Book and paper arts with a 5-year-old

Occasionally, my little boy requests that we make things in my bookbinding studio, and he doesn't mean block towers or Lego towns. Last week he asked if we could make a book. We have made blank notebooks before, just using a basic pamphlet stitch (his first attempt was over two years ago). This time we found printable booklets online so his book would have real content. The layout of the pages made them perfect for a stab binding, so this time Nicholas made his first Japanese-bound book, called "What begins with N?". He wanted yet another project, so we made paint. Using a simple recipe that we found online, we made three pots of sticky paint. This is esentially paste made from cornstarch with some food colouring mixed in. The result was a very translucent paint mixture, and when the papers dried, they were very slick and smooth. Could be a great concoction for paste papers. Some book and paper arts resources, if you have a kid who likes to make things: - Make Paper with Kids - Origami for Kids - Printmaking with fruit & veggies - Preschool Indoor Fun - Make your own mini books - Cereal Box Bookbinding - Making Paper Airplanes

Marbling

This looks fun, eh? Recently I haven't had time to do anything very new or exciting in the world of bookbinding. I had two local craft markets which took up my time for a while; I also have a couple substantial orders to fill; and I just spent a couple days marbling. I had to make 30 marbled sheets that were all the same... or at least very similar, using the same colours and all with the same pattern... To make up for that, I spent the next day using as many colours and patterns as possible. Here are some examples - zooming in on the patterns:

Crafter's Market, May 8th

I'm going to be selling my journals at a spring craft market this Saturday!

Spring Crafter's Market!
Date: Saturday, May 8
Time: 10am to 6pm
Location: Halifax Forum's Multipurpose Centre, corner of Windsor and Young Streets.

There will be a fantastic variety of local art and craft sellers. So if you're in Halifax, come by the Halifax Forum's Multipurpose Centre on Saturday. This event is a fund raiser for Feed Nova Scotia so there is a small admission fee, or you can bring a non-perishable food donation in lieu of the admission fee.

This craft sale is perfect timing if you still need to find something for Mother's Day!