Artiscape: The Cubicle Book

Artiscape is a series of diverse workshops hosted each year by European Papers. From Thursday through Sunday, artists learn new techniques or perfect old favorites with a strong list of instructors. In between classes, one can stop at the vendor marketplace (much smaller this year), visit the European Papers store (the "mother ship") and get to know lots of like-minded creative types!

My first class was called "Cubicle Book" and it was taught by Amy Flowers at her off-site studio, Shrew'd Studios.

The shuttle dropped me off in front of what used to be a garage -- one step in and I knew it was going to be great!

Amy greeted us with "find a seat -- there's wine, pop, and cookies in the back!" Art and wine. Works for me. And she introduced us to Linda, who was her studio helper.

There were five of us in this class, so there was plenty of room to work. And, until it began, we took a long look at Amy's studio -- I loved this astounding white kimono on the wall --

And there were lots of nooks with cute stuff, all jammed in so there were always surprises!

Amy began the demo explaining how this book -- using six squares of a card stock with tiny holes punched in each corner would go together to make a box that was completely reversible.

First you lay out your cards and get your concept for the piece.

Then you go to town with Lumiere...

Lots of ink and stamps!

I had a green/aqua side (which would later get stamped tulips and borders).

The other side was deep blues and golds. Yes. The cat side.

Amy was most generous with her supplies, her time and her encouragement and we had a good deal of fun putting together our boxes.

Here's the end product! (I have since added some beads and trimmed my "strings." When you flip the cards, it stands up this way, but with the reverse side.)

(And no, you won't see the other side -- because the other thing I learned about this is that you may have all your cards lined up right for one side and it looks great -- but if you aren't more careful checking BOTH sides, you'll find half your tulips upside down!)

Incidentally, Amy pointed out one could use this box as an art therapy project -- your "face to the world" side on one side of the box and your "hidden" face on the other. I'd love to try it with kids.