Workshop Magic…

There is an advantage to a one-on-one workshop with an artist at their studio. You get the attention you need especially, if it’s a whole new process you’re learning. You get your answers quickly and on the spot and it takes your creativity up a whole other notch! I’ve been creating more elaborate art journals and falling more and more in love with book art and the making of books. I wanted to take my work to another level.

I am always drawn to adding pieces to my paintings and book art, so imagine how thrilled I was to find out about Leslie Marsh and her work. Leslie was featured in many books, magazines and she has been creating books for years. I knew she would be the perfect person to learn from. So, I took a metal bookmaking workshop with Leslie Marsh over two weekends. I learned so much and I’m still processing all of it, with a lot of excitement.

What a workshop this turned out to be! Can I say that I squealed and jumped up and down, more than once as I learned the many aspects of metal working, that Leslie taught me. I LOVED soldering, hammering and eco-dying the pages I used in my book! My aesthetic is similar to Leslie’s, in that we both love to embellish our books and she likes to attach metal bits and items to her pieces as do I.

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I’ll let them speak for me.

As an artist, learning is a constant and I love the thought that I will always be a learner and that’s probably one of the things I love about being an artist. Every day can truly be a new beginning!

Here are some wonderful pictures of the work and Leslie’s amazing studio!

We are getting ready to create the paper needed for the book.

We have created the paper and it’s on the drying racks.

The Soldering Station, where the metal covers were begun, I really enjoyed this part, maybe because of the taboo of playing with fire!

This is where the metal was cleaned after the soldering and embellishment adding.

We drilled, hammered and inserted eyelets onto our covers.

We completed our front and back covers, added our paper and voila, I had a completed book!

This was pretty exciting for me, learning a new way to create book art, and exploring the possibilities of these new techniques and how I was going to use them in the future.

Now, I’m going to finish with some inspirational shots from the lovely studio of Leslie Marsh!

This was an incredible journey and learning process!

From my wildly passionate creative soul to yours in peace.