Shakerag 2023 - Soft Books with Lotta Helleberg

Fabric-covered book with added hand-stitch

This is the 3rd year I've been able to attend a week-long workshop (Shakerag Workshops) in Suwanee TN. Oh, my goodness. I love this place. Surrounded by all those creatives, some who return year after year, so I get to catch up with them. This year was no exception. I had a blast.

This time I took a class taught by fiber artist, Lotta Helleberg. I had not met her before but had been following her for several years. Her work focuses on botanical prints for wall art, as well as art books. We learned to bind *soft* books with our botanical prints on paper and fabric.

Though I've had some limited success with botanical contact prints in the past, I was so looking forward to learning her approach. And I had basically no experience with book binding.

It felt a bit fast and furious while I was in class, but I came away with so much to practice at home. I love that.

We learned 4 different soft bookbinding techniques. I kept getting confused. But now that I'm home, that is all good. I have been practicing. I *may* have it in my head (now).

At the beginning of the workshop, we students walked around the St Andrews campus with Lotta. We collected leaves to try printing. I love Lotta's experiential approach to this. She inspired some fearlessness. Today I did the same thing in my own yard. My results are cooling as I type. Maybe I'll have something to show before I post this. Fingers crossed. 

The above example is called Dos-a-dos, based on the two bindings, I suppose. It is really two books with one common back. It contains blank paper - writing paper for one side, and watercolor paper for the other half. It's all set to take on vacation.

The one above is a Japanese stab-stitch binding and contains a mix of printed paper and printed fabrics. The fabric on the right is silk. The paper on the left is printed via a dip in logwood ink.

I wish I could remember the names of the plants we used to print leaves. Maybe I should work harder to remember them. Perhaps I should start in my own yard!

This one almost glowed. Maybe it was smokebush?

Cover for the Dos-a-dos book.

I was able to print on my old piano sheet music from the 60's. I've tried using it in other paper crafts and it crumbled. So I'm pretty pleased to see this. Interestingly, the black ink from the music, printed in bright blue on adjacent pieces.

Silk prints beautifully.

I was pretty excited when I finished this *tiny* book at home. It has a woven binding and contains water color pages. So it will be modified over time.

Some classes are fun at the time but I never know how/if they influenced my creative practice. I feel sure this one will continue to entertain me, as it combines paper, fabric, and even watercolor.