The Girl And Her Cat

Hello Everyone! A hearty welcome to all new readers and welcome back to the old faces. It has been quite a busy winter holiday for me. We traveled to a new country. I made a few books for journaling, and I also got some art supplies for my birthday. On the note of journaling, I have a little tutorial to share with you today.

Rooftops in Prague in the afternoon sun

During the month of December, we made plans to visit the Czech Republic (Czechia). After much anticipation, the day finally came in March. We were there for a week visiting Prague and a few other small towns. We were on our feet a lot, getting lost in the little streets and alleys, looking at old architecture and visiting coffee shops. It was truly amazing. I will share a lot more about our travel in a future post.

I needed a notepad for my Japanese studies. I gathered up a stack of scrap paper, a piece of chip board and a roll of washi tape, and spent a leisurely evening making this notepad. It was a fun and easy thing to make, so I thought I’d share the how-to with you.

Supplies – paper, a thin chip board (e.g., cereal box), washi tape or masking tape, binder clips, scissors, glue, and a brush for the glue. A paper trimmer would be good, but not required.

Using scissors or a paper trimmer, cut all the paper to a size that you like. Cut the chipboard to the same size as the paper. Pro tip – I recommend adding an extra 1/8″ to the longer side.

Take the stack of trimmed paper and the chip board, line them up and bang the edges of the stack on a table surface a few times until you have smooth edges all around. Put binder clips on each side to hold the stack together. Pro tip – I use a couple of scrap papers between the clip and the pad, so the clips do not dent or mar the paper.

Using the brush, apply glue along the smooth shorter edge. I like to run my finger over the edge to smooth out the glue after applying. Pro tip – Do not put too much glue all together, it will seep into the pad. Apply at least 2-3 thin layers with adequate drying time in between.

Make sure everything is completely dry before you take the clips off.

Cut your washi tape to the same size as the width of your pad. Start by pasting it on the glued side of your pad as straight as you can. I usually apply the tape on the front side first, then wrap it over the glued edge and paste it on the back over the chipboard. Try to pull it taught over the glued edge as best as you can. Use your fingers to smooth it all out. That’s it! If you used a plain tape, you can draw something on it, or use rubber stamps to decorate it.

BTW, I personalised the black pen with a band of red washi tape around the cap. I thought it added a fun touch to the plain black pen.

I love William Morris designs. I used a wide WM washi tape for this pad, and a plain washi for the little one. I also stamped on a few shima enaga birds with a few branches.

Please excuse the orange sticky in the photos. I used it to mark my study notes, and forgot to remove it before taking the photo.

I made at least four books during the holidays with different purposes in mind. This one is an art study book I made for practice. Warming up here with a little forest cat as the very first drawing in it.
Joining FFO this week with Nicole.

The other books are going to be used for notes and travel journals. I will save that for another day with notes on how I work on my travel journals.

My husband always gets me a few art supplies for my birthday. This year, I got a collection of Copic markers in warm earth tones that he picked out for my paintings. Although they would have been great for a landscape painting, I wanted to draw something more special with them. I also tried out a few new techniques with the markers.

I always draw the Girl and Her Cat outdoors, and I wondered what their room might look like. It seems they live in a stone cottage, and their room is full of findings from their little adventures outside. I really want to explore a bit more into this scene and add a few more things that I know they have tucked away in that room.

Lastly, a small shop update – Light Journals (formerly known as Everyday Journals) are back in the shop, and my hardcover books are now made with much thicker paper. All hand-stitched and handmade by me and are suitable for drawing and writing.

This winter holiday was filled with experimenting and playing which I love the most. I look forward to sharing more photos, books and art chats including Outside the Lines (posts on art supplies) in the coming days.

Until next time,
-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them. Hosts of linky parties – please grab a photo of you choice for your party. Thank you for hosting!

Simple 365 – Set 14

Here is another set of Simple365 photos from a year of everyday black and white photos. We had rolled into the first few days of October by this time. Naturally, I started taking October-themed photos.

Please Click on the image thumbnails to see the photos.

I created a page with all the previously shared photos from Simple365. That way I can relive my journey through the year via black and white photos, like in an old photo album.

We made one special trip to Los Angeles to bring our kitties home. The haze of the California desert at Hwy 395!

Tavish, the orange one, Pemberley in the middle, and Merwyn at the front – the merry band of the Ink Torrents Atelier staff!

The colored photo of the winter forest painting that appears in b&w in the Simple365 set. As I mentioned in the previous post, I enjoy working on monochromatic watercolor paintings.

On the last post, I shared process photos of tiny little books and travel inspired paintings. If you missed that post, you can read it here.

I am really happy to share that the last post and other recent posts were featured on these link-ups.

The Really Crafty

Weekend Traffic Jam

Crazy Little Lovebirds

Monday Morning Blog Club

Thank you so much ladies!!

Outside the Lines – Art Supple Review

Kuretake No 8 Fountain Brush Pen

Brush pens are mostly used for calligraphy, but I use them for drawing too. The variable line width that can be created with a brush pen makes it very versatile. On my search for a brush pen that is refillable, I came across the Kuretake N0. 8 fountain brush pen.

To get a feel for the pen, I filled it with permanent fountain pen ink and scribbled a few coffee cups with it. The coffee-addict me approves.

This pen uses cartridges. I like using my own ink. Kuretake does not make a fountain pen converter, but a Platinum Fountain Pen Converter can be used with this pen. It’s the middle piece in this photo; it holds ink for fountain pens and can be filled with any ink of your choice.

Since the pen does not have the capillary action of a fountain pen, I fill the converter by dipping it into an ink bottle directly. Since I use permanent, non-water-soluble ink, I always fill the pen half way. Permanent ink left in a pen can clog it up pretty badly. By filling it halfway, I can use up the ink before that happens. Every now and then, I clean up the pen thoroughly with water between uses.

Once the converter is filled and attached to the pen, I push the ink to the brush tip by turning the screw of the converter gently until I see ink tinting the brush tip. Once that happens, I prime the tip by drawing lines until I get a set of smooth lines starting from thin to thick. Then I know it is ready for use.

I created lines of varying thickness for the trees and then used the same pen for shading. Once I finished drawing the picture, I used watercolor for the background. I kept it super simple by using just two colors.

I really love this pen. It is one of my staples for not only drawing in journals, but for writing too! If you do calligraphy, I highly recommend it for that as well.

Here is a very quick painting I did of the Girl and Her Cat standing at the edge of a forest. It’s a misty day and they love playing in the forest with leaves and butterflies on such days.

A Book from the Time in the Forest

We love visiting the redwood trees in the north of California during the winter months. This is a very narrow and twisty road at Redwood National Park. We drive up there during the early evening hours and stay until the darkness completely envelopes us. The looming darkness makes these towering trees look even taller. Perfect for story time! Sometimes we listen to audiobooks; sometimes we read sitting in the car.

For a book for my husband’s birthday present, and I drew this tiny, tiny picture with our car on that road.

After that I started working on the book itself. Book cloths are paper lined so the glue does not seep into the cloth. I made the book cloth for this book myself using cotton quilting fabric that I had at hand. I left an inset in the cover for the picture. I also added little matching black and silver bands at each end of the book aligned with the spine. Finally I affixed the picture on the cover inside the inset.

I wanted to make something for him with our shared times in mind. The drawing and the book felt right. I should mention that I finished the book way after his birthday. He was surprised, and very happy too. That made my day! Since then, I get requests every now and then to make books for his notes and I am happy to oblige.

While I am looking forward to being outside again, I am using this time to work and spend time with the kitties in my atelier. I hope your summer days are going well.

Until next time,
-Soma

I am linking up with the linky parties on my Links page. Please pay a visit to some of them.

Little Stories – Winter Playtime

Opposite Seasons

Simple 365 – Set 14

Outside the Lines – Art Supple Review

Kuretake No 8 Fountain Brush Pen

A Book from the Time in the Forest