As I have promised, I will be discussing how I came to the decision to create the Polka Dot Fatbook Project and what I did that was involved in the making of it.
I have not quite decided just yet what I'm going to do with the pictures. I think I'll post two or three of them and see if I could figure out how to put the rest into an album. If I put them all on here, it's just going to be a bit too much and quite overwhelming.

I came across Chrysti's blog at It was on her blog I saw her version of the Polka Dot book she did... I have always loved anything round, circle, and so on... This one was a bit more involved because it was about polka dots in the circle book kit. Look at her site, June 20th titled "Polka Dots a Plenty".... She stated somewhere in the post there's a Polka Dot Fatbook project that just started and I of course loving all things round signed up immediately!

I was not fully aware at first that we had to get a kit. I thought we had to use heavy-weight paper... when I asked about the paper, someone emailed me back and said there's no paper involved... you have to buy a kit... As soon as I learned about that, I went ahead and ordered a kit. When it arrived a few days later, I was slightly disappointed because the paper was nowhere near as heavy as I thought it would be. I was hoping for heavier paper with rougher texture. But what I had, I had to make do with and get to work on the project!

My inspiration for this project came from Cloth, Paper & Scissors Magazine Issue 12, May/June 2007. Due to Copyright laws, I cannot copy the picture to show you what the inspiration was for those of you who do not have the same magazine. You can go to
and look at the very upper right hand corner where you'll see painted & embossed hardware by Julaine Lofquist-Birch
I also received inspiration from a different issue which I cannot find right now. It was a project; I believe a quilt project using scrim which I have never seen before. The second I saw how scrim was used, I instantly fell in love with it and knew I had to buy some so whenever I could find a use for it, I would use it! For those of you who aren't sure what scrim is... it looks almost like cheesecloth. However scrim has a sturdier weave than cheesecloth has. Scrim is very soft but not as soft as cheesecloth is. It really does make a difference with your work. It provides texture and visually it's nice. Do not even bother trying to make decent edges or even binding the edges of scrim. Scrim is meant to be naturally as is. You can see the scanned image of what a scrim looks like below. Go to the bottom of May 24, 2007 post. You'll see it underneath the Circle Book Kit.
If you cannot find scrim, you can use cheesecloth in place of scrim. You will need to dye the cloth and go from there.

Now to explain what I have done from start to finish.... I purchased 10mm & 22mm flat hardware washers. I also purchased thin black rubber washers in approximately the same size as the flat metal washers. I unfortunately was not able to use the thin black rubber ring ‘washers’? I am not quite sure what it's called... I just know the ring is used to help prevent leakage and to make sure whatever the appliance is... that it’s airtight. I have scanned the washers, rings, etc that I found in Marc's cabinet in our garage.

1. I put the metal washers, etc into a bowl of water with some dish detergent and wash it that way... I was quite surprised how dirty it was. I gave it several washes until I saw clear water.

2. I used a Dremel tool using a metal sander. (If you would like to know specifically what I used, go ahead and just email me and I’ll email you exactly what I used.)
In order to prevent my fingers from being burnt and especially from having my fingers plastered with remnants of metal particles during sanding I used the end of a toothpick... You want for the toothpick or whatever you prefer to use in the open center part of the washer to allow the metal hardware washer to spin rapidly as you're sanding it with your Dremel.

I have numerous step by step photos that I will post so you can see what I've done.

Originally I started out by hand sanding the metal washers using sand paper for metal. I also used the dreaded steel wool. I dread those blasted steel wools. (Even though they always end up doing a magnificent job!) The metal particles never fail to embed itself into the skin of my fingers and boy does that hurt! I wear gloves though when I use steel wool and it helps. My fingers just don't like the steel wool. I was not satisfied with the job I was doing by sanding the washers by hand.

3. Then I applied Gesso on each one of the washers. I did not apply Gesso on the flat (bottom) side of the washer. I applied the Gesso on the top side where it’s very slightly rounded but still flat. When you apply Gesso on pretty much anything, it dries pretty quickly. I used the liquid Gesso for this.

The reason why I used Gesso was purely to prevent paint, etc from chipping off.


4. I applied various colors of “Grumbacher” acrylic paint on all of them then I used embossing stamp and used a pinch of embossed powder of many colors which deemed right for the washer and used the heat dryer to give the swirled effect and melted, embossed effect.
The pictures you'll see of the washers were the last bits I had and the worse ones I wouldn't put on the papers.

Note Bien: I wanted to rubber stamp polka dots and emboss them but that ended up taking forever. I decided I just really was beyond exhausted so I just bought cheap spray glitter in champagne and in gold... I will never use them again. You have to be very fast with it and lightning fast speed isn't enough because it will still cause the spray painted glitter to trickle down... I put a towel on top of the dryer and laid the sprayed papers on top of that to let it dry rather than having them lean against something. I proceeded with the rest of the circle kit the same way.

5. After all of the washers were finally completed, I then finally focused my attention on the scrim. The scrim did not want to work cooperatively with me. I then decided it might work better if I use a fabric stiffener. Went to the store and bought a bottle of it... came home and poured the stiffener in a Pyrex glass pan, put a large piece of scrim in it and swooshed it around until it was all covered. I then took it apart to lay it flat on a laundry rack. It would have dried fast, but I put a bit of extra stiffener on it so it took longer to dry. I did the same with two or three other scrim and let that dry overnight. I took the back cover of the circle kit because it's a very sturdy cardboard. I then put it on the scrim and cut it around the circle cover. I also cut one dollar coin size circles. When that was done... I put the washers on the paper. Both sides of the paper had to be used. So I just put them on randomly.
I also used the smaller dollar size cuts I made and put that over the washer and sewed around that. I did the same for the other side... I then used the dollar size circle scrim on the large circle scrim purely to give it a better effect. I used variegated thread and put the large round circle scrim on the round paper from the kit... I sewed zigzag stitches around.
I personally found in the middle of the project that it was better to place the washers in very specific areas of the paper because you needed to use the 2” round polka dot scrim over the washer and sew on the edges of the scrim on the paper.

I also learned halfway through that adding the washers on the scrim and sewing it to the paper was not a wise idea. It looked messy to me. It looks a lot nicer, cleaner when I glued the washer to the large scrim and put a contrasting color of 2” round scrim over the washer and sewed around the edges then positioned it on top of the paper with washers already on the paper… I wanted to make sure it wasn’t clashing and that you could easily see the washer underneath the scrim… you could also see the washer that was sewn on the scrim. I really liked it this way the best.

But different strokes for different folks! There is certainly no right or wrong way to do a project like this. You go with the flow. Whatever feels right to you, don’t change it and whatever feels could use some change, go for it! You’ll eventually find what feels just perfect to you!

6. It was absolutely impossible to use (I guess a screw nail) that goes into another thing... I have no clue what it's called. It is a screw that ‘binds’ the book together. Now if there were 3 of them, it would maybe work, but being the fact it was a circle book, you could only quite obviously use one ‘screw’ for the book so you could easily open/close it. My book ended up being a very fat book. I decided to leave the front and back cover entirely blank.

This is one project I will never repeat again! It ended up taking more than a month and half to do. It seriously took a long time.

It was however a lot of fun and entertaining to do and it did give me more self confidence with the sewing machine.

I sincerely appreciated the help that Kiersten gave me for an hour or so when I was just so exhausted. I also appreciated Nicole’s help when she was able to help. They knew I was just beyond exhausted.

I did go into this project thinking what can be so difficult?!! HA! Lots! The work involved was rather extensive. I know for a fact I will never do another project like this again! I’m the kind of artist who cannot repeat a project twice. I’m strictly a One of a Kind artist. That’s another reason why I got into beading. There’s never, ever two alike. There may be exact patterns, but the final piece will differ because you’ll end up finishing your piece quite differently than how others finished their piece. I think it’s thrilling to create OOAK art work. OOAK art work is always going to jump out at that one particular person who just says their work screams at them and that’s who it’s supposed to be for!

I do not like anything regardless what it is in life ‘half-assed job’… if I start something, it isn’t going to be half-assed; it’s going to be from start to finish. I was raised from when I was a wee child that anything started is to be done from start to finish and the right way. For instance, in a bathroom, you just don’t clean the sink and counter top… whatever is in the bathroom is to be cleaned. I’m quite grateful I was instilled with this valuable life lesson.

The only time I am overwhelmed is when it comes to my own art supplies, beads, (which I have thousands and thousands and more of), Hundreds of art-related magazines and hundreds of books not on just the arts… However, I am indeed quite overwhelmed with my own personal clutter and once I start, I start to panic because I don’t know where to start and also I have so much and I know that… but I can’t part with it because I’m one of those who actually end up going right back to magazines for inspiration, instructions, and reference. I have found supplies I haven’t touched or used in years and ended up using! I’m so glad I haven’t thrown them out. Art is not a cheap thing to be in at all. I am an extremely firm believer again from what I learned over the years of growing up is you get what you pay for. Quality pays… How very true! I truly and very personally believe that quality is the secret to everlasting masterpiece. I know and am almost sure there are many wonderful artists who would politely disagree with me on this and that is OK too. I will someday share why I believe this to be true. I’m just not quite ready to share it right now. Perhaps soon. BTW, I don’t buy everything in one fell swoop! I buy things over a period of time. However when it comes to Miyuki, TOHO™, AIKO™, and other Japanese seed beads, I am out of control! They are very addictive! I especially enjoy very unique glass artists who make unique beads. I’m not at all interested in the same old every day beads you see… if something is different, then more often than not, it will attract my attention and I’m a dollar or two or more short! But isn’t that the case for all of us artisans?!!

I truly hope with this being my first ever swap and a non-beaded project that those who are very familiar with this kind of work and far more experience than I, that they’ll hopefully enjoy it. Every moment I worked on this book, I kept wondering if the receiving participant will like this or not. I always hope they will. I truly didn’t want to do buttons, wrapping papers, etc with dots on it. I’m not into cutesy art and never will be into that. But, all in all, I did eventually have fun with this project! Like the saying goes, there’s a first and last for everything you do! T
here’s so much for the world to go round and round and round! (Pun intended!)