This is the invitation to be published in the Library Bulletin next week. I've also sent some off to colleagues and friends that might be interested in coming. The exhibition will be on until Dec. 5th. if you can't make it for the opening. I hope you will drop by to have a look at the later date.
Here is Ayako adminring her own creative work. She is so pleased of how they turned out.
The closed up view of both journals. The cloth she used came from Reverse Art Truck in Ringwood, Melbourne.
Ayako's intention is to get each of the Bride and Groom's family and friends to sign each journal. Ayako thanked everyone in the group who had given both verbal and physical help such as stitching the leather corners and drilling the holes. She said that these journals were really a group effort, but of course it was totally Ayako's original idea. Congratulations Ayako, you made me proud...!
This is my combo book. I fished out the printed cardboard from a recycled paper bin. You might have read somewhere on here that I like printed cardboard, so naturally I always spot it in the recycled bin. This one is very colourful and not damaged. I added a few bits of hand torn paper onto the cover as decoration. 
You can see what I used for the signatures. I used some recycled envelopes, office mail envelopes, handmade paper, pages from old magazines, bubble wrap plastic and the pink paper that was an office folder. Of course everyone else's books look totally different from mine. I hope you enjoy looking at my one-of-a-kind combo book.
I wish everyone whose birthday is in August a Happy Birthday, and I hope that someone will remember and bake you a birthday cake. If not, have one from me HAPPY BIRTHDAY...!
Monash Gallery of Art is located at 860 Ferntree Gully Road, in Wheelers Hill, Melbourne. I am so excited to have our work exhibited in such great venue.
This is one of the exhibition areas. It is called the Community Exhibition Space. It is situated between the main gallery and the public library. Our exhibition will be viewed by not only the gallery visitors, but the visitors that use the library as well. We will have five show cabinets to use for our exhibits. How exciting is that going to be?
I agree it does look pretty complicated at first glance. This is a book frame using for sewing book pages together. The traditional version of it is made of timber and steel bolts, but this is a simple version (my version) of a book frame. It is made out of a hard cover book with the window cut out of the cover. The book title is Great Women of the 21st Century. Good book to use for this project. You don't know how excited I was to discover this technique from a library book. It's much easier than I thought it would be. I leapt in and started this great project using my very own handmade book frame. The result is as you can see below!
Here is what I made using the above frame. It's a journal for all occations or as gift. I have a feeling it's going to be a gift for one of my friends at Christmas. The cover is black leather printed over with graffity type prining. I have used two old fashion clasps for the closure. If you click on the picture to enlarge you will see the clasps better. 
And this is how it looks when it is opened. I made an envelope type of cover so if you have dockets, photos, show tickets etc., you can keep them safely inside when the cover is closed. I am very pleased with how it turned out. 
I made this journal for Serena knowing that she is very fond of journal writing. The quilted cover is free motion machine ebroidery with a single rose on it. In the center of it are three silver rose charms with a few hand embroidered leaves. 
I free motioned Serena's initial on the back cover. It is a very personnel journal for you Serena. I have left a lot of room inside the journal so Serena can save keepsakes in it. The tie and the edging is the easy part of the journal. I get braid, yarn and cord together and zigzag by machine. Once I have enough length I hold the finished cord against the edge of the journal cover and zigzag it to the journal's edge. This was the first time I tried this and it worked out really well.
Serena's daughter Sophia turned two last month so this is her birthday present that she can learn about her new baby brother. I re-purposed this Little Golden book by making it into a journal. I cut the book apart and inserted blank pages and the original pages together. I then bound it using Coptic stitch technique. Serena told me she received the parcel today so I am not spoiling her surprise by blogging it here.
Lesson two of course was harder than the lesson one. In the above collage I worked with eight layers of images. It is really fun and I did not get lost in all the layers. I am very excited from what I have learned woo hoo!!! A month ago I would not have had a clue how to make this collage.
