewing them onto a piece of backing?) I love working with these lush colors and fabrics. And the finished products are going to be a lot lighter than my doubled-glass pieces. :-)
I'm also tempted to do a cookbook of some of my favorite Sri Lankan recipes. I was thinking I'd do it larger (half-page size instead of quarter-page) so it could actually be more functional as a cookbook. I wanted to try doing something that I've seen in other art books -- making the cover thick, out of several pieces of book board glued together, and then cutting a square out of the center of that block, and putting something inside it -- in this case, a cinnamon stick, some cloves and cardamom. But I'm not sure how to protect the pieces, and how to keep the grey board from showing where it's been cut. Hmm...I *think* the fabric covering the book could be folded into the cut and glued down on the inside (where the end papers will cover it). But that doesn't solve the protection issue. The one I've seen used a piece of thick plastic, held down with tiny gold studs. That looked great, but I'm not sure where one gets such studs, or if you need a machine to insert them. Heck, I'm not sure where you get a thick piece of clear plastic. I could just use transparency paper, but that's kind of thin. Two sheets? Most bewildering...
It's nice having this kind of thing to work on, though. A good break from packing.
