geraldine newfry

retro green handmade coptic journal

 Retro Green
The luminous quality of this polymer clay cover was not created with a varnish. The imagery is the result of a mica shift. The cover was sanded furiously and buffed to the high sheen on a muslin jeweler’s wheel.

Mohawk Superfine soft white papers are bound with the ancient single needle Coptic stitch.  256 pages.

5.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches.

available on etsy.

it is still way too cold to work in the studio.  we have had a ton of snow here in chicago and really cold weather.  i just got a new PT (physical therapy) job and went to hours of orientation all week.  since i'm not used to working full time, it was really tiring to be at the hospital so many hours.

i really want to create, but the cold is slowing me down.  my clay crumbles and my nose runs.  so, instead, i should work on my taxes.  ho hum. 

too cold!

it's way too cold to work, so i'm reposting an entry i prepared for another forum....the pictures may be a bit cropped, but if you click on them you'll get the full version.

i just redid a large area of my studio in preparation for filming for that's clever.  it used to look like this:

i tore out the floor, which was raised from the concrete floor in the rest of the space, tore off the drywall on the left and off the ceiling, tore out two built in benches, reinforced the wall with studs, hung new shelves, sealed the masonry and painted.  now it looks like this:

this is where i work on polymer clay;

and here is another view:

here is a bunch of storage for clay and metal bits:

this used to be my regular desk, but i moved it and will now do my beading here.  to the left are my flat files.

here is the front of the flat files.  the cabinet to the left is for packaging and mailing supplies.

in other parts of the room i have shelves for assemblage items:

fabric storage:

bookbinding supplies:

paper:

bookbinding desk:

painting and coloring desk:

desk desk:

shop:

manly tools:

and meditation area:

Exploration of the Tarot through the Book Arts

Strength from the Crystal Tarot.

Why relax when you can run from deadline to deadline?  I spent the last several weeks preparing for my shooting of "That's Clever", which I still need to write about.  After the filming on Sunday, I threw myself into web work.  I wanted to be sure everything looked nice for when "Craft Lab" came out.  I redesigned the site with the help of my friend, and added a link to etsy for the shop section.  I would like to redo the shop, and have my own cart, but this seemed like a good interim solution.  And when that was over?  I began writing a grant!

I think I've gone mad.  I have had all the ideas for the grant mulling around in my head for months, but as you may have noticed, writing is not my strong suit!  The grant is due today.  I've been working on it all week, and had wonderful help from my friend Francine yesterday.  She should really write grants for a living.  So today, I just have to firm things up, make a lot of copies and add in the budget.  I was going to hand deliver the package, but for some reason the due date for that is at 5 pm, but I can also just have it postmarked today.  Doesn't that seem odd?  So I'd much rather drive to the post office than drive downtown and figure out what to do with the car as I run inside the building to deliver.

Here is the project:
I seek funding for the project Exploration of the Tarot through the Book Arts. The body of work will focus on the Major Arcana, the universally recognized trump cards of the Tarot. With this focal point, the work will be based in an accessible vocabulary, while at the same time offering the room for personal expression. This combined focus of universal and personal will more effectively speak to a wider audience, and create more opportunity for exhibition in the Chicago area.

Each card of the Major Arcana will be represented through three pieces of work: a two dimensional classic Tarot card, a binders board assemblage book and a complex polymer clay assemblage book. This three pronged approach allows for a progression of understanding the work, starting with the identifiable form of the card and progressing to the personalized embodiment of the meaning of the Major Arcana. The level of difficulty and object permanence increases throughout the series. The development of the series is demonstrated, as the card can be viewed as a sketch from which to draw inspiration for the final works.

The most ephemeral piece will be a card. The board assemblage will allow for the inclusion of objects which relate to the theme. It is more complex to execute and is more enduring than the card. The pages of the binding will be blank. The final structure will be executed in polymer clay. It will include printed text, as the historical development of the Tarot was contemporaneous with the printing of the Gutenberg bible. Each of the three works will share the imagery of a back cover to represent  the back of a traditional Tarot card.

Wish me luck!