Living On The Edge

Keys4Art2011 -- Day 2

Just so you know, even the strongest Cuban coffee will not totally counteract the effects of too many mango mojitos from the night before.  But it helps.  I'm just sayin'.

Today we began the fabulous On The Edge journal with the even more fabulous Ingrid Dijkers.  Back several months ago, when Elena announced that she had gotten Ingrid to come to the Keys to teach this class, I had no idea I'd be learning so much.  Of course I'd heard of Ingrid, but wasn't that familiar with her work.  A visit to her site really got my heart pumping.  Her work is gorgeous, and full of techniques I was anxious to master.  We all got to vote on which of her journals we wanted to do, and On The Edge was the winner.  That's Ingrid, standing and explaining a page to Sarah and Jen:

Marita, Gina, and Lill working on their pages:

Tracy is the hands down queen of the "fussy cut."  She adds shading with pencils to the graphics she uses and her pages are all gorgeous:



As the name implies, the edges of the pages are the focus of this book.  They may be folded, shaped, beaded, or wired with buttons.  Some pages are larger than others, so the edge of one will peek through behind the edge of another.  Here are some of Ingrid's pages, from the sample book she brought:

                                                                                   

And a few close ups of her beautiful edging techniques:

                                                                               

We began with ten sheets of book board that Elena was kind enough to prep with gesso in advance, so we wouldn't waste class time doing that. How many was that, Elena?  At least 150, I'd guess.  I've said it before, but Elena's energy, enthusiasm, and generosity are awesome.  She is a true force of nature. 

We basically applied some torn text from old books to the gessoed page and then added some color with whatever medium we wanted.  Here's one of my yet to be colored pages:

And here is a page with color and some beading on the edge:

You can see that the color is kind of roughly applied.  At this point I had no idea if I'd be adding text, graphics or doodling to it.  Here are a few more of my pages.  I don't feel any are totally finished, and that's fine.  I'm glad to have a project to work on at home.

The pages all go into a chipboard binder that Ingrid's husband cuts down for her.  That way it looks less like a school looseleaf notebook.  We decorated it inside and out with a variety of papers, inks, paint, etc.  This is my cover:

The great thing about working in a binder is the ability to switch pages around.  In a project like this one, where the edges are the stars, this is very important.  I had a great time moving my pages around, searching for the best layout.  As I complete the pages and add journaling, I'm sure I'll be doing even more rearranging.

I'm sure the pictures of Ingrid's work speak for themselves, but I'm telling you, if you ever have the chance to take a class with her, DO IT!!  She is not only talented and a patient teacher, but she is also good people.  She's warm and friendly and funny, and I feel like I can now call her my friend.

Tomorrow.....glamour girls with Julie Nutting!  You won't want to miss that.