Kinda an orchid, done with the concentrated watercolors. Did you know that they mix really well in the plastic palettes with the little wells.

This one might end up being a landscape.

We got our artwork back from this summer's teacher show at the Polk Museum of Art, this one is called "Failed Attempt at Being Cheery". I love working with encaustic (pigments suspended in a wax medium). I really wish that I had a space with adequate ventilation so that I could work with encaustic all the time, not just the last month of school with my sophomores and AP students.

In art 1 we start with lines and patterns with a focus on repetition to create unity. I am determined that I will finish this. I like the organic patterns I started with but now I need to focus on unifying the piece.

Here are some pages I did at the IB training this summer. We had an assignment to do pages influenced by our St. Pete surroundings. The first page was inspired by the road construction I hit on the way there.

The next picture is the beginning of a "zen tangle" like exercise we did in class.

Here's the almost complete book. I used the papers on top for the end papers on the inside front and back cover. I got this finished just in time to take with me to IB training. I do wish that I had used thicker book board for the covers but it is still usable. When I get a chance I'll post some images of the pages I did at training.

Here is the completed spine, reinforced with ribbons, fabric, and craft paper.

I also made some wheat paste for the fabric covering.

2 tablespoons wheat flour

2/3 cup water

mix to combine then cook in a pan on the stove, mixing constantly, for ten minutes

Saving all those plastic containers is useful when you need a container for something like this.

Here's the book before covering. I had to cut new book board pieces since the first ones were a bit small.

This book took forever to sew. I've never made a book this big before and the most recent ones have been the 6 signature ones we make in the junior year for self and society. Well here it is with sewing done, I had to attach new thread three times.

It's all prepped for gluing with a 15 lb weight on top since I don't own a book press.

I've been unhappy with the sketchbooks I've found in the stores so I'm going to make my own. I'll be using the following tutorial http://davethedesigner.net/booktut/index.html

I've completed cutting and tearing the paper and folding the signatures. Now I'm waiting on my order from Hollanders so I can begin sewing them.