During this month’s Santa Fe Book Arts Group meeting, three BAG members showed some tips, tools, and techniques.
Go to: Decorated Envelopes | Best Ruler for Book Arts | Best Tools for Accurate Cutting
Decorated Envelopes
Gail Murray showed how she made a quick and good-looking envelope for mail art, etc.
Supplies
- 1 sheet of 8.5” x 11” copy paper, plain, collaged, or decorated; or a calendar page or a magazine page, no smaller than 8.5×11” (12×12” scrapbook paper works too, if the item you are mailing is a little larger than a post card)
- Scissors
- 4×6” post card from Mail Art (or a 4”x6” piece of card stock).
- Adhesive: your choice of Scotch tape, glue stick, or double-stick tape, approximately 1/4” inch wide.
Step 1. Orient your sheet of copy paper vertically, 11” tall by 8.5” wide.
Step 2. Place the post card horizontally, in the center of the paper as a guide to where you will make your folds. Eyeball it, leaving approximately 1” wide margin of paper on the left and right sides.
Step 3. Fold the paper from the bottom up over the post card, and from the top down. Allow a “skosh” of wiggle room for the post card to fit comfortably in the future envelope.
Step 4. Unfold the paper, and keeping the card in place, fold the 11” long edge over the card on the right side, and do the same from the left side. Again, allow wiggle room for your card. Your paper will have 4 folds now. Bottom up ^, top down, and > left and right < sides folded in over the post card. You are almost done!
Step 5. Set the post card aside, and with scissors about one inch in from the left hand fold at the bottom, cut a diagonal wedge from the bottom edge to the corner where the left side fold meets the bottom-up fold. Since I am right handed, it is easier to cut this diagonal wedge from lower right to upper left.
Step 6. Make a similar cut along the left side flap to the top fold joint.
Steps 7 & 8: Repeat this diagonal cut from the remaining two edges to each fold joint on the remaining two sides.
Sept 9. Now, flip the paper over, and repeat Steps 5-8. Toss the little wedges of paper you just cut off, or save for collage scraps.
This removes the bulk of the paper that doesn’t belong to the envelope.
You are done! You should have a piece of paper that looks like an unfolded envelope.
Tips:
Before gluing the bottom and top flaps over the two side flaps, try it on for size, to see how things fit. You can trim any excess that you wish. You may want to switch the the top flap and bottom flap if it fits better. You can also cut a fancy wavy or zig-zag decorative edge to what will become the envelope flap that you will then glue or tape down before mailing.
Copy paper and most magazine pages are strong enough to go through the postal scanners without damage. Glue stick may not hold the Glossy magazine pages well. The gloss coating may resist the glue stick. Burnish well, or use Scotch tape or double stick tape on glossy paper. Glue stick will work well with copy paper or uncoated (dull) paper stock.
Decorate your paper before converting to an envelope, as shown below. The only planning would be to place your decorations in the “live” area of the future envelope, so that flaps don’t cover up your art. If you use a magazine page or calendar page, attach a white mailing label on the front for the address so that the postal scanners can read the address writing to your recipient.
At right, examples of four of Gail’s decorated envelopes made in 2014. Probably 65# 9×12″ sketchpad paper that takes a light watercolor wash. Decorated first, then cut into envelopes using the technique above.
Best Ruler for Book Arts
Ro Gouletas showed her favorite ruler for book arts. It is a centering ruler (so less math!) with holes (spaced so you can pierce signatures) and slots (for drawing a line). Click here to see a similar one.
Ro also talked about a Teflon bonefolder like this one. The advantages:
- Doesn’t leave shiny marks on paper
- Glue and acrylic paint cannot adhere to them
- They don’t seem to develop dents or grooves in the side as much
- They feel great to hold because they’re so smooth
- Sharper point and side for precise work
- They are not made from animal bones
Best Tools for Accurate Cutting
Julie Filatoff showed an acrylic “bumper” and a set of graduated steel edges.
You can use any absolutely flat item for the bumper. Julie got hers from book artist Margo Klass, margoklass@icloud.com. It was $12 plus shipping.
The graduated steel edges (which you set against the bumper) are from Volcano Arts: https://volcanoarts.com/product/measuring-rules-set/.
After years of refusing to give in, Julie finally tried a Teflon bonefolder, too, and likes this one: https://volcanoarts.com/product/teflon-paper-folder/.
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Decorate your paper before converting to an envelope, as shown below. The only planning would be to place your decorations in the “live” area of the future envelope, so that flaps don’t cover up your art. If you use a magazine page or calendar page, attach a white mailing label on the front for the address so that the postal scanners can read the address writing to your recipient.
