Book-in-a-Day 21: Stamp Catalogue Volume 1

5/25/2013

Title: Stamp Catalogue Vol. 1
Structure: Canvas Book
Dimensions: 6 x 5

Video of my process.

Talk about FUN!!! This book was fun (and tiring) to make. For book 15, I made a canvas covered art journal, but for this 21st book, I wanted to make a full canvas book. One that had pages made from canvas. So like many of my other BIAD books, I found scraps from other projects to use in this one. But with that, came several issues.

First of all, I have way more stamps than I realized. There are 36 pages (9 pieces of canvas) in this journal. All of them, except the covers, are filled with stamps, yet I still didn't get all of my stamping done. I still have my hand carved stamps, the stamps I made with foam sheets, and the many, many, many alphabet stamps I have. So I guess there will be a volume 2 at some point :-).

The second realization I had is that not all canvases are created equal. I have several different kinds/brands of canvas in my collection. Each kind takes gesso differently and each kind accepts the stamped image differently. So of course that was fun to deal with as I went along.

The inspiration for this book came from a conversation I had with my friend Nicole where we talked about archiving. I've always been fascinated by the idea of documenting life, things, etc. This book was my way of archiving and creating a record of the rubber stamps I own. Seriously, when I make mixed media art, it's so easy for me to go to the same old stamps all the time and neglect the others. This catalog gives me an easy way to see what stamps might work for the project I'm working on.

Even with all the uncertainty and randomness of the canvas, I LOVE how this book turned out. I'm a fan of canvas as a material for bookmaking. Especially canvas for the covers. It's versatile, and if you know how to use mixed media techniques, the possibilities are infinite.

I'm looking forward to what this week brings. Stay tuned!

If you're watching the videos, I'm honored! If you're making the books, I'm intrigued, so please share here or on the Giving Hands Creative Community site.