Some weeks ago I took a class on enameling and was very excited to get working on some projects. As usual, life intervened, but I have finished my first book. Here it is!
Now I can’t decide whether to keep it or sell it. One one hand, it may be the only enameled book cover I ever make as the rest of the pieces are smaller inserts. On the other hand I really don’t need another blank book. What to do?
I also decided just to hang my biggest enameled piece. I found out then how fragile the enamel is. Just trying to thread a cord through the holes in the piece, I cracked some of the enamel. Not catastrophic, but you can see fracture lines in the enamel. You can just see them in the upper left corner when the photo in enlarged. If I had a kiln, I could just re-fire it.
At the same time I was making the enameled book. I made another of the diskette books. They are such fun! 
I don’t really care for Coptic bindings. They are not nearly as stable as a cased or bound book and they don’t protect the textblock as well, but they are a lot faster to make and are cute. I’ll probably keep them in my repertoire for fun, quick projects.
I’ve also been doing some marbling. Not terribly happy with the results as I been having a hard time with my carrageenan. I don’t know if it’s the heat, the humidity or the carrageenan itself, but it’s been breaking down very quickly. I was getting five or six days from a batch, but the last batches haven’t lasted more than two or three days. Frustrating! I haven’t changed anything about the water, paints of the way I work, so I just don’t know.
I did have fun with these!
