Crafty Week

I've had a pretty productive week, craftwise. I thought I'd show it with some photos.

 I made more of my usual quilled earrings and accompanying origami boxes, both of which turned out well. The earrings this week were mostly in the theme of grey, which I think are rather elegant, though I'm afraid they don't photograph well. There is also a pale pink and black set that remind me of my high school ball dress - if you're wondering, it was a very nice dress.

Then I did my book experiments. I've been meaning to make some as a technique refresher for a while, as next month I'll be teaching children how to marble and then make some of these books.

First I tried the Japanese binding

While I'm very pleased with the effects, I don't think I'll do this one at my course as it's both tricky to make and then, with the tight binding, tricky to use too. Although I may use a variation with handmade paper, as it is a great way to bind single pages.

The second style is just a basic stitched notebook, which I like for its simplicity and ease of use. It satisfyingly meets William Morris' criteria of being both useful and beautiful.