Mantel Makeover



Ever since we moved into our apartment, the display of artwork and objects above our mantel has been in a constant rotation. We'd never been quite satisfied with it, so my husband and I would rearrange it every few months, only to decide that it was still in need of a makeover. I think this time we've finally got it right.



As part of a wedding gift for my husband, I bought a Dolan Geiman gift certificate (which came with some neat coasters -- see top right photo -- because of a special promotion they were having at the time.) A few months after the wedding we finally had a chance to sit down, browse Dolan's Etsy shop, and pick out a new print for our apartment. We selected the print "Map Blue Highway Yellow Cornhusk." Since getting it framed, the print anchored the design of our mantel. (By the way, Dolan just launched his spring line of artwork, as I wrote about yesterday. Check out his new work here.)



The colors in the Dolan Geiman print nicely compliment the color scheme of my mom's painting, so we moved it above the mantel as well. The framed photograph on the left is one that my husband bought from an art student at Hillsdale College. The red vases are from Crate&Barrel, which we bought with a wedding gift card. I made the raku-fired piece of pottery during college and the vintage camera came from an antique mall here in the Shenandoah Valley. The two glass jars are filled with antique letterpress type (which was part of a wedding gift from two great friends, along with an antique tabletop letterpress machine).



Above you'll see my husband, Tony, and our dog, Riviera, checking out our new arrangement. Tony and I adopted Rivi in August from the animal shelter. She's a seven-year-old brindle bullmastiff, and she's truly the sweetest dog I've ever known. And yes, she's almost always sticking out her tongue.

Some other highlights from the odd little zone in our living room that once housed a fireplace include:
  • an antique projector found at a Michigan rummage sale;
  • a stack of old books from Athens, GA and Baltimore;
  • a vintage fan from Detroit;
  • one of my mini monoprints, an old photo of the Brookfield Zoo, and a letterpress postcard held in place by button magnets that I made;
  • and a letterpress poster featuring a Vonnegut quote. It was made by Tony and Chase on a recent trip to Typecast Press in Baltimore. You can read all about it here.


Tony and I have also been thinking about photographing the rest of our apartment and putting together a photo tour to post here. It would be sort of like the Design*Sponge sneak peaks, although I'm not promising our apartment can compare to any of those amazing homes. I've also been thinking about posting pictures of my little studio as well. What do you think? Would you be interested in this?

Artist Feature: Dolan Geiman



Dolan Geiman has become one of my favorite contemporary artists, which is made more interesting through a series of coincidental connections. I became familiar with Dolan's work when we met him at the Uptown Art Fair the summer Tony and I were living in Minneapolis. His work stood out to me because it was so different than everything else on display, and his aesthetic and color palette really drew me in. I grabbed one of his promo postcards (which I later made into magnets for my fridge) and signed up for his mailing list.

About a week later, when Tony and I were both offered jobs at The News Virginian and we knew we would be moving to Waynesboro, VA, I received my first e-newsletter from Dolan. It was then that I learned that he grew up in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, not far from where Tony and I currently live. Before we moved, I sent Dolan an e-mail asking him all about Waynesboro. He kindly responded with a wealth of information, ranging from sharing tidbits about our future co-workers, filling me in on the local lingo, and directing us to some great hiking trails. He really got us excited to explore our new town and the surrounding area. And aside from the Minneapolis and Virginia connections, toss in the fact that he currently lives and works in Chicago (close to where Tony and I grew up), and you've got an amazing trio of serendipity.



Dolan's artwork is inspired by his rural Virginian upbringing, which I can really appreciate now that I'm familiar with the area. His tactile pieces often combine painting, printmaking, collage, and assemblage of found objects. I strongly recommend visiting his Etsy shop, or checking to see if he will be exhibiting at a local art fair near you. While it's great to see his work online, nothing can match experiencing it in person. (I was excited to see his artwork up close a second time when he exhibited at the Fall Foliage Festival in Waynesboro.) And best of all, his new spring line of artwork just launched TODAY on his Etsy. I've included a sampling of some of my favorite new items in this blog post.



Stay tuned tomorrow for a feature on the Dolan Geiman artwork that Tony and I own. We recently got our print framed, which inspired us to rearrange all of the artwork in our living room and give our mantle a much needed makeover.


Dolan Geiman: Contemporary Art with a Southern Accent™

Website: dolangeiman.com
Etsy Shop: dolangeiman.etsy.com
Blog: dolangeiman.blogspot.com
Twitter: twitter.com/dolangeiman
Facebook Fan Page: click here

Flashback Friday: Book with handmade paper cover



As part of the book arts class I took in Italy, my instructor, Eileen Wallace, also taught the basics of papermaking. I made the rust-colored paper used for the cover of this book. The guards wrapping the signatures of paper are also sheets of my handmade paper, only thinner than the piece used for the cover. The brown paper used for the pages came from a little shop in Cortona and has a subtle striped pattern. I bound this book using the Italian Long Stitch, which is the same binding style used for my more recent leather book. I love how two books with the same structure can have such a different aesthetic based purely on the cover materials.



A set of custom books



I recently ordered these three decorative papers with plum blossom patterns from Paper Source. I will be using them to make a custom set of three books that will be a gift for three sisters. I think the papers are lovely and I'm really looking forward to getting started on this custom order. I'll be detailing the process of making the books here on my blog, and I'll be sure to post pictures of the final product.

For more information about requesting a custom order, please click here.

Flashback Friday: Cortona scrapbook



I made this album during my summer in Cortona, Italy and it was intended to be a scrapbook. I never ended up adding any of my photos or travel mementos to the book, probably because the book didn't turn out exactly as intended. However, I learned a lot about Japanese stab binding while making this book. For example, the sewing needle should be significantly longer than the book is thick. Seems obvious, I know, but a little foresight on this book would have saved me some headaches and frustration. And I wouldn't have needed pliers to pull the needle through while sewing.

There are a few things I do really like about this book, though. I really enjoy the natural two-tone bookcloth and I wish I would have brought some back from Italy with me. I also like the rough edges of the pages and the torn strips of brown paper that wrap around the cover. The image on the cover is part of a postcard showing one of Cortona's churches at sunset (I believe it is the Church of Santa Maria).

I decided to share this album as my Flashback Friday post for the week because I am about to be making a new series of albums. A co-worker recently asked me to make her an album for her upcoming beach vacation, and I will also be adding some albums to my Etsy shop soon.



Hearts for Haiti



A few weeks ago, I bought a gift on Etsy for my dear friend Diana. There is a group on Etsy called Hearts for Haiti, where different sellers can donate their handmade items and profits go toward earthquake relief. I figured my purchases from Hearts for Haiti would be the perfect gift for Diana since 1.) she is always very thoughtful and puts so much of her time and effort toward helping others and 2.) she enjoy handmade things. I love how she always shares in my excitement when I discover a new artist or crafter, and she also supports and encourages me with my own artwork.



The first item I picked out was a hand-knitted coffee/tea cup cozy, made by VeryCarey, that can be used at coffee shops instead of the cardboard variety on take-out cups. Diana and I made quite a few outings to local coffee shops during college, and since her mission trip to South Africa she's become a tea drinker as well. I wish we still lived in the same town; it would be so much fun to go to Jittery Joe's together with some matching kitted cozies.

The second gift was a handmade flower necklace made from fabric and beads. It was created by EverydayDiamonds, a pair of Canadian sisters who make fabric flowers in a rainbow of colors, as well as beautiful jewelry and accessories. I've been enamored with fabric flowers lately. I have several shirts and sweaters adorned with flowers, I sewed my own flowers to use in place of bows on my bridesmaid gifts in July, and I have been coveting the flower necklace my friend Elena received from her fashion-designing sister.

If you have a chance, I recommend visiting the Hearts for Haiti shop on Etsy. And thank you, VeryCarey and EverydayDiamonds, for participating in this helpful cause.

My Etsy shop has launched!



I want to share some exciting news with you: my Etsy shop is now officially up and running!

If you haven't visited my shop yet, please take a look at the handmade books I've been working on for the past two months. I currently have six mini books for sale in three different styles: Coptic, Italian Longstitch, and Concertina. I also have several larger Coptic journals that I finished last week, and I'll be listing those on my Etsy as soon as they're photographed.







Flashback Friday: My First Coptic



This is the first book that I bound in the Coptic style while learning the art of bookmaking in Italy. It soon became one of my favorite binding styles, and one I've focused on lately. This one is almost four years old now, but my newest Coptic books should be up on my Etsy by the end of the weekend.

Coptic binding allows for pages to lay flat when opened, and the chain stitch connecting the pages is lovely and functional. I first learned to sew Coptics with one curved needle, and later learned to sew them with multiple needles, but my current style is most similar to how I first learned. This is the most enjoyable way to bind books, I'd say.

The decorative paper used for the covers and the guards (the paper wrapped around the sections of pages) is my favorite part of this particular book. I purchased the paper at a little shop in Cortona, Italy and it well represents the style of paper found throughout the country. Although I'm usually not fond of floral prints, this one struck me. I love the bright hues mixed with the delicate gold details and the intricate patterns. Seeing prints like these makes me nostalgic for my summer in Cortona.




Flashback Friday: Modigliani concertina





Less than a month before my trip to Italy was the first time I'd ever heard of the Italian artist Amedeo Clemente Modigliani. With her usual sense of adventure at Blockbuster, my mom rented a little-known movie on a whim, and this movie introduced us both to someone who is now one of my favorite artists. And as it turned out, there was an exhibit of Modigliani's paintings on display in Rome while I was in the city. Seeing the vivid portraits in person, especially the haunting absent eyes, solidified his work in my ranking of favorites. I soaked in the experience, and was one of the last in our group to leave the gallery.

And as if this Modigliani coincidence wasn't enough, there's more to the story. Several weeks later, I was wandering through a flea market in Perugia, a city in Umbria known for its chocolate, when I found a lovely vintage book filled with images of Modigliani's work.

I was taking a book arts and papermaking class in Cortona that summer, and decided to reconstruct the book into several creations of my own. I ended up using four of the color images from my flea market find to make this double concertina book, with several smaller black and white images serving both structural and decorative purposes. The covers were made using some informative pages from the book, and a cutout of Modigliani's signature serves as the title.

This is one of my favorite books that I made during my time in Italy, for both aesthetic and sentimental reasons. It was displayed in La Mostra, an art exhibition in Cortona, as well as a show at the University of Georgia once I returned to the States.

While in Italy, I also made another Modigliani book, which I will include in a future Flashback Friday post. I still have the original covers and some of the pages from the original antique book, and perhaps I will use them to make a third book in the future.