WINDOW-SCREEN ART JOURNAL FROM THE NEW BOOK RE-BOUND BY JEANNINE STEIN

Book making and recycling, two of my favorite things!

Re-Bound
Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials
By
Jeannine Stein

Re-Bound shows readers how to take every day materials
from around the house, flea markets and thrift stores, and
hardware and office supply stores, and turn them into
fabulous books. Instead of saying, What can I make a book
out of, readers will be thinking, What can't I make a book
out of? In Re-Bound, a vintage souvenir wallet becomes
a photo album. Last year's trendy sweater becomes a takealong
journal. Even potato chip bags get a second life as a
handy pocket notebook. This fun pursuit is economical as
well as ecological. A variety of attractive, uncomplicated
bindings, how-to instructions, and step-outs bring each
project to life.

Jeannine Stein (Los Angeles, CA) has been making
books for more than 15 years, exploring bindings,
mediums, and techniques. She has studied with
notable book artists Daniel Essig, Keith Smith, Kitty
Maryatt, and Charlene Matthews. Her work has been
featured in such Quarry titles as Pockets, Pullouts,
and Hiding Places, Beyond Scrapbooks, and 100 Ideas
for Stationery, Cards, and Invitations. Her projects
have also been appeared in magazines, including
Home Companion, Romantic Country, and Stamper's
Sampler.

Isn't this house shaped book beautiful? It is very poignant for me right now. Read on to learn why.

 

Click on the images to enlarge and read all the great directions on how to make a Window-Screen Art Journal.

 

Wow, those pages are filled with so many great tips and techniques for making a screen book.

Well, I am going to start with a tiny project just to get my feet wet in the world of making books with window-screen or what I call hardware cloth.

It just so happens I happen to have some extra from a forced home improvement project. I had a very determined bunch of "critters" shall we call them that simply insisted on coming into my attic through the grid vents on each side of the house.

I'll digress from the crafting portion of today's post to tell the story, if you want to just skip over this part, go right ahead but if you have had to fight the critter battle yourself, you might enjoy the story.

I first went up to the attic in my "hazmat suit" armed with a Ziploc baggie of fiberglass screen patches and wire to re-stitch up and patch the existing fiberglass screen thinking that this would work. Silly me.

I also would like to mention my attic is very short and I have to crawl on my hands and knees and I can't even sit all the way up when I would be working. I felt like Rob Lowe in The Breakfast club crawling in the ceiling back to the filing room.

The next day I looked up there and new holes were chewed through in the exact spot I had just patched.

So I bought metal standard window screen and covered the entire vent area over the fiberglass screen.

A few days later, chewed though in the same spot!

So now onto the hardware cloth. I stapled it over both the fiberglass and metal window screen.

Success I dare say!

So when I got my copy of Re-Bound and there was this beautiful house shaped Art Journal made from this screening material I just had to turn my scraps into something pretty in addition to my not-fun home improvement project I had just endured.

This is how I made a mini hardware cloth journal.

First I recycled a scrapbook paper catalog page by cutting out each of the papers.

 

Then I cut out two squares of hardware cloth or 1/4 inch screening to the same size as the little pages.

 I laid out each page.

Then I glued them back to back, punched holes in the top and bottom corners and stitched the pages and hardware cloth covers together with two strands of embroidery floss. I didn't tighten the floss up so that the pages would open easy.

Here you have it. I love how it came out and I still have more scraps so I will definitely be making more.

Pop on over to Urban Paper Arts for more on Re-Bound and Squam Art Workshops.

Today's question:

Have you turned a project you didn't want to do into something you did?

As a thanks for leaving your answer in the comments section you will be entered to win a free book!

Comments

[peggy gatto]

thank you!!! Very well dine!

[peggy gatto]

"done", sorry, finger slipped!

[Janet]

I loved the Urban Paper Arts blog.
To justify starting and project and then not finishing, I usually donate the materials to local inner city schools and green schools. But, I have been gifted materials from unfinished projects that I have repurposed and then finished, if that counts.

[Gina Lighton]

Love the book and thanks for this project info. Regarding your critters: It's very possible that a Mom was coming back and forth caring for babies, who just might be trapped in your attic now and starving. You might want to double check and only seal back up the window when you know that everyone's out.

[rush]

i make cards for my mother to send to her friends. it got to feeling like a chore. at the same time, i felt like i didn't want to "waste" my "good" stuff. finally, i decided i could "let go"...use what i love, build up more layers (thus spending a little more time on my project) and embellish a little more freely. so, the chore turned into more of an artistic experience. hopefully, my mom will notice...if i can just get them mailed to her! btw...i love that little book. i made a teeny book that would fit behind a quarter using a tiny picture of a rockwell painting in a magazine.

[Katina]

I have dabbled in watercolor and have sometimes ended up with a mess. I then cut up one of the watercolors and used it for an art quilt and it really added some pizzazz.

[Regan Tomlin]

I have a ton of things that I don't want to do...as do we all :) I turn them into things I want to do mainly by bribing myself by saying I can do something fun creatively AFTER I finish the unwanted chore...and like you, usually have something left over to add to my stash :)
cherisse911@hotmail.com

[Kathy]

Often times I take on challenges or projects just to get my mind going. I may or may not be that interested. But they can turn into my favorite things!!

[BrendaLea]

I can't say that I have. I would just do whatever project it was period.

Love the little book you made and
I have some hardware cloth leftover so will make one of these too.