Stained glass fabric

Our local church is built high in the Ozarks overlooking a beautiful valley so we have clear glass windows. However, for Christmas we wanted to add a sense of "sanctuary" with stained glass windows. Rather than make them of glass, which would have been expensive and permanent, I thought we could try fabric instead. Sunlight shines beautifully through and for Christmas eve, the dimmer inside lights will illuminate the fabric better than glass.

The base panel is black flannel (which turns out to be very hard to cut all those little spaces out of) with patterned fabric (printed tone on tone) for the "windows"

Although it isn't "high church" the design is influenced by traditional windows. The face of Jesus in the center is just a placeholder for now.

Almost a year later....

Its been almost a year since the last post and I've hardly bound a book (did do 2 small ones last night) but I've been preoccupied with architecture again. This is a plan for a small guest house on our property or elsewhere. Mom talked about building a little place for her but she wasn't so keen on the curve of the roof.




It would be good to have good foam insulation (http://www.tigerfoam.com/) and I found a great deal on the shell at Steel Master (http://www.steelmasterusa.com/). Also, this isn't exactly a new idea. I found an article on the history of quonset huts here: http://www.quonsethuts.org/huts/index.htm and an in-depth survey reports of quonsets in Fort Collins, CO. http://www.historitecture.com/projects/quonsethuts.html .



I think most of the historic ones look pretty sad, like the neighbors would throw rocks at your kids if you lived there, but if it looked cool like the Hummer dealership it would be ok. Southern living also featured an article about one that was converted into a really cool house.

New blog site.

To see newest books, go to my handbinding blog.

Book Binding; some books I made a while back

A recent design for a DaySpring journal. You might see it in Barnes and Noble.
Book cover made from an old Eddie Bauer Bag


A binding I dreamed up one day. It took some tricky sewing to keep the thread from putting too much stress on the paper.

My very first hard cover handsewn book. And by now its completely full of journal entries, sketches, and memories.

Vacation in Montana

A photo from vacation in Montana last week.

Etched Glass Coffee Table

I have a glass top coffee table that constantly looked dirty because of fingerprints. I wanted to etch the glass to get around that problem, but didn't just want it solid. I found a pattern I liked for the middle, then wrapped the 23rd Psalm around the edge. I ordered the design cut in vinyl from e-cal.org and etched the glass with acid. This is how it turned out. 

Morning at my house

Morning in my back yard.