I am having a bit of a lazy summer so far. I have managed to make one little journal so far. It was an epic failure but I finished it anyway. I now know a lot of things not to do when adding attachments to the cover.

I had some fun today making some silicone molds. I happened upon this technique while trying to find a solution to a problem I was having with a popular 2 part mold making compound. This compound is made using 100% silicone compound found in the hardware store, cornstarch, a little oil and a little paint to colour the molds. These worked OK but I think I prefer the real thing. There is not a lot of working time with the silicone and cornstarch as so much time is used in incorporating all the ingredients together. Some of the molds turned out fantastic and some are ok. Nevertheless I had fun making them. Below is a picture of the molds I made and the items I used to make the molds.

...and a few more

Here are a few more soldered and/or etched metal journals I recently completed. Some are made from copper and some from brass. One of them is a combination of copper, nickel silver and maybe aluminum. I tried my hand at etching and I etched the nickel silver too long and it became to thin so I hand to attach it to another metal.

Spring break is over

Wow I haven't been here in a while. Didn't realize it has been so long. Spring break is over and it is back to work tomorrow. I was going to do some spring cleaning but that did not get very far.

Instead I finally put together a work bench I purchased about 2 years ago. Actually my husband put it together for me as the instructions were too confusing. Once it was up and some tools in the drawers I needed to break it in. I dug out some sheet metal, solder, flux, and my micro torch. This is what I made.

The big one is 3x4, the middle one is 2x3 and the small ones are 1.2x2. It has been a long time since I have done the Coptic stitch and I sewed these ones a little too tight. In hindsight I should have used a thinner paper for the little ones. They were a little too puffy. After leaving them in my book press overnight it improved a little but next time I will use a thinner multi media paper instead of watercolour paper.