2026 04 Paper and Book Camp 2.0: Karen Robison at Shake Rag Alley

 Wednesday, 4/22/2026

Today I got up at 7:30 and was on the road by 8:30. My destination: Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, WI, and the Paper & Book Camp 2.0 taught by my art buddy Karen Robison.

Today’s breakfast was obtained in the drive through at McDonalds. This was so that I could be in South Beloit, IL by 10:00 a.m.

My first stop was Angela’s Attic where I scored by time and bought about 10 things. Next up (just across the street) was the Best of Beloit Vintage Mall where the best I could do was 2 things.

The Mall had this cool Ford parked out in the parking lot. 

Then it was on to Rockford, IL, where at my first stop, East Side Antique Mall, I bought nothing. The next place sounded so exciting: Scavenged Parts, Antiques and Oddities. To my shock I bought nothing as it was just like a big version of the booths you see at the Oddities and Curiosities shows. 

Along the way I found these samples of wall art:

Next I drove to Mineral Point on non-Federal highways. It was a beautiful day and I had a nice drive. My port of call in Mineral Point, WI, is the appropriately named Mineral Point Hotel. I decided to make my dinner plans simple and got a sub from the appropriately named Subway outlet. 

Thursday, 4/23/2026

I slept in this morning and then had leisurely breakfast at Café 43, reading my current book: 1984 by George Orwell. When I walked back to the hotel I got engaged in a 90 talk with the hotelier John about a variety of topics. It was quite the discussion so I did not get out of the hotel until about 11:30 a.m.

My destination today is a town called Hazelgreen, about one-half hour from Mineral Point. There are four antique stores there and I hit them all. With the haul I made I cannot remember what I bought where but is was fun to browse some stores I had not been in for quite a while. 

I was back to the Lind Pavilion on the Shake Rag Alley campus by 2:00 p.m., just in time to be totally useless in helping Karen set up for her class. I did get to meet and great with Gail, Theresa, Lynn and other students as the early arrivals were unloading their cars.

This night I was lucky enough to be invited to dinner and the apartment of Carole Spelic and Richard Moninski, owners of Green Lantern Studios where I exhibit. My art buddies Karen, Gail and Dara where there as well. The meal was great and so was the table conversation. Then it was back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep before class starts tomorrow.

Friday, 4/24/2026

Today I had breakfast at my favorite breakfast diner in Mineral Point: the Red Rooster thanks to Tammy, the owner, and Helen the waitress. 

This is the first day of Paper & Book Camp 2.0 taught by Karen Robison. Here is the workshop description: "Paper! Alter old, new, and found papers with masking, wrapping, sewing, ink drawings, tea dying, and stenciling. Our first tea-dyed batches will focus on layering, masking, wrapping, leaf masks, and ink/wax contact prints. As we wait for the papers to cure and dry, we’ll design cover options and create collage/sewn elements. After ironing the first papers and starting another round, we trot out the stencils and heat stamps, sew, and make cyanotypes. Then it’s time to design and build our books. Recycling old book covers and/or heavy watercolor paper prints we will use a combination of accordion and simple pages stitched in 3-5 signatures. After all that, we can embellish with our newly altered scraps and stitches. Materials Fee includes: use of dying equipment and necessary teas and dyes, cyanotype solution, India ink, an assortment of colored, new, and found papers, scraps of cotton and cheese cloth, miscellaneous collage papers, waxed linen for book binding, and an assortment of cords and yarns for wrapping, permanent ink pads for stamping, mark making materials, white wax pencil, plasticine, and permanent glue sticks."

The workshop took place in the great Lind Pavilion classroom space. 

Karen Robison

Karen is a great instructor. She also provides a ton of supplies, detailed handouts and an outline of what we are going to do. I think if you can't keep up it is all on you. 

Just part of the supplies

My worktable

My favorite thing in the workshop is to tea dye papers--here are my first rolls

Rolls on the drying rack

Three days of full sun meant we could dry individual sheets out on the clothes lines

The papers come off the line ready to be ironed into shape

We also could do cyanotype printing. 

I had time to work on one small book using pamphlet stitching.

I also had time to make two collages. 

On Sunday we had a chance to lay out our favorite successes so we could share with the group.

Of the hundred sheets of paper I made this weekend, this is my favorite

I have been told that this class sold out the first day the catalog was opened back in January. For those who took it, that is completely understandable as we all plan on getting in line if Karen teaches again next year. For this year, I want to thank Karen Robison for a great time making paper at Shake Rag Alley.