Peek-a-Boo Journal class at SPA

Last week I taught the second day of my Peek-a-Boo Journal class at Studio Place Arts (SPA). In the first session, students cut out spaces in the covers to create windows to frame content they selected.

As a teacher, I think that the window-cutting seems to be the hardest part of the process – it takes a lot of passes with an X-Acto to get through the bookboard. As an artist, I would argue that the hardest part of the process is choosing the cover paper and the thread color.

Oh, and what goes in the window.

The second session focused on the binding – the double-needle coptic stitch.

I love love love the double-needle coptic. Once you get into the rhythm of the sewing, it’s so relaxing. And when you finish, you have this lovely waxy feeling on your hands from the linen thread. It’s like a paraffin spa treatment.

Learning the binding is a challenge, because there are so many steps – it’s not exactly the most intuitive process. However, you can see that moment when the binding clicks for someone and then the sewing becomes more fluid.

I love being witness to that “aha” moment.

Right after everyone had left after class, I realized that I didn’t get any pictures of their stitching (argh). Everyone did a fabulous job for their first time – I was really impressed.

I tentatively have two classes scheduled for the fall at SPA. I’ll talk about them more once the details are finalized. If you’d like to get updates about upcoming classes via Email, you can sign up for my newsletter. You can also check out the Events page on my website.