I started off by cleaning out our tea and coffee cupboard, finding a container of Greek fine ground coffee that was long past it's use-by date - since buying the Nespresso machine getting out the briki is not a very frequent event. I worked as consultant for a couple of Greek specific aged care facilities and became very quickly very fond of Greek coffee (known as Turkish coffee away from the facilities ;), but without the sugar. No-one else in the family like the graininess...anyhoo, I used this oldish coffee for my coffee staining medium, simply steeping the coffee in a jug with boiling water for 10 minutes or so then straining it into a baking dish ready to dye the paper. A lot of very fine grounds remains in the mixture, but once the paper has dried these brush off very easily. The coffee was quite strong as I used all I had and has produced a lovely colour on the papers and tags I have dyed so far.
I intend to size up the paper, distress edges and stain with distress inks as my evening task and then sort them all into signatures.
The book I am using for the cover is one I have VANDALISED...didn't think I could ever tear up a book, but hey...it's better than putting it on a bonfire and I will be able to use many of the pages etc...
See the Stanley knife? Tim bought me this yesterday and it is my newest and bestest friend! Great on board of all thicknesses and a dream to use...I was so tired of trying to cut thicker items with my scalpel blades and ending up with jaggy miss-cuts...all behind me now. (Another of life's simple pleasures).
Better go, the grainy bread I made is smelling like lunch and I think I also hear the patter of visiting paws, how lovely!
Bye for now (watch this space!)
Di
PS Don't forget to leave me a comment, I love getting them...