The Art of Altered Books by Leara Glinzak

Leara was a joy and also very inspiring when talking about "The Art of Altered Books". She is often quite hesitant to talk about how she glues and cuts up books, as some people do not share her passion.  It took her a while to be comfortable with this art, but as she said, it is another way of preserving  books, quite often books that would be discarded anyway. 
She is shown here with her first book.  She often adds a favorite quote or word in a place easily seen.  The quote in this book, "Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it.," reminded me of her and all she has accomplished already in her life, both as an artist and as an art therapist.

Some of the techniques she used in her books are Relief Carving, Paper Mache,  and Tape Transfer. 

Leara shows us how to do a tape transfer of a picture from a National Geographic Magazine.  You need a good picture, not ink jet, put clear packing tape over it, rub the tape onto the picture, submerge it in warm water until it begins to curl, carefully rub off the paper, and dry.

She uses Modge Podge to glue the pages together,
one page at a time, after cutting some of the pages
out so the book initially lies flat.

This is a picture of Leara that she did a tape transfer of.

The little house has a light under it.

She used the Tape Transfer method for the Butterflies.

According to Leara altered books involve Transformation, Preservation and Storytelling.

A Celebration

This year marks the 35th Anniversary of the Lakeshore Fiber Arts Guild. We celebrated with a special cake.  Jennifer and Alice have been with the Guild since its beginning. We are thankful they got it started and have kept it going all these years.

Show and Tell

Jonetta had three wonderful items for Show and Tell.  This wallhanging
she made by hand dyeing a piece of linen with Indigo Dyes,  Shibori style.  She then handstitched
the quilting type design.

This is some wool that she hand dyed with Pokeberries.

Jonetta knitted this Family book and embroidered the designs.
The inside displays her Hardanger expertise on the corners
of the book.

Jennifer finished her journal cover with lace from her
Godmother that she dyed with Indigo dyes.

Sue took a class in making a handwoven rug using different techniques
all with a Rosepath threading and rag strips for weft.