Paris Shopping for Yarn

Baby blanket I crocheted with my French yarn

While in Paris go to the Passage du Grand Cerf and find a shop called Lil Weasel if you want to buy yarn - made in France of course. Going from the 1st District (or Arrondissement) near The Louvre, the Passage is about a half hour walk to the 2nd District.

The Passage du Grand Nerf was created in 1825, among the first shopping malls. Businesses are on the ground floor, storage areas on the second, and apartments are located on the third floor, very pretty & compact.

Close-up of my crochet stitches

Mostly yarn and buttons are sold at Lil Weasel. Other shops: eyeglasses, antiques, furniture, clothing, plus a cafe. The Passage has grown in popularity - now boasts 25 shops. 
I found pretty yarn and gave my business to the friendly French woman who also spoke English. We had a lovely time chatting. I also bought these Eiffel Tower buttons and plan to use them on a sweater.

These are about the size of an American quarter

Find Lil Weasel on Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/Lil-Weasel-127579470591966

The interior of the mall is the width of the street with a glass roof.

I bought several skeins - though it seems as if there is too much yarn to possibly choose.

Buy a tote bag in the mall - who doesn't need another bag when you are traveling?

You can spend all day in The Passage! Then walk back to the 1st District and go to the Air France office to get your Boarding Pass printed the day before your flight. They are very friendly. 

Bon Voyage!

©Anne Rita Taylor 2017

Paper in Paris

It was fun to search for art supplies when I visited Paris. I mapped the paper stores and they were not far from Notre Dame.

Since there were huge crowds in front, I walked over two foot bridges, about a 15 minute walk, to the paper stores on Rue Pont Louis-Phillippe.

They are located in the hip neighborhood  (the 4th District) known as the Marais. I bought Faber-Castell color pencils and this lovely little pink journal at Paper Plus.

They also had this lovely Italian paper on my "How to Meditate" book I sell on Etsy: ARTbooks.Etsy.com - I buy the paper at Paper Source in Houston.

Les Exprimeurs offered pretty stationery where I bought these wonderful bookmarks for souvenirs. Everyone loved them!

Calligrane sold colorful Japanese papers, greeting cards, and journals; their elegant books and paper were pricey.

The cheapest machine-bound small blank journal book was $55. But I did get some ideas for binding my own journals.

After Notre Dame, I walked around the corner to the bookstore, Shakespeare & Company.

The aisles were crowded, of course I bought a Paris postcard and looked at the books.

Another shop, called Tse Tse, across the street from my apartment in the 1st District on Rue Saint-Roch sold home accessories and notebooks. 

I bought this lovely Fabriano notebook, 8 1/4 by 11 1/4 inches.

I also bought this pretty gilt edged book with silver elastic - tres chic. 

Did you find any art supplies during your travels?


©Anne Rita Taylor 2017

Publishing Zines

A Zine is a Do-It-Yourself magazine. Over the last 17 years I published 22 Zines. My first Zine had my art techniques and I swapped Zines with other artist book makers. 

My last Zine was about my ten days in Paris and contained internet links plus 53 photos - Mon Dieu!

My first Zine was cut and paste. After that, I used my home word processor, then my computer & printed book-style.

Zines are printed in small editions. I received Zines in swaps from Alaska to Hawaii, and practically all 50 states. Some had advertising, contributors or held interviews with other artists.

Starting with my second Zine, each one had the following:

• Table of Contents
• Workshop Review
• Swap Stuff
• My Carvings
• A Poem (of my own)
• Calligraphy
• Art Book Review

My Zine 10 had instructions and a sample book for a Japanese binding technique, the Tortoise Shell Stitch.

In Zines 13 to 16 - I issued “An Invitation” - to share my interests, my calligraphy, my print carving, and my artwork. Sound familiar? Kind of like this blog.

I contributed an article: Mining for Creativity, a workshop review to L.K. Ludwig’s first Zine, called Memory & Dream in 1999. You can buy her 2008 art journaling book here: https://www.amazon.com/True-Vision-Authentic-Art-Journaling/dp/1592534260

Teesha Moore produced and authored professional Zines for more than 10 years - with advertising, many articles and pictures. They were inspiring! Some of her Zines are still for sale on her Etsy site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/teeshamoore  

In 2008, Zine 17: Zine Creation has zine-making instructions. I taught 22 people how to make a Zine at The Printing Museum in Houston; in April 2009 I taught 30 Austin Book Workers - who now have the Austin Book Arts Center - at DOMY Books - now Farewell Books - in Austin. 

Shameless Plug: You may want to Subscribe to my Blog (upper right side) - to know about a future blog that will have my full instructions for making your own Zine. 

The Houston Zine Fest 2016: at The Lawndale Art Center on Saturday, November 19th, from 2:00 to 8:00 pm. Support Zinesters! Check their website for future dates: https://zinefesthouston.org
If you read this far, please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

Creating a Photo Album

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

After I received the Make Your Own Book kit from Arnold Grummer I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, I loved the size, 5 1/2 by 10 inches!

It had all the basic pieces, 2 cover boards, 2 pre-drilled end boards, 2 sets of hardware, instructions, but also really heavy weight paper - 35 lovely pages pre-drilled!

I could make the book with duct tape, which was OK for this book-binder, or use paper or cloth. I use a spacer bar when I use boards that need a hinge, makes gluing so much easier. Found these brass spacer bars at Home Depot near the wood aisle.

I found this lovely paper at Paper Source. When I have end boards that are pre-drilled I make sure I pop in an awl so I don’t lose sight of those holes down the road. Of course I used a bone folder to smooth out the paper after gluing the boards.

Cut triangles - leaving 2 board widths, then pinch the ends to glue the covers over the book boards.

Place the finished covers in my Arnold Grummer paper press overnight.

I can either screw in the hardware...

Or make it even prettier by adding gold ribbon - 27 inches - a gold paper square and a black paper square - both 4 inches, plus a heart-shaped doily. Using Uncial calligraphy I wrote The Taylors.

Using it for a photo album for this year's summer adventures. 

Am I going back to Paris!?! Have to wait for their flooding to recede...

Creating White Vine Letters

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

In the Summer of 2013 I was thrilled to have an article I wrote published in the magazine, "Bound & Lettered" about book-making and calligraphy. In Volume 10, Number 4, sold through John Neal Books, most of what follows appeared in the article.

ortunately White Vine Letters are easier to make than they appear. Basically a Roman Capital overgrown with a vine. While the white vine resembles ivy, it is a stylized version of acanthus leaves which were used as a decorative motif as early as the 3rd century in a Roman mosaic floor. Also used in architecture in the Doge’s Palace in Venice during the Renaissance.

Even though this style of decoration can be seen in manuscripts coming out of monastic scriptoriums as early as the 9th century, it was not until the 15th century that the white vine initial letters were widely used, such as in the Book of Hours, circa 1406. The Roman capital was often in gold.

The upper left corner of the text block would have a white vine initial for the first letter of the first word in the paragraph. The position could change if the section or paragraph started in the middle of the page. 

summer study program on illuminated manuscripts was my introduction to these initials with their intertwining vines. I was able to share my joy for these letters during a mini-workshop I taught for the Houston Calligraphy Guild in 2010.

When making these initials, you can carefully render the vines filling them with multiple flowers and leaves, or you can go for the more informal look in my examples. 

1. After you draw your one inch high Roman Capital letter in pencil, go over it with waterproof ink, let the ink dry, then erase the pencil lines. I use the Sakura Pigma Micron Pen - Size 01. 
2. Draw - lightly in pencil - a box around the letter with maybe a quarter inch of space on all sides.
3. Draw a circular swirl (FIGURE 1) in pencil, more circle than oval for your main vine.
4. Add shoots coming out of your vine (FIGURE 2)
5. To give dimension to the vines, double the lines around the vines and shoots (FIGURE 3).
6. Using your pencil, draw some buds and flowers at the end of the shoots, trying to get the buds and shoots to touch so you can add color (FIGURE 4). 
7. Go over your pencil ivy and outer box with the Micron 01 Pen. Erase pencil marks as needed. Then using only three colors: red, blue and green; or purple, pink and turquoise; or brown, orange and yellow; color in the spaces, alternating the colors so they are spaced evenly.  Either watercolors or Prismacolor pencils work well depending on the quality of your paper.  
8. Optional - Color the inside of the Roman Capital letter in gold, either flat gold or metallic gold. Prismacolor pencil, metallic paint, or acrylic metallic ink work well in gold.

After my trip to Paris I colored these white vine letters for bookmarks.

Photo Box

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

I realized after my first post that another interest I have is photography. I went to Las Vegas in 1999 and visited the Paris Hotel. I took several photos of their Paris fountain and managed to get into a juried show in the FotoFest 2000 Exhibit at the Archway Gallery in Houston, Texas. I also had a box that looked like a book and had the same photo on both sides.

So I decided to place my Fountain at Twilight photo on the front of this box. The tricky part was getting the correct size on my copier.

I used a Premium paper which is thicker than regular copy paper. And I enlarged the 4 x 6 inch postcard to 150 per cent on my copier. I used PVA glue on the copy photo and wanted a little room around the sides and am pleased with the result. I enlarged a black & white Paris post card for the back of the box.