Red Leather and Centipedes

I like to recycle good usable materials whenever possible, and frequent trips to thrift shops are part of my routine.  On one visit I found a red leather coat that was probably not going to have a future in fashion.  It was an ugly coat, but the leather was beautiful.    I purchased the coat, took it apart and cut book spines. 

This journal was similar to another one I recently put in my store and I wanted to make it different somehow.   It needed a few red centipedes on the cover.....

As I was taking pictures of the new book, I suddenly had an assistant.  Chance wanted to get a closer look at that red leather spine.  He couldn't believe it was made from an old coat!

Here is the inside of the cover and the back side of the centipede stitches.  I like to leave them exposed.

Consider how you can recycle interesting and useful materials into your artwork.   Visit your local thrift store and imagine the possibilities.

Return of the Centipede

 The centipede returns, marching across the cover of this hand painted journal.  I thought this little square book was finished and had set it aside, but the urge to add the critter to the cover kept nagging at me.
The pages of this book include a variety of interesting papers.  This will be a fun journal for someone to fill!  Available online at my Etsy store.

Dark Journal

I've got that centipede bug again.   I have been experimenting with different cover treatments and discovered a technique that works really well to create a very durable and interesting surface.   It's a process of layering papers, mediums and pigments onto heavy book boards.   The results: an intriguing leather-like finish.  

The materials used on these covers are vintage clothing patterns, satin varnish and a variety of brown pigments.  

I can hardly wait to try out some other types of paper with this method.  Oh the possibilities!

Initially the book covers were unembellished, but somehow the black waxed linen jumped into my hands and before I knew it, a centipede was marching across the covers.
You can find this journal and other similar ones for sale at my Etsy Shop.

More Centipedes

Now we're having fun! A bit on the dark side this time, which is good if you're playing with centipedes.
A new shipment of waxed linen cord arrived today...... I think I'll be needing it.
There may still be more of these waiting to come out and play. That's what is so fun about art, you just never know what will happen next.

Fun with Centipedes

Here's my latest book-play. I was in the mood for centipedes and lots of them.

So once I got started it was hard to stop. Just one more I kept saying to myself....

The book measures 5 x 7 and has 112 leaves of mixed paper types and weights. There are pages for writing and pages for drawing or mixed media journaling.

Although this particular book is finished, I don't think I'm done playing with this stitch. I may have caught the bug.