Pop-up bookmaking and Make Nine finish #5

I recently returned from a week-long studio intensive on Dimensional Books. It was a fabulous workshop with the funny and talented Beauvais Lyons, Chancellor’s Professor and Divisional Dean for Arts and Humanities at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and hosted by Shakerag Workshops.

Remembering paste-up, mechanicals, and rubber cement

For me, the workshop was reminiscent of my early career working in design studios and commercial printing companies (all good memories) doing paste-up using an X-acto knife, Rapidograph pens, and rubber cement—although with the pop-ups, we used glue sticks. 

Professor Lyons showed workshop attendees an abundance of pop-up folds and cut-outs. It was a paper-lover’s dream!

Various pop-up examples.

The paper engineering aspect—using parallel and angled folds and cuts—was intriguing and provided myriad artistic and narrative possibilities for books, folios, and cards.

Beauvais Lyons showing a complex pop-up from a published book.

Examples, demonstrations, and inspiration galore

The workshop was jam-packed with pop-up exercises and dimensional book projects, including accordion and carousel book formats. In addition, Professor Lyons showed examples, videos, and slides of his work and work of other professional artists in the field of dimensional books. Workshop attendees did not lack for inspiration! The mess on the work table is proof of this.

Productivity and the mess on the work table.

Each day’s work was displayed in the common area for students in our class, as well as students in other studios, to see what we were learning and doing.

Daily discussions about work in progress.

There were demonstrations for many of the paper structures. This one is about the floating planes, a versatile and useful pop-up that accommodates different shapes and asymmetrical as well as symmetrical layouts.

Demonstration of the floating plane pop-up.

A carousel book example (top view).

As the week progressed, we spent more time in the studio after class time… trying to soak up as much information and accomplish as much as possible on our projects.

My table mate, Lauren, working on her carousel book.

At the end of the week, the work tables were filled with samples and projects.

Show and Tell of my projects at the end of the week.

My finished accordion book, Chill and Grill (below), is a mixed media piece with pop-ups, collage, and watercolor.

“Chill and Grill” accordion artist book (front cover).

“Chill and Grill” inside panels with pop-ups.

I also have a piece using the carousel format and a collection of pop-up folding examples and test pieces that I can use for reference.

Make Nine 2026 Bookmaking prompt

For this year’s Make Nine Challenge, I included a “Bookmaking” prompt… and I’m happy that the inclusion of this topic has been realized. This Dimensional Books workshop has opened the “book” (wink, wink) for so many paper, mixed media, and creative possibilities. I’m excited to continue the exploration.

Below is my 2026 Make Nine tracker as of mid-June…

Make Nine Tracker, June 2026.

… showing the Bookmaking prompt fulfilled.

Make Nine 2026, Bookmaking prompt.

Workshop Friends are the Best!

Here are fellow classmates, Becky and Lauren, who shared this wonderful experience with me. We’ve had several workshops together over the years and it’s always a fun time to reconnect with these multi-talented artists.

From left: Becky, Lauren, and me.
Dimensional Books workshop 2026

A different approach to FMQ: mark making with thread

Earlier this month, I embarked on a weekend getaway to the Cumberland plateau for a free-motion quilting workshop with Memphis textile artist, Paula Kovarik. The workshop, At Play in the Garden of Stitch, was hosted by Shakerag Off Season. 

Responding to paint spatters on a drop cloth with free-motion quilting.

Free-motion quilting continuous lines. How many different lines can be made?

The workshop offered a refreshing shift in how I think about quilting. Instead of looking at the functional aspect of the quilting stitches—holding the three layers of a quilt together or creating background texture to support the patchwork composition—Paula’s approach to free-motion quilting was more like drawing and mark making. The sewing machine became a drawing tool to make lines, shapes, and colored fills, in addition to creating texture. 

Thread sketching in contrasting thread to create new focal points.

With that approach in mind, I now understand her preference for 40 wt, 3-ply thread. The thread has a more pronounced presence on the surface of the work. With a heavier thread, every line can hold its own. The stitches can read like sketched lines, and if the thread is of a contrasting color, it can shift the focus from the patchwork to the quilting. 

Quilting doodles with fills.

Since I rarely ever mark my quilt tops for quilting, Paula’s direction to respond intuitively to the fabric surface or previous stitched lines was a familiar and welcoming free-motion concept for me. A no-mark approach is something I have always loved about free-motion quilting! So it was easy to embrace the direction of this workshop. 

Quilting ideas for an existing piece

A valuable take-away that came out of this workshop was getting Paula’s feedback on a collaborative textile piece I started in another workshop last summer. Examining the piece through her lens of “thread as drawing” opened up new possibilities for how I might quilt it. We discussed ideas for how quilting lines could echo the circular format of the mandala composition—creating a subtle rhythm and supporting the radial layout of the piece. She also suggested to quilt over some of the appliqués—which would definitely make the quilting more manageable... and enjoyable for the quilter. 

Collaboration piece awaiting quilting.

The workshop was a playful weekend of experimentation and free-motion quilting. It was a reminder that quilting can be as much about mark making and exploration as it is about function and tradition.

The retreat facility

A view of the valley from the classroom.

The facility—where this workshop and an abstract painting workshop was held—is located on a tranquil, picturesque campus. Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to meet up with several artist friends from past workshops—Michelle, who was my roommate for the weekend, Becky, Susan, Claire (our class assistant), Karen, and Paul. 

Friendships were renewed.

Group collaboration: a Story in Collage and Stitch

In a recent textile workshop, Bringing out the Best: Visually Telling our Stories in Collage and Stitch, with artist and instructor, Merrill Comeau, I had the opportunity to collaborate with three other artists to create a textile collage. 

Collaborative textile collage project in progress.

My fellow collaborators were Michelle, Susan, and Rae, and our group’s theme was “Spring.”  The “visual thinking strategy” exercises in which all workshop attendees participated, generated lists of words, phrases, emotions, memories, shapes, and colors—both symbolically and literally—that were reflective of each of the four seasons. 

Work in progress: a mandala representing Spring.
36” x 36”

This group collaboration project came home with me. The piece is approximately 36” x 36”. I have backed it with a tear-away stabilizer and am in the process of auditioning threads in preparation for free-motion machine appliqué. 

Auditioning threads for free-motion appliqué.

The seasons in collage

Other workshop groups created collages representing the Summer, Fall, and Winter seasons.

Textile collage: Summer

Textile collage: Fall

Textile collage: Winter

For now, I’m undecided about whether our piece should be quilted or not. I’m sure, however, the piece will speak to me at some point to tell me what it needs/wants.

Slowing down in a surface design and hand stitching workshop with Arounna Khounnoraj

Creating an imagined landscape with natural dyes, fabric painting and slow stitching… a time to travel in place.

Painted and printed fabrics dyed with natural dyes.

I had a most enjoyable experience taking a workshop with Arounna Khounnoraj [Bookhou] and several artists and friends at Shakerag Workshops. The Imagined Landscapes workshop—comprised of mark making, surface design, natural dyeing, and lots of hand stitching—was a slow, more intentional, and much needed change of pace.

Surface design

In the Imagined Landscapes workshop, participants made marks on fabric with brushes, textile paint, and a soy milk mordant.

Painting with textile paint.

I got to experiment printing with a wood block that a friend gave me earlier this year. I printed on a commercial batik fabric as well as an unbleached cloth.

Block printing on a batik fabric.

It took a little time and concentration to line up the block with each printing so the overall pattern would be preserved.

Block printing repeat.

After mark making with paint and mordants, the fabrics were dyed with natural dyes. Most of the dyes required a heat process to set the color while the indigo dye pot did not.

The natural dye pots included madder, marigold, onion skins, avocado, iron, and indigo.

Beautiful flowers on the indigo vat.

The dyes revealed beautiful shades of rosy red, yellows, light beige, greys, and blues on cellulose fabrics.

Cotton fabrics dyed with natural dyes.
From left: marigold; onion skin overdyed in indigo; madder; avocado; indigo.

Hand embroidered linens that I picked up at a local thrift shop were overdyed.

Embroidered linens (center and lower right) from a thrift shop
were overdyed in onion skins and indigo.

The imagined landscapes

The landscape compositions were created from the hand dyed fabrics that were basted and then appliquuéd to the quilt sandwich. 

Composition layout with basting.

I usually appliqué shapes onto the quilt top (prior to basting a quilt sandwish), however Arounna, our instructor, likes to see the stitching on the back side of her work. This was an interesting concept to me so I decided to try this method. It was a way to appliqué and quilt in a single process. Some of the fabric edges were turned under and some were left raw and frayed. I think my imagined landscape benefited from both. 

Raw edges and turned edges for appliqué pieces. The appliqué was done through all layers
of the quilt sandwich. Most of the knots were buried in the batting layer.

An imagined landscape (work in progress).

One of my fellow students, Roz, suggested I keep the outer borders of the composition freeform (not finished the perimeter with a binding or facing). I decided to take this route and I plan to finish the piece by mounting it on a frame or a stretched canvas.

Hand stitching and inspiration

Stitching inspiration came from teacher demonstrations, group conversations, and suggestions from fellow students. We had quite a group of experienced and creative textile artists in the workshop! As an advocate for slow stitching and visible mending, Arounna discussed and demonstrated embroidery and mending stitches as well as how she does hand piecing.

Arounna demonstrating hand piecing.

The “baseball” stitch is good for mending tears on garments.

Origami triangle pouch

With scraps and small leftover bits that were too precious to toss, some of the students created small origami treasure pouches. 

Triangle treasure pouch.

The pouches are a bit like fabric origami. So cute!

Origami fabric pouch.

Arounna is a wonderful teacher and a prolific author. She has published five books thus far and teaches workshops internationally. If you ever have the opportunity, take a workshop with her! Or pick up one of her books (I have her Punch Needle and Contemporary Patchwork books) and enjoy the slow stitching process.

Screen printing, natural dyes, and the Summer Solstice

This past Wednesday, June 21, 2023, was the Summer Solstice. It's the longest day of the year (in the northern hemisphere) with the shortest night. Did you take advantage of all the daylight to do something creative?

Screen printed fabric with natural dyes.

For my Summer Solstice, I was experimenting with screen printing, thickened mordants, natural dyes, and cotton lawn bandanas in a textile workshop called Pattern & Prints & Plants & Play, with Sarah and Emily of Homebody Textiles.

Iron mordant with cutch natural dye.

By using different mordants, the natural dyes react differently to produce the colors.

Three different mordants on logwood.

Mordants can be applied through a screen to create a crisp edge on the patterns. Or, brushes, sticks and other mark-making tools can be used to apply mordants directly to the cloth to create the designs.

Hand painted (left) and screen printed designs on cotton lawn drying outside.

The palette of natural dyes to add color were: weld, pomegranate, logwood, madder, cutch, and lac. Mordants of alum, iron, and titanium were mixed in various ratios and applied to the cloth to create pattern designs. Citric acid was used to discharge.

Color swatches of the natural dyes and mordants.

The following design was inspired by a stitch composition from my 100 Days of Fabric and Stitch Colleges Project. It reminds me of the summer solstice.

Hand application of mordants to cloth dyed with lac.

Blanket stitched circles served as inspiration.

During the half of the year that is now behind us, I diligently kept up with my Create Daily Tracker. The multi-colored boxes indicate the use of a variety of materials and techniques.

2023 Create Daily Tracker—June 25.