Painted Paper Handmade Book with Kirsten Varga

Have you signed up for Mary Beth's Painted Paper Party class yet? 

It's amazing and full of inspiring techniques to create your own decorated papers. 

Hi from Kirsten!

I enjoy the process of making my own decorative papers to use in my art. It can be playful and meditative. You can get into a creative flow that takes your mind off your worries and you are rewarded with a batch of yummy papers with endless applications! Whether you use them in collage, art journaling, or handmade cards, you can create something totally unique.

After creating more than a dozen papers I decided they needed to be combined into a luscious book that I will turn into a mini art journal. (Those of you that are familiar with my work know I have a passion for handmade books and I want to share another structure inspired by book artist Alisa Golden. (You can check out my previous post for another Alisa Golden-inspired book.) 

She calls this structure an Album Accordion Book. It is a clever way to create a chubby accordion book without the use of a super long piece of paper! I made mine thicker than her example with an added folded detail on the cover fore-edge. 

Check out the video below to see a peek into my process:

I hope you are inspired to create!

Thanks for joining me on the StencilGirl® Blog for another bookmaking adventure!

Kirsten

You can find me on Instagram.

StencilGirl® Stencils used:

    MB's Grid Stencils by Mary Beth Shaw - SET9

    Stockinette Large Pattern by Pam Carriker - S572

    Complementary Stencil by Pam Carriker - S116

    Swatch Grid Stencil by Rae Missigman - L826

    Wood Carving by Chris Cozen - L752

    Soulful Scribbles by Traci Bautista - L608

    Interesting Dots Repeating Pattern by Jennifer Evans - S769

Other supplies:

• Text weight paper (I used some A4-sized paper from my stash but Letter-sized works too!)
• Cardstock 
• Acrylic Paint
• Water-soluble crayons
• Distress Oxide Sprays
• Prismacolor Ebony pencil
• Acrylic Inks
• Brayer
• Cosmetic wedge sponges
• Paintbrush
• Paint scraper (old gift card, Catalyst wedge)
• Ruler
• Craft knife
• Bone Folder
• Scissors
• Binder clips
• Adhesive (I used PVA)
• Corner Rounder