Sweet Woods Trading

Sweet Woods Trading

Silver Touch

I have been working on this book all week and finished it today. It was such a pleasure to create. When in Germany a couple of years ago, I found this fabulous silver crepe-like paper. It is delicate to work with, has a textured surface, and when glued and smoothed out with the bone folder the texture changes and it feels like silk. The small indents that occured when working on the book cover have a patina like quality and when used, it will continue to develop. I am often inspired by architecture and when reading about it or watching a show about architects and their designs, I usually come up with my own book designs. In the centre of this book, I have created a city scape using the same silver paper, copper foil, miniture photos, a red film used in photography and a drawing. When the centrefold is opened up, different views and colours can be observed through the windows. I have used an 80 lb. recycled drawing paper for the text blocks and there are 70 pages in this book. It measures 8.25 x 12.25 inches (21 x 31.1 cm).

Recycled Jewel

Olive, my friend, brought me a couple of large necklaces to recycle into my books. Voilà - the necklace, made in India, hangs freely in the cover of this book. Its fuschia and green colours blend nicely with the purple and gold paper and sparkly book cloth. I used a traditional binding technique with a twist - the book cloth on the spine was cut so the stitching could be seen. The text block was made from a heavy recycled paper and the book contains 50 pages.

Polka Dots

I created this book from a beautiful paper with artistically designed circles, some of which are gold embossed. I used a glittery purple book cloth, and braided cotton threads for the closure around the recycled key. A soft leather is part of the binding and key closure. The text blocks are made from a heavy recycled paper. There are 70 pages in this book.

Tri-Cover Book

I used a heavy cotton paper for the cover of this book. The design is abstract and done with black pigment pens. The third flap on this book can be used as a book mark. The closure is a pink satin ribbon with two pearlized buttons. There are 40 pages in this book.

Craft Fair II

This little bookl has 120 pages. The cover is a heavy cotton paper and is adorned with a colourful abstract drawing. I use India ink pens and gel pens (to get the shimmer) to color my drawings. The book is bound with a fuschia coloured waxed thread in the tradition bookbinding stitch.

Feel Good Book

I created this book from a soft piece of leather left over from my leather tooling days. It was also used to make my son a pair of mukluks when we lived in the north. Now it is a small booklet with craft paper pages. I drew the design on the front with pen and over time, with use, it will mellow and eventually fade. The leather is lined with a coloured abstract drawing - so pictures on the outside and the inside - a feel good book :>))