How to Make a Jewel of a Concertina Abstract Book/Journal, beautifully finished and presented.

hi welcome to the louise geneta gallery and studio youtube channel um i've been making some books and there's this little concertina one that i'm going to show you how to do today it's got a little toggle on the front you just unwind the ribbon and then you open the concertina with an abstract in it i hope it's of some use if you like the video could you please remember to like and subscribe it's really helpful and if you have any questions please put them on the comments below and i'll make sure i answer them thanks very much this little concertina book is meant to be an item in itself it's not really a sketchbook it's a abstract painting in itself a possession a little moment of contemplation and so each little area is supposed to have some sort of um i don't know some lovely comment so each little segment each gesture utilizing the lovely mark making an aspect of paint to say something a nice gentle poetry this is how to make a concertina sketchbook now and i did have some old cardstock this is just cheap cardstock from discount center so they're already pre-scored the bowed side goes to the outside fold so if that's to go like so i'm going to stick this so that that goes that way so that's got to go that way and then this has got to go back again like so so i'm going to glue this up on here and stick that on and that's how i made my concertina it's just cards scored and stuck together to make a long concertina to glue it up get the rest of the concertina out the way get your spare paper and some glue i've got these brilliant bits of card to apply with to apply it with and get the glue onto your card and just spread it right to the edges make sure it's right over the edges and right to the inside corner but not right on the corner because you your card doesn't actually go into the corner and that way it allows it to bend take your piece of paper away make sure you're going the right way because it's got to go the opposite way so when that folds you just see because it's this way isn't it so when that folds it's going to go that way so place that on there and that on there but make sure you don't go right up into the corner because otherwise it won't bend and then just position it nicely nice and square this is all water soluble so you can to wipe off any extra glue and i'm covering this as well but you can just get a bit of water and a cloth the card's durable enough and take off any stuff you don't like because i do seem to be pretty mucky today but i have got so much on i'm doing masses all at once there we go so you've got the gist right here's my book here's my concertina interior and here is one of the backs one of the covers and all it is is the mount board two pieces of mountboard stuck together to give it some strength and then i've covered it in watercolor paper and then i'm going to paint it and then when the concertina thing goes together the inside of this will stick onto the inside of that and it'll look dead neat but the reason why i've chosen the watercolor paper it's a bit heavy for this use you know it's a bit difficult to manipulate and to get the corners nice but what i really wanted was the feel of it that has a really specific feel especially nice durable watercolor paper and i think once this is all together because this is going to be covered in watercolor paper painted in abstracts it's going to have a really almost fabric type effect but much more sort of almost parchment-y chinese-y type feel so i've got a piece of watercolor paper these look cut off and i'm just going to cut it to a square well it's just a reasonable square i don't really care that it's not exact and i'm going to show you what i did so i got my card that i'm going to use and i score it and you use whatever you are using to make your score so you press deeply all the way around the edges oops the daisy i don't want it on the board right that's one set of marks and then you get the ruler and you do another set of marks about the width of your board because it's going to give it a lovely square edge and again it all helps to make it feel sharp and neat give it a real tactile quality and this is really heavy watercolor paper and probably about i don't know 240 or something like that i bought it years ago so i'm just taking the first one right to the edges a bit more and then doing this all the way around in order to square it off now start folding it in along those folds it's so funny because i'm just not tidy and i have to really take that into account when i do things i mean i don't think i'd ever attempt a white clean design because i just couldn't do it for the corners so you cut across those corners so you end up with something like this and then you need to get the actual bends as best you can so i've now got the two folds so pull it over for the first one and then pull it over again for the second one so you've got the folds in there and the idea is that when this is stuck inside you get a lovely edge like that and then these should tick tuck inside and pull over and then that should just glue down you see see i've got still got a bit too much in there i'm going to take off more on those so you want it to be able to sit down there really nice and neatly on the same on each side so just cut away any excess at this point so see how it's gonna lie so pull pull the same sides over and then tuck it in so you put something like that on each bit right so but just tuck that bit in and took that to get it in position tuck it in and then know that that is just going to fold over nice and neatly a little once the glue's on there it'll soften up a bit and you end up with nice neat corners just get your applicator on your glue and make sure you get it all over it and into those corners you get an opportunity to do the flaps a bit more once it's on the piece of card just get enough glue on that it's going to stick nicely and make sure you get it in the corners but don't overdo it so don't make it put it on too thickly you've already made and pull them over and if you need more glue on these little flaps on this at this point put that on and tuck those bits into the corners that you'd already done it should just all sit down really nicely the more glue you have on your fingers the more mess you bring along with it right and that's it just tighten it up you can feel it you can feel it pull around as you tighten it up from sort of smoothing over from the back so smooth it over and sort of ease it round with your fingers and that's it and what what you end up with is a lovely feel it's just gorgeous so there's the two two ends let them dry and then i'll paint them so this will get stuck onto there you put like that and like so so for the actual concertina piece i've been practicing how i'm gonna do it and i want to stick abstracts that i've done on watercolor paper round the actual card concertina and then fold it over at the back and then the idea is that i would put another one going the other way really neatly so there would be a really nice finish to it so i've got these gorgeous abstract yellows which i'm going to do i've done them like a chinese sort of painting so that the mark making is really important and now i'm going to paint the boards that i did the boards that i covered and i've got some i'm just going to use blacks and browns really and blues and i'm going to make it lovely and abstract and not worry about it too much i've got a piece of paper down just to give me some chance to not get things too dirty and i'm not going to worry about it too much i want it to be alive of its own accord i want it to work because of what it is not because of what i've done to it as much as anything i mean i think that's lovely just as it is just don't worry about it so i've got some chinese brushes here as well for some reason i love yellow ah let's see i wasn't really gonna make it very yellow and i think i want it more brown than yellows you know when it's sort of deep dark and mysterious i'm just going to see what happens you'll have to forgive me while i mess around with a lovely job though even that where it's dripped is lovely so i'm going to leave it um i like that i'm not going to do much more to it you know when it gets too worked i don't like it so i'm just taking those brush marks out a bit and then i'll just let it dry right and same again for the other side i know this is not everybody's tastes but i'm not too bothered about that and i know that my stuff is spontaneous to say the least i mean i just there's some such beautiful things that happen and i just love it so it's to me it's really important to let it happen so let's see what happens if i just bring oh isn't that gorgeous oh well i mean i only said oh well because i have to leave it because i think that's so lovely um i'm just gonna go for some brown now last of all the blue okay stop okay i'm gonna leave it like that and see what happens when you start gluing your abstracts into your concertina you have to think that this piece is going to stick down onto the cover so the first piece you don't need anything on the back of and this then has to concertina with it with the whole thing you know you might measure it out six inches six inches draw score it and everything that's not what it's going to be like because in fact the outer concertina the one that bends out is greater than the insect in a concertina and it's really difficult to do it so what i'm going to do is i'm not going to leave it to chance i'm going to do it as i go along so each page i'm going to glue and go forward and i'm going to go forward with the folding as i go because i don't trust myself either to get it get those right to measure it i want to do it as i go along get these down flat as i go along and i'm not too worried about sort of positioning i'm going to see what happens because i'll just see if it's nice so get your glue ready and i've got some cloth so that i can keep wiping my hand so that i'm reasonably clean that's like asking the impossible from me i've got a whole load of little tabs to apply the glue get your paper and start the first bit so i want the glue right into the corner this time and i do want to start the gluing on this part on the other side because i'll just pull it through so i will put some on there take it all the way up on that side as well now i've actually made my abstract slightly bigger than the book because i want it to fold over really neatly it's all going to be ridiculously neat all right get that right into the corner central and corner of your fold nicely in there one side down and then fold it over and get the other side down just making sure again that your concertina is folded all gonna sit down nicely right so now i should have those two pieces done right now push that right into the inside now i can score down this side with my bone folder which i haven't got the idea is to score down this side but leaving it just slightly enough so that it's actually got space to go over that bend otherwise it's not going to be happy and then again i'm gonna this time take that into that corner so let me see i'm gonna go like this i mean again tempted to glue it all up in first so i am going to glue it all in glue all this until it's definitely going over that fold not too much glue and then down the other side and this time i want it to go up to the fold i'm going to fold it into that fold the concertina fold actually take it over smooth it down and take it into that concertina fold make sure that's actually going to fold really nicely into that concertina fold so that that's all going to move nicely and then this time you take this off a bit away from the edge and clip away the excess so that you're not dealing with it when you fold it over open everything up now you i know that those concertinas are gonna work and i know that this also is gonna sit nice and neat into that corner and my next sheet can just sit snug up into there you see but equally i know that all these folds are enough so that it will give the whole thing space to move nicely and just check see there it's miles away from the corner you've got to really make sure that you've got it into that corner at this point so get it in and glue it down and use your bone folder to really get into that crease nicely okay so that's three now what i'm going to do on the other side is i'm going to fold it down so that it's all lovely and neat take away the corners here like i did before on the cover knowing that this is going to fold back on the corners here i'm just going to cut into it so it's not over the card just up to the card on both sides and that will allow it to go around that corner a bit right here goes and i could score all along there so this definitely folds across neatly so i'm going to do that as well so i'm just scoring on the outside of the card all the way around what a palabra do i regret doing this [Music] possibly it's not really my cup of tea this is too neat you know i think i'm much more i want it all to happen spontaneously like a dance it's a bit more of a struggle right then that should come over and glue down and still make sure your scoring is going to happen there because again just on this inside i think possibly take off that take off a little extra bit there so that it sits nicely you'll have to sort of see how your fabric your paper works because i suppose each one's going to be slightly different just making sure everything's going to sit down nicely right and then still check that everything's gonna bend nicely okay i'm gonna glue this down now i'm gonna glue this right let's try it so fold it over and stick it down you've used acrylics on watercolor paper on heavy heavy-duty watercolor paper so the whole thing is quite forgiving the acrylics aren't gonna move when you wet it when you're cleaning it up and the um heavy watercolor paper is robust enough to take a bit of bashing you just check your concertinas check they're going to work and this one it's got to be able to actually go around those to bend hasn't it and this paper because it's so thick is preventing things from sitting i think it's on it cool right we're going beginning to get there right now just check everything again continuously check make sure everything's going to sit nicely one two three four and then this last one [Applause] it's gonna go in so you trimmed off all the bits stick everything down nicely it's all gonna bend nicely and just make sure all your bits are stuck down if you need a bit more glue add a bit of glue honestly that's worked out really that's worked really really well in the end as things tend to do wow so look there you go there's your first three pages done and it all moves really nicely and it will all sit beautifully when it's done so the book cover will go on the back of that i'm just going to completely clear my surface clean and dry it's going to take me forever i've made too big a book again i always do this but it is going to be lovely when it's finished sometimes if i'm trying to persuade myself don't i right you see what happens next is the next layer will go on top like this but i'm going to make the next layer thinner much easier to handle right so when you go into the next bit you're doing the same sort of principle right so there's my next bit of that can be my next bit and i'll just do the same principle going along sticking it to the first one taking it right into that inner corner there and then folding it over as i go allowing it to concertina so that i know it's going to sit happily that's not dry so i can't do that one right i'm going to onto my next bit i've put glue right up into that corner so it definitely sits in that corner and i've glued up to the first fold i'm going to get my piece of paper and i know because this paper i haven't cut as in i haven't cut the ends i know it's a good right angle and i'm going to run some glue across the edge of that just to make sure that inside corner is going to stick down nicely right go into your corner and now this is make sure it's central and make sure it's straight make sure it's running parallel that you're not going on a twist because nothing's going to be perfect that corner isn't going to be perfect any more than anything else so just lay it down to the first edge squeeze it right up into your little concertina and then go on to your next bit right now for the next one so i've got the lovely fold in there i can butt that up really nicely and take it along to the next fold so i'm going to glue it all glue it up and progressively take it round just to show you so this is this is the outside page when it's all concented up once it's all concented up these two pages are going to be glued down onto the back onto the actual cover so i showed you how to do it you just simply fold them over but i'll show you once again so the when you take these ones down to fold it over you just cut into it leaving a millimeter and same here it's just so that the bulk's out the way a bit and then you may even have to trim some bulk off some more and this you just cut at 45 degrees just about leaving a millimeter so just enough so that you know you cover the corner when you folded it you also keep forgetting but you need to score these just it helps to bend them over score this one on these and just get these end bits neat before you start before you start getting the glue on because you just want it to have lovely little neat edges when it's done just take a tiny bit more off there and that's it i'm going to glue them up and put them down just to show you the end bit just quickly so i've folded that over nice and neatly then fold over the sides oops that's a bit mucky with my little fingers my fingers are getting horribly lucky that'll just come off and also it'll be covered okay so one two three and that's it you've got lovely unique corners if there's any bits of white or unpleasant trees so it's showing you can touch it up afterwards with black paint any unpleasant trees you can touch up after with a bit of black paint so that's it really that's it's all done now all except for the back cover which i'll show you as well i've now cut a strip of paper it was wallpaper with a slight pattern on it and i painted it gray i want it to have a sort of quiet grayness i've got my glue and i've glued up the first panel because again you're gonna have to get this so that it goes down really nice and neatly and concertinas really well the first panel of this is fixing down onto the cover so you can do your first fold making sure it's straight put it into your container and take it over because that is going that first bit is gonna go be glued down and onto the cover like so so it doesn't have to go all the way over the front of that so i'm just gonna ease this all the way along making sure the concertinas work and that it's nicely glued down allowing it to concertina nicely so i'm just going to take my time and do this to the end of course all the time you've got to make sure you don't lose it's it doesn't start twisting and if it does it's okay because you can stop in an inside concertina cut it and fix it close up to it again because it just won't show you put it on as you would have done the papers for the front the abstracts and then tonight i shall just put it i shall press it between something heavy so that everything ends up nice and flat okay so that's a bit bit then go over make sure there's enough glue actually on that corner bit as well on your fold because you want it to really glue down into it not too much glue it's going to keep everything really nice and tight now gosh i got glue everywhere get rid of any nasty little lumps and bumps you've got in there as well if you can right inside the concertina fold make sure there's enough glue on everything okay guys down this next one so fold it over get all the nice bits in so it looks nice so it's tight i'm neat and then down it goes to the next one again this is stretching slightly as it gets wet still seems to be going down and i think it probably will shrink again as it dries so you just go all the way to the end make sure the edges are lovely and stuck down at this point make sure it contains nicely and you end up like that with the abstract on the front and this sort of backing piece on the back now i haven't got a length long enough to do the whole lot so i must have to stop on an inside corner and just take it a little bit further over so i will just trim it get my glue finish this bit off now bring this down and over so bring it nice and tight nice and tight and happy over that concertina fold and down and into your little interior bend and stick it down [Applause] right keep going so we're coming to the end of the concertina book um well hopefully both of the books i have got into such a mess doing it i've been doing so many bits and pieces and trying to do them quickly because i've been i've got a lesson a workshop i've got to do these are some pieces i've got ready for the big book these are going to go in the envelopes of the bigger book but i've had to make bits and pieces of abstract paper i've had to paint wallpaper and i've had to fathom quite how i'm going to do it so this is what i've ended up with the two front and back of the book so that's the covered mount board and then this concertina there's the mount board covered and here's the lovely concertina that is now covered in lovely um expressive abstracts everything's all lovely and neat everything came out really well that's left overnight to dry and this slight painted wallpaper just looks lovely so you leave the last one like so in order to stick your back onto on your front and then it'll open up like that the next thing to do and consider is how you're going to actually get the book to close and i'm going to put a little toggle on it so at this point i'm going to put two holes through it and i'm going to bring the thread through to the back and fix it to the back so that when this this is stuck over it you won't be able to see the threads i've got this beautiful um it's sorry silk that's been dyed and twisted into a sort of string so i know that's going to go about there and then this piece i've left it with a loop at the end so it's doubled and i'm going to fix do the same i'm going to fix it to the back so fix the board on and then i need a length one two three that's going to come down and meet the toggle which is going to be there so at this point you have to sort out how much you need so you want what you want to know where the toggle is going to go and i want it slightly to the left-hand side so you just go one two three and then cut it to the back so that's going to be stuck under the back of the last page you'll see i've threaded this through twice so i've got so it's going to be nice and strong and i'll leave a length of it coming out so that it moves and it's flexible enough to get the actual thread the loop of this over when it's finished for the actual for putting on the toggle decide where you want it in your in on your paint picture i quite like the mess of that corner what i don't like is that i might be able to cover that up so do i use that space yeah i'm gonna put it there so mark where you want it and mark where the holes are going to be so i just want two holes and then i'm going to punch through just got a sharp rattle and a hammer there is a cutting board underneath this piece of paper just going to go to my hole and punch a hole through should be enough to show yeah i can see the other side so just open that up a bit more so just trying to get on exactly the right place and now i need this hole big enough for that threads those threads to go through it works really well as well you know go from front to back and that that way everything is pushed into the holes it will appear quite neat from the front all right get your toggle thread and you want two you want the two to go each way you know you want two on each side to give it strength really i mean you could just thread it through with a bit of string and some linen yarn or something it doesn't have to be as robust as this i do tend to overdo everything right pull those through on the other side one two and then let it off so if it's loose tie them so it's not going to come undone in little knots now to the back you just want to glue this i think what i'll do is i'll just do that one knot i'm just going to tie it once because it gets too bulky otherwise and then i'm going to fix it all down with glue i've just got my pva glue the good quality wood glue i'm using on this i'm going to glue that actual knot so that stays and then i'm going to glue these down but sort of out the way a bit you know try and get them as flat as i can right so i've done that and spread it out so it's out the way i'm happy and actually that'll be quite strong as well so you end up with it's like so so having done that you can test the length of your other piece as well just to make sure everything's right i want my toggle to be to the left of the bottom so i've got that wrong there like so so that when it opens that's going to be fixed under there that's going to be fixed under there and then it will open up and it causes concertina with the main image to the front so now take your loop fix it over your little toggle loosely not too tight and just run it one two three rounds so that you know that the whole thing's gonna fix up now just test it make sure it's usable you know that that's loose enough and that should just slip over there yeah okay so it's because the toggle is actually um flexible so it can twist round so you don't want it too tight but you don't want it too loose either i mean that's fine so that is going to come to there in the back of the book i'm just going to slip that out so that's going to come to there in the back of the book i want it to come out from the top okay right now just glue this down so light so that it's going to be as thin as flat as possible i might put fabric over this so that it definitely stays in place so that's a wood glue because i really make sure everything's really really glued down i'm just smearing some glue onto a piece of fabric all right i'm going to stick that down over that just to make sure it all stays in place you can't see it from the edges so get rid of any excess but that'll help that to stick down i'm just going to pull this over so it's clean again and then i want to do the same on the other side so let me wash my hands so that's all fixed to the back of the book like so now i'm going to put a bit of extra fabric just over this just really just to make sure it's all really fixed down it isn't going to move so glue up your fabric take the excess pop it on over the top and that's just doing it to death really then your button's not going to go anywhere now okay the last thing is to fix your your booklet down just line everything up check everything's right and now you know that you've got to fix the front to the back now all in place all nice and neat and then i'm going to put it under a lot of pressure in order for it to you know work right i'm going to use book binding glue and not so much that it's going to bleed out the edges this is just such a good glue it's it sticks so quick and i am putting quite a lot on because this has got to fix don't go too far into the edges because it's just smear out but make sure you've got enough glue on there right that's one make sure the front's in the right place so that's that one turn it over i should have done the back first shouldn't i do the other side because you it sits flat then doesn't it toggles making it wobble okay glue that up nicely enough glue so that it sticks but not too much that it spreads out and then put it under some weight so all lined up and under some weight because it's not going to be easy because of the toggle all right let's see make sure it's in the right position so i'm going to put it that way i know it's on the toggle yeah so pop that on right now position them nicely i'm getting close to get rid of any rubbish nasty bits of glue i'm just get getting rid of any glue i've spilled on the pieces and just making sure that the front and the back are central you know that they look sit nicely on there it's lovely this it's robust and everything can be wiped clean make sure there's no glue oozing out anywhere you see all the glue dries clear in any case so it should be fine and now put it down on the clean base and i've actually made a little piece of protective card to go on top so i will ease it round the toggle because obviously i can't put it in a clamp or a book press because of the toggle and now i've got a 16 kg weight i'm just gonna sit it on top so the 16 kg weight can sit on top overnight and tomorrow i will make sure it's all glued up nicely so it's then finished with a little toggle and the thread is looped over but that's the little book everything's really neat and square this little concertina book is meant to be an item in itself it's not really a sketchbook it's a abstract painting in itself a possession a little moment of contemplation and so each little area is supposed to have some sort of um i don't know some lovely comment so each little segment each gesture utilizing the lovely mark making and aspects of paint to say something a nice gentle poetry

Channel: Louise Jannetta

Views: 1,899

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Id: OwYjyWyhiVY

Length: 42min 53sec (2573 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 13 2022