Handmade Books

12 Free Bird Projects and Techniques

We're celebrating Put a Bird on It month with 12 hours of free projects, techniques, and eBooks featuring our feathered friends today.
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Two Techniques for Using Stencils in Collage Art

When you're faced with a blank canvas and want to create a background or you have a collage or painting that needs a focal point, reach for a stencil.
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Pages, Volume 2

Explore new techniques and inspiring projects in general bookmaking, book covers, binding, inside pages, and art journaling.
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Printmaking Inspiration and Tips: Q&A with Dorit Elisha

My only formal training in printmaking came many, many , years ago in a high school art class. We made intaglio prints, silkscreen prints, and woodcuts. I absolutely loved the class and still have some of my prints (they're all of houses, a favorite theme of mine to this day).
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Tricks for Creating Cohesive Art Journal Pages

If you want your art journal pages to have a cohesive look, I have three tricks to share with you today, courtesy of Kari McKnight Holbrook.
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The State of Book Making

When I was in fourth grade, our state (Michigan) was the main theme of our social studies class for the year. I distinctly remember that the big project that would sum up all we had learned was a handmade book that we could interpret artistically.
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Handmade Books That Will Surprise You - And a Sale to Boot

You know the expression, "You can't tell a book by its cover." I think this is especially true of handmade books , because when you open them up, you never know what will (sometimes literally) unfold.
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Handmade Books: Easy Inside Pages from Office Supplies

This technique for making inside pages for handmade books brings back the fun and excitement of making photocopies. The technique is quite simple, writes Kathryn Antyr in PAGES magazine: "Collect objects, photocopy them, and paint the copy with watered-down acrylics."
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How to Make a Book for Keepsakes

Lately I've been going through family photos, making piles of snaps by holiday, season, birthday, and so on. My idea is to put holiday and seasonal groups of photos in a collage frame to rotate throughout the year. For the birthday photos, I want to make handmade books for each of my girls so they
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Upcycled Art Dos and Don'ts

After literally tripping over my stash of fabrics, papers, and found objects recently, I am on a mission to downsize. And so I'm looking for ways to use and re-use items I already have, upcycling them into art or useful objects.
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Find Mark Making Ideas Everywhere

We have a running joke around here. Assistant Editor Barbara Delaney, a former early education teacher, often looks at a process used by a contributing artist (like marble painting with shaving cream or weaving with torn papers) and says, "We did that in pre-school!"
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When Mixed Media Meets Serendipity

People often ask me, "How do you get in the magazine?" Although I'm no longer in a position to make give input on submissions, I can talk generally about the process. The answer is that you need talent, but you also need to present something fresh. And a lot depends on timing.
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How to Bind a Book with an Accordion Fold Spine

You probably know how to make a book using an accordion fold . But do you know how to bind a book using an accordion-fold technique? I saw Nikki Smith use the technique to create handmade books with colorful envelopes as the pages. A narrow version of the accordion fold makes the spine to which the pages
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Art Journaling: Seeds of Inspiration

When it comes to drawing or art journaling , you've got to love fruit. Most fruits are pretty easy to draw and they conjure up so many sensations and memories.
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Paper Collage and Printmaking Techniques - A Beautiful Marriage

A lot of artwork has come through these doors over the years, and I can't count the number of times I've said, "Oh, I wish I could buy that." But I can count the number of times I have purchased a work of contributor art: once. It's a piece of mixed-media fabric and paper art by
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Altered Books Make Great Handmade Book Covers

When creating your own handmade books , there are many options for covers. One of my favorites is to recycle the covers from an old book. I know many people — even artists — balk at cutting up a book. To them, books are sacred. But as a person who haunts yard sales, flea markets, old book
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How to Make an eReader Cover with a Handmade Book-Binding Technique

The preponderance of e-readers and tablets like the iPad have many people declaring that book making — the kind with pages and covers — is dead. Furthermore, "real" books that have already been printed are obsolete. My opinion is this: 1. There are advantages to both print books
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Mixed-Media Fabric Art and Bookbinding Tips - Follow Up Ideas

One of the best things about working in an environment where everyone is passionate about creativity is that you can always get feedback and advice on your current projects — even your blogs. So it is that within a couple of weeks or I received two follow-up suggestions from my coworkers who had
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Lettering Tips for Your Art Journal: Use An Alias

As a person who has filled many a blank book with a flood of handwritten angst, I often forget that an art journal need not have any writing at all.
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A Book Binding Trick for the Math Phobic

I am sorry to tell you that I am the kind of person whose eyes glaze over when faced with numbers. It doesn't matter whether it's an algebraic equation or the measurements for a long list of soup ingredients. I just don't like to do the math.
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Tips on Tuesday: Journal pages

In our premier issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Pages , a variety of artists provided a plethora of ideas for everything from making books to designing covers, finding inspiration, and binding your own books. We are gearing up for the second issue of Pages
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Adventures in Book Making, Travel Version

Traveling in the winter is risky business, as I can attest by my experience last week with a non-stop, three-hour flight to Chicago that entailed landings in Nashville and St. Louis before reaching my intended destination in Springfield, Illinois — where I wasn't supposed to be until the next
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Adventures in Handmade Books

As we opened presents Christmas morning, the members of our family noticed something odd about daughter Olivia's packages: almost every one was 1" - 2" thick, rectangular, and could be held in one hand. In other words, she got a lot of books.
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Handmade Books That Tell Your Story

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about the house shape in art and how houses are my personal symbol. After that post was published, I recalled one of my favorite sayings, "Home is where your story begins."
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Art Journaling Tips for Adding Texture

An art journal can be anything you want it to be. So, why not make it a place for experimentation?
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The Life Cycle of An Art Journal

When I was learning the life cycle of a butterfly at a tender age, I found it fascinating to watch phase one, as the fuzzy (and rather creepy) caterpillar munching away on leaves.
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Pages Premiere Issue

Cloth Paper Scissors PAGES is a special publication created especially for art journalers and book artists looking for new techniques and inspiring ideas. This 148-page first special issue features projects and galleries in general bookmaking, book covers, book binding, inside page decoration, and art
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Acquaint Yourself with Mixed-Media 'Quaintings'

Mix paint with fabric, thread, and ephemera and what do you get? Mixed-media quilted paintings, or "quaintings" as artist Cynthia Frenette likes to call them.
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How to Make a Book: Learn to Play the Accordion

When I was a kid, I often stayed overnight at my grandparents' house on Saturday nights while my parents went out for the evening. My grandmother always made my favorite foods, I played gin rummy with my grandfather, and we all watched "The Lawrence Welk Show" together.
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Art Journalers Alert

Okay folks, here’s your chance. We are officially working on a brand new eMag for Art Journaling called Art Journaling EXPOSED! This is not the same thing as our print publication PAGES (Coming out in November!) which is the creative guide for art
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Announcing the 2012 Artisans!

Entries arrived from all over the globe, as far away as Australia, and as close as Massachusetts. One of the side benefits of holding the Artisan Search is that while choosing the top 5 Artisans, we also discover great new talent! We will be bringing
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Announcing the 2012 Artisan Finalists!

Drumroll please! I am happy to announce the following 25 finalists for our Artisan Search 2012! The judging was difficult, but we’re excited to see the the art in person. Below is a list of the finalist names and their username so that you can see their
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Join me for a mixed-media full fall!

Wow, we have so much coming up for you this fall! I’m very excited. I’m also very busy, as is the rest of the staff here. We have people going all over for retreats and tv taping, we have a billion magazines and special pubs… Wait,
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Download 4 Free Handmade Book Techniques Now

Handmade books are more popular than ever, as artists create small, personal books using fabric, recyclables, found objects, photos, and collage and mixed-media techniques. From page construction to book binding, we've assembled some of our favorite techniques and ideas on book arts in this free
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6 Tips for Best Printmaking Results

I have always loved printmaking. I still have a framed intaglio print I made in high school, and lately I’ve been experimenting with screen printing and gelatin monoprinting. There are so many different kinds of printmaking techniques that I find myself hopping from one to another, with yet another
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Tips on Tuesday: Bookmaking

Geari ng up for your summer vacation? Do you like to save your vacation memories in special journals? Do you collect memories in words and images, not to mention all of those bits and pieces we seem to gather: tickets, receipts, postcards, notes, etc
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Create Handmade Books with Fabric & Paper

As I write this, the Cloth Paper Scissors team has the July/August issue just about sewn up. "Sewn up" is the appropriate term, too, as the theme of the issue is fabric. But of course, this being Cloth Paper Scissors , we're not just talking about sewing. Or even just fabric.
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How to Avoid the Blank Canvas

There's nothing so full of potential as a pristine white canvas. And nothing quite so intimidating. There are so many possibilities it can freeze you right in your tracks. That's why art journaling aficionados often recommend filling the blank page with paint, paper collage, or even scribbles
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Make a Fiber Art Journal Bracelet

When I was a girl, every summer my parents and packed up the car, threw me in the back with some snacks, a pillow, and a few magazines, and we hit the road east, driving 12 hours from Michigan to Massachusetts. There, just a block from the Atlantic, my grandmother, uncle, and two maiden aunts were there
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A Sneak Peek of Coming Mixed-Media Attractions

I just recently started using those $1 DVD rental machines and I am hooked. I haven't been so caught up on my movie watching in a long time. I was particularly charmed by "How to Train Your Dragon," in which the protagonist is a sensitive type who draws--a problem for his strapping Viking
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3 Ways to Get Better Known as an Artist

You don't have to be a star, baby, to be in our show. In other words, you don't have to be a household name to submit an article idea for publication or a concept for one of our video productions. We're looking for fresh, current ideas and new twists on old ones, whether you're an established
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Create with Best Friends You've Never Met

Giddy. Giddy, I tell you. That's how I felt when I arrived at our first CREATE retreat last year and the stars came out. There I was, standing at my Studios booth in the store and display area, and one by one, artists I felt I knew--but I had never met--wandered in.
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Super Journal tips from our Readers

Did you know you could find us on Facebook? (ClothpaperscissorsMAG) We’ve been having a lovely discussion over the past year about everything from art prompts to cars, studios to art retreats. In a recent post, I asked our Facebook friends for their art
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Thinking snow... and wondering what you're thinking.

The January February 2011 issue has been on the newsstandsfor a while now...the first issue of the new year! I love it and hope you do, too. What better way to spend a cold winter's day than with Cloth Paper Scissors ? Check out the "Mini Book"
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Easy Image Transfer Tutorial to Start the New Year!

Happy New Year! Are you ready for a fantastic New Year filled with art making? I sure am. We’ve got great art coming your way in every issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine , from January all the way through December. This year will bring art journaling
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CREATE with Cloth Paper Scissors! Instructor Proposals NOW Available!

UPDATE: Want to submit a proposal but need a little more time? Email create@interweave.com , Put EXTENSION in the subject line, and the tentative titles and class length in the email, and we’ll give you an extension until Jan 7. Do you love to teach
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What did you think?

So, what did you think? The November/December issue of Cloth Paper Scissors has been on the newsstand for about a week now. I hope you've had a chance to sit with it a while. What did you think of it? There is so much to choose from! You can learn
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Celebrating the Artisans!

I've been adjusting to my new Boston/Boulder shuffle as I adjust to a two-home, 1/2 time living situation, and was very eager to see my Stow peeps this past week. Imagine my glee when I entered the office and I wasn't only greeted by smiling colleagues
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Announcing the 2011 Cloth Paper Scissors Artisans

More than 500 fabulous entries were receive and winnowed down to 25 finalists in 5 different categories. Then, thanks to our special guest judges, Sue Pelletier, Robert Maloney, and Merrill Comeau, who had the unenviable task of choosing one winner in
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Artisan Search 2011 Finalists Are Announced!

We put the call out and you answered! Every issue of Cloth Paper Scissors ® has amazing art submitted by our talented readers. This year we spread our net wider in search of the best mixed-media artists around. One winner will be chosen for each of
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Free! 2 week Cure for Artist Block

What does an artist fear most? Well, I can’t speak for everyone but for myself it’s the blank page partnered with the lack of idea. (Add on a deadline and I’m FROZEN!) What do I do? I look for a prompt or a creative challenge. It’s
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Check out our new artisan art!

The Artisan Search 2011 continues… Looking to find new and exciting art and artists, Cloth Paper Scissors has challenged artists to send us their best art in one of five categories: Mixed-media Stitch , Art Journal and Book Making , Printmaking
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We Want You! Show Us Your Art Mojo

You may have been reading Cloth Paper Scissors for four months or four years. You know your way around rusted metal, ledger sheets, and image transfers with your eyes closed. You drink encaustic wax and eat peanut butter and gel medium sandwiches for
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Are You Ready to CREATE?

We are counting the days here at Cloth Paper Scissors Headquarters. We can’t wait to CREATE with you. August 25th-29th, is right around the corner and we’re pulling out all the stops for our first-ever art retreat, and setting the mixed-media world on
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Get Ready to CREATE this Summer!

CREATE with the Best August 25th-29th, 2011 Rosemont, Illinois Wow! Have you seen the instructor line up for Create? Did you get a look at the workshop schedule ? You can learn everything from no-stitch ATCs with Belinda Spiwak to monoprinting with Jeanne
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10 Things I want to try from March/April issue

Last week I posted a list of all the things I learned from the March/April Cloth Paper Scissors, and I issued a challenge. Many of you stepped up from the challenge and I hope you enjoyed the game! We have a WINNER! The winner of this contest is Kristine
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You Could be Our Next 2011 Artisan

Announcing the 2011 Artisan Search Every issue of Cloth Paper Scissors ® has amazing art submitted by our talented readers. This year we're spreading our net wider in search of the best mixed-media artists around and one of them might just be
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Layering it on for Mom

With Mother's Day right around the corner, I was looking for some inspiration for gift making. I recently watched Beryl Taylor's Cloth Paper Scissors Workshop DVD, "Layer by Layer ," and came away with a lot of great ideas. Beryl has a way of making the simplest objects beautiful with
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Cloth Paper Scissors September/October 2008

Mixed-media collages; A mini quilt collage; The importance of clouds; Combining paper & quilted surfaces; Easy, colorful fabric books; Creating with digital prints on Lutradur and lace paper; Delicious cupcake assemblages; Recycled fabric treasures; A creative exercise in machine needle felting;
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