Happy February! First of all - Welcome to all the new subscribers! There are about 30 of you this month. Hope you enjoy byhand!

Sorry this newsletter is a bit late but I've been on a whirlwind tour of Alberta in recent weeks, teaching 5 different groups and 4 different classes over 7 days of teaching. Whew! Air Canada must just roll their eyes when they see me coming. Between shipping supplies ahead and the suitcases I took with me I had 150 lbs of stuff (really good stuff, mind you!). I came home considerably lighter, even though I went shopping!

Thanks to all of those who came to my classes, and especially those wonderful people who picked me up and dropped me off at airports and bus terminals (sometimes in less than perfect weather) and the generous souls in the three homes where I was hosted and fed. I had a wonderful time!

Please check out the Class Photos Page where you'll get to see some of the things we did in class and who we did it with! There will me more photos to add to these as I get them!

Don't forget if you're proud of artwork that you have stamped with a Quietfire Rubber Stamp, please send me a copy and I'll be delighted to put in the Stamping Gallery.

The books for the Tag Book Swap are coming in. I'm not peaking - yet! If you want to read more about this challenge, click here! I will start showing them to you next month....

If you are ordering some of the items listed below, including rubber stamps, you might find it convenient to use the byhand Products Order Form . I may have a shopping cart in the near future for your convenience.

I'd really like to extend a special thanks to those wonderful sharing artists in the byhandartists group for really making this a wonderful issue of byhand!

I hope you enjoy this issue of byhand!

Books to Inspire

Back next month!

Important links at your fingertips!

Back Issues of byhand
Quietfire Rubber Stamps
Acrylic Blocks for Rubber Stamps
Stamping Gallery
Subscriber's Gallery Page
Class Photos page
Links Page
Quietfire Design

How to subscribe to the byhand newsletter and other stuff!

If you wish to contact me, my email address is: suzanne@quietfiredesign.com

To subscribe: send me an email saying 'subscribe'!
To unsubscribe: send me an email saying 'unsubscribe'. I'll live....
To change your email address: send me an email with both your new and old address. Thanks!

Please feel free to browse through my website
Quietfire Design.
There is now a link from my website to this newsletter, but I suggest that you bookmark the
index page of this newsletter ,
so you can return here at any time.

Come join us in our Yahoo discussion group, where we talk about artistic inspirations, make inquiries about techniques, and share quotes and resources.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/byhandartists/ 

Site Sitings

and

On the Island between Duncan & Victoria:

The Warmland Calligraphers, located in the Cowichan Valley, are having an exhibition of their artwork. Check it out!

Studio Tips

Glueless Collage
(sometimes affectionately referred to as Clueless Collage)

Recently, on one of the online groups I belong to, an artist wrote that when she wanted a quick collage, she would lay the items down on her scanner bed in a pleasing arrangement and scan them. No glue! This just tickled me pink! So I mentioned this to the byhandartists group and here are some that we came up with! Once the group got started, they got hooked! Check these out - they're amazing.

I'd be delighted to receive your favourite tips for inclusion here - we can all learn from them and probably save someone - like me - frustrations!

More Passion for Copper - Part V

Parts I through IV can be found in the previous issues of byhand

The Bleach/Vinegar Bath

Now, this treatment, while it's effective, is really smelly! My family has banished me to the garage when I'm doing this! (So make sure you do it outside!)

If you want your copper to look antiqued, drop it into a bath of 50% bleach and 50% vinegar (I used regular white vinegar). It only takes a few minutes. I used gloves and tongs or tweezers when handling the solution and the wet copper. When you remove the copper from the bath, rinse it thoroughly under the tap. For the lower one, I just brushed the solution on with a Q-Tip.

The Mylar Challenge

Last month I mentioned to you that I'd had an email regarding the gluing of mylar to a surface. Melody had looked on my website for a place to ask questions and little did she know this would start a whole group effort! We have discussed this in the byhandartists group and have compared notes. We opened a whole can of worms, and learned things we didn't know and discovered some cool new ways of using mylar (and/or acetate). My thanks to Charmaine, Lizard, Patti, Zoe, Anne and other byhandartists for their generous thoughts and contributions.

When I proposed the Mylar challenge to the group, I was thinking of a clear film. I soon learned (thanks to Lizards research) that Mylar is "A trademark used for a thin strong polyester film Mylar® is an extraordinarily strong polyester film that grew out of the development of Dacron® in the early 1950s. During the 1960s cellophane gave way steadily to Mylar® with its superior strength, heat resistance, and excellent insulating properties. The unique qualities of Mylar® made new consumer markets in magnetic audio and video tape, capacitor dielectrics, packaging and batteries possible."

Patti enlightened me that Mylar comes frosted, as well as clear and you can see some of her work below where she used it.

Gail mentioned that she knew about those silver Mylar balloons! I hadn't even thought about the balloon thing!

I went into Island Blue Print which is an arts/graphics supplier and said to the clerk: "If I was to ask for Mylar, what would you show me?". I was shown three items, one was Mylar Film which was clear, one was drafting Mylar which was similar, but frosted, and the other was "vellum", also frosted but tearable. When I asked what overhead transparencies were made from, she said either acetate or Mylar.

Inquiring minds want to know about this glue problem, so I did a bunch of tests with clear overhead transparencies and frosted paper. Here are those test results:

I used a rubber stamp on pieces of an overhead transparency and on some vellum that I had. I glued the pieces down using Super 77 spray glue, Studio Tac Adhesive, pounded in some eyelets and I ran the two pieces through my Xyron. The Super 77 did a far better job than the other adhesives.

Out of curiosity, I stamped two more pieces of transparency with rubber and mounted them using the new 3M Vellum tape and then tried brushing on Golden soft gel medium. The vellum tape works like a dream on vellum, but ahem, not here....

Below are samples of artwork done by the byhandartists who are happy to share their creations. The way in which they use this mylar/acetate stuff is as varied as the artists themselves. We hope this answers Melody's question! Any more challenges for the byhandartists? We're at your service! And please feel free to join us!

Enjoy!

Zoe

I am quite lazy, but try to use products to their best advantage. In the "Swinging" collage, I inkjet copied the image onto acetate transfer, then transfered the image by lazer copying (precisely adjusted) to my other collage elements.

Patti Sandham

I made a mylar pocket in my journal. It was preprinted with the gold border which is where I glued it so you couldn't see it. Then I also added the rivets for extra strength. I stamped a quote underneath so when the tag was pulled out then you can see it. :)

Anne Atkinson

I used acetate, double-sided tape and gold leafing with Japanese Paper.

Suzanne Cannon

I printed this transparency with my inkjet printer, then painted the journal page with black gesso. I cut a window through 2 pages of my journal and sandwiched the transparency in between, then glued the two pages together. You can see the transparency didn't print all that well...

Suzanne's Schedule
Winter 2003

Non-Traditional Tools for Calligraphy

A few years ago these little crayons saved my calligraphic life! I had gone off to teach a calligraphy class at a brand new school, got there and looked at the boards. Not a black board in sight! It was the new elementary school for the hearing impaired in Burnaby and they have a lot of tv monitors which required a chalk-free environment.

My mother had given me a set of these crayons (top left) that she had bought at a Waldorf School open house. I had thrown them in with my teaching stuff.

Back at the school, I dug out one of these crayons, found some banner paper and began the class with my new tool.

The striped crayon at the bottom was a recent gift from Katharyn in Red Deer. One can never have too many calligraphic toys! She obtained these from the school supply catalogue, Wintergreen, but isn't sure they're still available. Katharyn said she picked one up at a dollar store a few years ago, too. I guess that means you just have to keep your eyes open - you never know where you'll find good stuff!

To use the crayon, just hold it as you would hold a pen nib at the appropriate angle for the lettering you are doing. The chubby crayon is about 1 1/2" x 1", so for italic, you can make letters that are either 5" tall or 7.5" tall depending on which edge you choose as your "tip". The striped crayon is about 1/2" wide and 2.5" long.

The lettering at the top was done on a textured paper, while the lettering at the bottom was on a smooth paper, with the crayon rotated so the blue was to the right.

Keep your eyes open, you just never know what you can use as a broad edge! I have been known to have students cut carrots into pen...

Just a little note about these items I have for sale.

I really don't want to charge you a whole lot for shipping. That's the beauty of no shopping cart (which automatically calculates your shipping). There's nothing worse than making purchases that you know will fit in a little envelope and paying $10 plus for shipping! So, if you decide to combine the items below, and it doesn't add up to very much weight, you don't have to pay a lot of extra shipping. Please feel free to email me for more information! I'm delighted to help you create beautiful things.

Shipping for most items will be $2 within Canada and US$2 to the United States.
If you have a lot of items the cost may be slightly higher. For your convenience, I have created a printable byhand Products Order Form which now includes the rubber.

You may wish to email me to check for availability! Email me your list and avoid disappointment!

Please make your cheques payable in Canadian or U$ funds to Suzanne Cannon and mail to
Suzanne Cannon, Quietfire Design, Box 1231, Port Alberni, B.C. V9Y 7M1 Canada
 Thanks!

Waxed Linen Thread

Prices: It is $0.50/yard Cdn ($0.35/yard U.S. funds).
Here is a list of the colours I currently have in stock:

For those of you who have taken the Coptic Stitched Class, it takes two yards of thread to complete the book as we made it.

For those of you who have taken the Criss Cross Coptic, you will require five yards per book.

The eyelets!

These are weeny cute little guys. They are 1/8" eyelets. There are regular and long neck eyelets. The long neck eyelets will go through a regular thickness of bookboard.
100 eyelets per package.

(the long and short Copper are real copper and the long neck brass are real brass)

This is just the best little eyelet setter! It's hard to mess up, in fact, since I began using this setter, I haven't messed up!
$8.50 each
$5.50 USD each

This is the Anywhere Punch - it allows you to make 1/8" holes for the eyelets *anywhere*! - not just close to the edge of the paper.

$6.00 each
$4.00 USD each

The Envelopes
These cool fellas are perfect for altered books, journals and cards!

I have put together some Book Cradles for sale as some of you have been asking for them. They are not things of great beauty, but really, really handy for when you have a lot of holes to pierce. The legs come off so they're perfect for going to classes. They are large enough for an 8.5" spine length and are $18Cdn (or $12US - to the States). I will try to bring these to classes so you can see them in person!

Book Corners
Jazz up your book covers with metal corners!
I use them on the foredges of books, by applying a little glue and then crimping them, ever so lightly with a pair of pliers.They are all brass except the 3rd one down is Nickel or silver coloured.

They fit nicely on a bookboard of about 2.2mm thickness covered with decorative paper.

To order any of the above items and the rubber stamps go to:
Printable byhand Products Order Form.

If there is any information you would like to see in this newsletter, let me know. Each month I will email you to let you know the new issue is published. If you know someone who would like to receive notice of byhand, just have them email me and I will put them on the list. Bye for now and thanks for visiting!

suzanne@quietfiredesign.com
(250) 723-0321 Quietfire Design

The original title lettering of byhand was done with a Mitchell's Roundhand Nib, size 0, and Higgins Eternal Ink. Quietfire Design Rubber stamps were used to create the other designs.