In The Studio

I'm sending out my book for a new round robin today, and I'm really excited about it.  It's called In The Studio, and it's an RR that is designed to explore the sources of inspiration and why we make art.  I like "why" questions, so this process appeals to me a lot.

The book is a 6×8" ring bound book.  I've taken it apart to work on it.  This is the cover, the text reads "looking into things."

The inside of the cover uses the same design motif.

I journaled about my goals for the round robin on some tags on the first page and added a little silver bauble that says "grace" at the top of the page.  The fibers are some tussah silk that I spin into a thick yarn to anchor the tags to the page.

This is one of the first pieces I did for the book, several weeks ago.

I decided to include a piece I cut out from the paper I line my studio table with.  I'm always fascinated by how great this paper looks after I've been working on top of it for several weeks, and also with the transformations it goes through.

And finally, this piece on the inside of the back cover is my favorite.  She sat out on my table for close to a month before I glued her down, and I'm still thinking about adding a tiny word on her dress.  The word that kept sticking in my mind was "foretell" which was too big, so she is wordless for the moment.

I've done some scans with her and am planning on using her in some soldered charms (I'm hoping to make one for each of the kids' teachers for the holidays).  She started life with the plan being to turn her into a fabric collage, but I ended up deciding to place her more simply.  I'm not positive I made the right choice, so I may have to work with her some more.

I have Terrie Lightfoot's beautiful house-shaped book, next up for me in this round robin, out on my studio table and can't wait to work on it later this week, probably while waiting for election results to come in Tuesday night.  Terrie's book is gorgeous and a wonderful treat to look forward to working in it!