Bookiness!

i AM done!

2010-07-19T22:46:00.002-04:00

here's the proof!

Done and Done

2010-07-19T21:56:00.006-04:00

Finished bright and early this morning. Had a plan to break things down so that I wouldn't find myself staying up late into the night the weekend before and wouldn't you know that that's whay I did. One of my favorite movies on repeat and a call in sick to work. Nothing quite like the satisfaction that came upon finishing that very last book. I probably should've done it finishing one book first and then the others but I found it a a better process getting it all done together. Working out the kinks as I went along. It helped alot with the cutting and measuring and dear lord the glue. I swear I'm OCD with all the handwashing I did only have to go back and get them messy again. Tried to keep a wet cloth handy but that only worked for so long. It was messy and tiring but oddly satisfying. Have ideas for a few other projects that I'd like to put together...without the pressure of an extremely looming deadline. I definitely agree with the therapeautic nature of putting everything together. Really happy with what came out...from story to the end product.

Before:

After:

And...you're finished!

2010-07-19T21:51:00.001-04:00

Congrats, folks, on a job well done!

I'll be picking up the books tomorrow and grading in the next couple of days. I believe the grades have to be in by COB 7/22, so you won't have long to wait.

Talk to you soon. :)

Jenny

And...Done!

2010-07-19T17:36:00.007-04:00

So here are all my finished books. I am not sure why I waited until this weekend to get everything done, but after a lot of cutting, and mod podgecoated fingers, I made it! I'm really happy with my finished product although I am about to revise the piece of writing I used (I will not let that drive me nuts, though). I have learned that printing with crop marks is the way to go -- helps to get those really straight cuts. Also, printing front to back AND getting everything aligned is REALLY hard even when you have printed test after test. I also continue to love Paper Source and wish there was one closer. Here are some pictures of my little army of books:

All the pretty ribbon!

Here is one open.

The back cover!

The front cover.

I think that the best way to go about making a series of books is to make one copy first. That way you can work out all the kinks and make sure that the ideas you have are possible! I really enjoyed my summer of making books!

hard hat required

2010-07-19T15:42:00.008-04:00

coming around the construction bend held a number of fun surprises, but not as many as i might have thought thanks to (you guessed it) mock ups!

Exhibit A. $75 worth of paper folded and ready to be glued. Thanks, Staples, for warning me that this tiny 10 book project would cost me dinner for a week. I'm not sure who wouldn't be surprised by that pricetag, but... um... I was.

At any rate - they're beautiful! And colorful! And laid-out correctly!

Exhibit B. Since my accordion book is two-sided, I had to glue the backs together before folding. Two of the pockets (you can sort of see them... under the pink square there's a light blue box that doesn't match anything else) will be glued under the covers. This view shows the back pockets before they're folded under the book... if that makes any sense.

Spoiler alert: I ended up just gluing the sides down rather than stitching them. I thought the stitching would compete with the bold white box ... and ... I didn't leave a larger margin on the outer edges, as I should have if I'd really wanted to do it. Also I thought the glossy high-impact printing would actually confuse the stitching idea. I didn't complain that it was faster this way too :)

worth a thousand letters

2010-07-19T15:34:00.004-04:00

design is about decisions... so here's a run-down of a few end-of-the-game decisions that had to be made. my original vision was to use craft foam as letter cut-outs, however I realized that it would make the book too thick once the letters were inserted into the pockets.

therefore, i tried craft paper:

and decided that i really had to use something i could feed in the printer, otherwise i would have to cut each piece out only after tracing it with a stencil, which itself had to be cut out. these shapes didn't lend themselves well to so much tracing and cutting in the first place, and my patience definitely didn't lend well to such an inefficient method. enter cardstock that's color-coordinated with my pockets -- adding the extra benefit of indicating which face is which (mostly):

as you can see, the skinny little strokes don't look like they can hold up to playtime, as they're intended. enter contact paper (mostly):

.... stay tuned for an exciting construction post and the big reveal!

book fun

2010-07-19T12:58:00.004-04:00

So here are my ten books. They are sprawly if I open them all, so I have made two pictures, one of which is them looking all tall and organized with a couple of sprawly ones, and one which shows them stacking nicely, as if they play well with others (they don't).

As to what I learned... I learned a lot of things. I think one of the most important was that I can keep changing things for a while until it all actually (more or less works). The MOST important, though, is that if you have enough Mod Podge caked onto your hands, and the dog barks right next to your head while you're trying to use an Xacto knife, the Mod Podge will absorb most of the cut action of the blade as it sinks into your finger. Yay for Mod Podge!

Fin

2010-07-19T09:20:00.025-04:00

I can't believe I used all the glue.
That was the phrase of the day, yesterday. Of course I had Mod Podge, but I'd planned to use what was left of that to lacquer everything up shiny-like.

That was a minor speed bump in the big picture. Everything had been going nicely and in a timely manner, which I should have known was too good to last because I'm never done anything anymore with time to spare. I'd save the weekend as a production push, no plans except putting all the pieces together. I'd gotten all my parts ready and lightly tested some bits & pieces for fitting and glue compatibility, but I had not completed a book in its entirety. Doing this on Saturday and Sunday would not have been a problem at all, except I spent Saturday pacing around in a tizzy over the dog and his mysterious illness then at the animal hospital (I think everything is going to be fine, if you might be concerned.) So that left me Sunday, which was still devoted in large part to the dog. I got it all done, just not through the calm-&-steady zone but rather the adrenaline filled running-outta-time-zone.
Anyway, I am happier with my concept and ideas for the story more so than I am with the actual products. Not that I'm unhappy with those, I just feel that, as with most things, if I'd taken more time earlier the results would have that little extra bit of finesse. Mine wasn't a precision project, but things could definitely be a bit straighter/centered/neater in general, and probably would have been if I wasn't so strung out when I assembled them. And I discovered at midnight that I'd only prepared 8 text blocks instead of 10 (I could have sworn there were 10, it's possible I lost a couple in the chaos of my workspace.)
Again, it's not that I'm unsatisfied, just not as satisfied as I think I could have been.
If anyone should read the story (Jenny), I want to be the first to point out that, despite spending more time than I meant to on the actual text, there are several typos. (Note to self-- InDesign does not do spell check.) The first I noticed was "deam." And yes, it's on all 10 copies. *cringe*

I could talk about all the things that didn't go so well forever, because those are the things I've agonized over. Stuff went well, too. But now I'm out of blog fuel (and I'm at work.) So here's pics:

Scroll images

Broke two needles

This looks sloppier than it is, mostly
At work, thinking I might get to take more pictures.

*I forgot to add, this has been fun, our class time and period of free-work. It's easy to gripe about stuff, and I never mean to spend so much time doing that in papers or blogs. The book making process, I've found, is therapeutic, and even when things don't turn out exactly as planned or as pretty as anticipated, I usually still feel good about it, and the times I really don't are the times when I start over. :-)

Take 2!!

2010-07-16T00:05:00.004-04:00

Let's see if they'll post here. This is the book that I am NOT making...the one I mentioned in one of my earlier posts. This was the plan but again gotta work with what I have.

you say it's what day?

2010-07-16T00:02:00.003-04:00

f.u.n.

I wish I had a more exciting update prepared for you - it's coming! - but since I don't want you to forget about me over here, I'll just say this: I've had to learn the hard way that having access to some of the fonts you need on one computer, and other fonts you need on another computer, particularly when one computer is a pc at your office and the other is a mac at your home, can really cost you a lot of time. I can't even admit how many times I tried to finish this thing up only to remember that the reason I hadn't already finished it is because I needed to use that typeface and the reason I couldn't use that typeface is because it's on that other computer. Thankfully, there are wills and ways and even fonts can stand in the way of books. More good news: had my last Book Design class of the summer tonight and -- although it won't help me wrap up two more classes between now and Monday -- I'll have my Tuesday and Thursday nights back :)

My Little Printer that Could

2010-07-15T23:35:00.004-04:00

...until it couldn't. I don't even want to think about the poor trees that I slaughtered at work and home. Had a plan and when that didn't work out...came up with four others that met the same fate. I don't even want to discuss the torture device that is InDesign. I had a plan and a timetable. You know the saying...We Plan and the Big Guy...well, you know. I actually ran through an entire cartridge of color ink and one of my favorite of the pictures wants to come out all....adskjfasdjf. I could let it go and use the ones I already printed in black and white but the color just makes it pop and means so much more to the actual story and project as a whole. I ordered new ink but will it get here in time. HAAAA. (Don't mind me...I'm hysterical or sleepy oooor both). Either way, I'm ready to move forward if need be with what I have. Just need to draw a few straight lines and not slice up anymore fingers.

See? Piles and Piles and Piles of paper.

Voila! a prototype!

2010-07-15T12:02:00.004-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen!

I give you:

A BOOK!

This is the title page...

Of course, it is what we in the writing & publishing biz call a ROUGH DRAFT. By which I mean ROUGH, by golly.

This is what my little accordion friend looks like spread out. And please ignore the CHAOS of my "desk," which is actually my "dining table," until my office upstairs is fixed again (long story).

But I think I finally figured out solutions to the 97 things that were continuing to NOT WORK.

Now I just have to make a ton more. Which is fine.

Extra Credit and Assembly

2010-07-14T17:42:00.005-04:00

Just an update on my progress. I have everything cut, sorted and ready to be assembled into my 9 other books:

I plan on putting them all together this weekend. I have been working on my extra credit assignment (because I missed a class -- so don't panic). I decided to use a line of poetry from Joy Harjo's poem "Summer Night" because it was vivid and beautiful. I was origionally going to illustrate it in InDesign, but after I opened my box-o-crafts, I realized that I had some great paper, etc. that would be better to work with and require less computer time. I am really happy with how it turned out.

Here is the cover:

All of the pages fanned out:

And one of the pages close-up.

I like how the book unfolds and closes because it is similar to the way Harjo describes night in summer. Hope you are having a great week!

progress

2010-07-10T20:52:00.005-04:00

Tried out a few different things while waiting for more supplies I ordered. Those old notebooks certainly came in handy because I really wanted to try working on a couple of concepts I had in mind for my collection of stories bound in hardback. Also I found more great fabric that I wanted to use for my books. First though had to test it out and make certain that it didn't look completely ridiculous and that the glue didn't seep through. Finished up a text block and measured out the board for it. It didn't turn out very badly though there are spots where I wasn't careful with the glue. Not necessarily it seeping through the fabric but fingerprints. Also, I had a few issues with the inside. The paper I was using was a little on the thick side and then the first and last pages of the text block were sticking to it. Finally ended up gluing those pages over the too thick paper I'd used and I actually like the effect of it all. Still the entire point of the exercise was to see if the fabric would be sufficent for binding up my final set and I'm pretty happy with it. As long as I can keep my glue covered fingers to myself.

ETA:
This was fun and as it turns out not what my final books will look like. Bookmaking is like improv comedy...you gotta go off the cuff and work with what you have ;).

Trying to add the pics but...

Just checking in...

2010-07-10T16:33:00.002-04:00

Hi folks!

Hope you're all well. I'm enjoying seeing the pics and reading about your progress. It sounds like great things are afoot...

As you're finishing things up, please know that you can feel free to e-mail me anytime for ideas/brainstorming/etc. I check my yahoo address most often...

One other thing: I'm going to check in with Kendra to see if we might have a table at one of the readings in the fall semester. I'm assuming you'd like to display and/or try to sell your books...right? I hope so...they're looking great so far!

Will let you know what I find out...until then, stay cool!
JennyO

Oh, InDesign! I forgot you were there.

2010-07-10T13:32:00.007-04:00

I don't know why I default back to using Word for anything that involves, er, words. And even many other projects that don't so much. I used InDesign to make one of the books in my pair a few weeks ago, and that was because I heard, "...lay it out in InDesign..." while we were learning to make the magic book, and I held on to that phrase, like it was an idea I wouldn't have thought of on my own.
Well it turns out that yet again I didn't think of using the program I paid beaucoup bucks for and which is specifically designed for the sort of projects I continue to try to pull off in Word. So, thank you Christine for your blog post! It reminded me that InDesign exists, and I own it and will use it, even if only its most basic functions and it will still be better than Word. Whew. Thanks also go to Rafe, for reminding me today that we need to use words AND at least one image! I hadn't gotten that far and might have been unpleasantly surprised to go back over the requirements and realize I'd formatted my pages and created covers without one. I could see that happening.
So this is where I am currently, formatting, laying out my story on pages. I had an "Ah hah!" moment just this morning which made me change my mind for the content, as I came across a story I wrote a while ago and think is much more fitted for this assignment. Yay. :-) I have a lot of work to do this week. Work-work (job) has been increasingly hairy (my supervisor of 5 years was fired last week and then I almost quit) so I haven't dedicated much quality time to my book making. But now, the clock is a-ticking!

a question, I guess

2010-07-09T20:09:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. Don't know if anyone else is checking this (I am all the time, but that's because I am not doing things like going to work, which I think almost all the rest of you are). If anyone is, I have a question. My book is a poem. Well, it's an accordion book OF a poem. The poem is sortof about unicorns (but not exactly). So I put in a unicorn picture. The problem is that I don't want to make the picture small enough to fit right on the page, so I thought maybe I should break it up in pieces like a puzzle. I'm not sure yet how I feel about it - any thoughts?

slightly more progress

2010-07-09T10:12:00.003-04:00

I have a text block! And a cut-out template!

It's been fun figuring out how many folds I want in my accordion, and how many pages I want in the total book. Having finally battened that down (it is possible that "battened" is not the best verb for this, but whatever), I am now experimenting with what kinds of paper work in my sad little printer and what kinds do not. THEN I am experimenting with which papers work in the printer AND are strong enough to stand up in bold little accordion folds. After that I get to start printing and assembling... Which means experimenting with binder board and different glues and my fabric. Secretly I am prepared to hit PaperSource on Sunday if the fabric thing doesn't pan out. Looking forward to getting sticky. Good thing I don't have a job this summer. :)

update!

2010-07-06T14:30:00.007-04:00

With my type choices ... chosen ... and researched, I decided to jump in and tackle the project of figuring out how exactly to layout a pocket accordion book in InDesign. I'm terrible at working in stages, and like to make the product as I go - if that makes any sense - so starting to work in ID really got me more excited about the direction of the book. The mock-ups photoed (excuse the i-phone) are scaled for 8.5 x 11 but I'll print the finals on tabloid so each pocket will be 3.75" x 3" - large enough, in other words, to not only have some weight but to also hold the characters that will slip in the pocket.

Here are some shots of my screen after a lot of trouble-shooting. For one thing, figuring out how many columns to create caused me way more trial-and-error than I'd like to admit. I'd committed myself to featuring 6 faces, but it took a sad amount of time to realize that the four-column fold would be the ideal solution - leaving 2 extra "pockets" to be transformed in their emptiness into the front and back covers. (I found this tutorial which, while kind of silly, made me really excited to add book-board covers and stitch the pockets - I'm a sucker for stitching and also think it will work nicely into my concept...) The second shot shows the page 1 and page 2 as well as (off the pasteboard) my aide to visualizing how this thing would fold up.

...But back to my concept. What exactly is that?

Well, loosely defined... The characters I'm featuring are all kind of neat typographic stories (or at least, I hope to make them so). Right now, I'm working in the default ID color palette - this is usually the first thing I change when I open a document because when are these colors ever appropriate? But I love the idea of referencing the print process with these - pure Cyan, pure Magenta, pure Yellow, and a standard mix for red, navy, and green. It's not a modern story, though, and digital printing is... so I threw in an art nouveau pattern on the background to bridge the gap, add some playfulness, and reference the inspiration for the project - mrs. eaves. (the font was created in 1996 based on the classic baskerville, who in real life had taken the real-life mrs. eaves as his mistress after her husband died.)

At any rate, beyond sizing, it took some playing to get the pages to print correctly. They're built double-sided, since i'll fold the text up to create the pockets. This means the text blocks have to be rotated 180 degrees and arranged right to left, rather than left to right.

I think it's finally gaining steam though, and I can't wait to bring these characters to life!

a smidge more progress

2010-07-05T17:40:00.003-04:00

SO. Still no pictures, but that will happen shortly.

I am finally finished wrangling my idea (yes, I got my idea approved what now seems like weeks ago, but...). For a long time it seemed pragmatic and high-functioning. I was reasonably happy with it. But it didn't stir me. It brought me zero joy.

This morning I figured out how to solve that. NOW I have joy and anticipation, and I can't wait to get cracking. I've made the text block in InDesign. I think I have determined on what kind of paper I will print this thing. I found a wonderful fabric for the covers that I am pretty sure will work with the Podge. Also, I like it that I get to use the word Podge all the time.

Anyway. Back to work! Pictures soon as I evolve the book. I hope you are all enjoying the long weekend, if you had one, and the weather (although it is just a tad bit too hot).

Anon.

Postcards finished!

2010-07-04T19:58:00.000-04:00

I used the long weekend to finish my books since I'll be away for most of this week/weekend.

One of the first things I faced while beginning the process of gluing was deciding on mod podge vs. glue stick.

The paper that I used for the outside cover was parchment paper and bubbled up when I used mod podge to glue it to the board. The glue stick turned out to be a much better option for this book.

I held the paper + board up to a lamp to line the board up with the cover and back

Again, I found the bone fold to be incredibly helpful!

Making progress....

10 books of Postcards!

A close-up of the cover (a photograph of Our Lady Before Tyn Cathedral that I took while visiting Prague)

A close-up of the back

Sample pages (AKA the little Postcards)

All together :)

I have to say, aside from feeling all sticky from the glue, I had a good time putting this book together. Once I got the most difficult (in my opinion) task of cutting board out of the way, it was just a matter of making sure my the pages were glued on straight. My favorite part of the process was designing the cover and pages in InDesign. It was nice to use that program again.

Have Supplies, Will Craft.

2010-07-04T11:46:00.007-04:00

I finally went to PaperSource and got my supplies!

If you have never been to PaperSource in Annaplis, go immediatly. You will LOVE it! Since I had my supplies, I decided to make one of my books in its complete form first to see if my idea would even work and to work out the measurements with real materials and not just sketches. So here is one of my books! It's a little rough, but it worked!

The Cover:

Right after opening:

The left flap opens into a picture of a sunset I took and edited a little in photoshop:

The left side unfolds four times, revealing more sections of the poem:

And it all ties together with the great dyed satin ribbon I got at PaperSource:

There is my book. Now I just have to get down to constructing the other 9! Happy 4th!

2010-07-03T16:47:00.015-04:00

One functional digital camera battery is good. A camera battery with an accompanying battery charger is better. But TWO functioning camera batteries AND a charger is best, by far.
I'd lost my battery charger over a month ago and was impressed, for once, by my camera's battery life, which lasted long enough for me to take & upload photos until last week. I ordered a charger from Buy.com (and was crossing my fingers, bc it seemed super-sketch and didn't look like it matched my battery, no matter what the description said) which came w/ an additional battery and they arrived a few days ago. They do fit, though the battery doesn't look like it sits in the charger quite right. But battery life is back, so joy!
I haven't accomplished anything yet that looks nice and/or pretty, but I've tested some paper (for a scroll idea) and bought more decorative stuff and punched holes in all of my covers. So now all notable grunt work is done. Yippee! It's all Podge and ribbon and sunshine from here! (And needless and cutting and stickiness, it's all good though.)
Here are some less than exciting photos, as all I have are still just non-assembled parts. I took photos aplenty, but will only post a small portion, to spare everyone. Was just so happy to have a fully charged camera, I was giggling while clicking with the quickness. The things we take for granted!

Testing paper to see if it would soften with water. This particular one did not.

Maybe some oil, too, will soften? (Eh, decided to use tracing or parchment paper.)

Matched up by size, because they aren't all exactly 8.5x7 and some fit better with others (amazingly there was a good match for each, no oddballs out.)

I like this one because it looks like they're kissing! Awwl! (I've been dying to use "awl" in that context, so shoot me.)

This is my favorite board to work with, it came from a box and is firm but super easy to punch through and cut. It's a little flakier/messier, but that's fine. I predict it will be either the best or the worst of my ten.

Got 'er done. Next up, dress 'em up.

progress of sorts, almost

2010-07-02T21:12:00.003-04:00

Hello everyone. As you maybe have guessed, I have accomplished Not Much in the actual crafting of my books, on account of how I have been off wandering the Outer Banks. However, I have THOUGHT about my books quite a lot. At present, I know I am making an edition of accordion books but I have not yet found the right paper (looking forward to a trip to Paper Source, I think). I have in mind something sleek and glossy and dark, but who knows what will dazzle me in real life. The content will be a poem I made called "Ninth Life," which I wrote in Kendra's poetry class using my list of 100 words I love but never use in writing. I plan to illustrate it, but am not sure yet HOW exactly, or in what medium. I will definitely be posting more soon! I would have posted sooner but my access to the interwebz has been sporadic at best, except via my phone. Tonight it seems to be working a little better. Anyway: MORE SOON!

Testing...testing

2010-06-30T19:28:00.002-04:00

So the idea was to create a volume of children's stories based on those written by two characters in my novel. I had this wild idea about using one of characters from the children's story a lightening bug as a part of the motif. There was going to be light and a lot of mechanical rigamarol...but can't quite get my head around how to get it started or get it done. Then I found this gorgeous fabric that i wanted to use and thought of going to Plan B to create still the series of children's books as a series of hardcover stab binding. With this in mind, I've been playing around with how I want to put everything together. I was thinking something along the lines of how we put together the signatures....Jenny and Pantea weren't kidding about test pages. I'm sure that I ran through at least a half a cartridge of ink before I got the hang of it.

Whadda Character!

2010-06-30T16:11:00.003-04:00

So my original proposal was lacking pizazz... My new book is going to be a folder accordion that features little type buddies.

It's based off of one of Pantea's Typography projects, but made worthwhile thanks to the inspiration of my Lit Pub friends and Katie, who is fighting the in-the-box-thinking book design kids (myself included) tooth and nail to consider other ways of making books. Interesting ways.

I'll have six "characters" - each with a pocket and bio. Additional decisions to come.

And photos. I promise.

Idea...Check.

2010-06-28T16:55:00.005-04:00

If I'm being honest, I have not gotten much done on my final 10 books in terms of making straight lines, cutting, etc, but I have made choices! And isn't that half the battle? I was between two ideas for my final set of books. I am going to work with a piece I wrote that consists of a series of smaller prose/poems/something sections called "definitions of what happens after the sun goes down. Here is a rough sketch of how I want the book to turn out:

I want things to fold open and closed, to pop out, a secret illustration and a button or velcro or some other nifty closing device. I also know the paper I want to use, but I need to head back to Utrecht in Towson to get a few more sheets of it. This is what it looks like:

Within the text, there is a lot of sun, fire and warmth, so I thought this would be a great paper to communicate those ideas. The main reason I haven't begun any of the actual construction is that I need to take a ride out to Paper Source in Annapolis. I know they have the exact paper I want to make the base of the front/back covers and spine with, and so far I have only seen it there. The secondary reason is my brother was in town last week from Washington state visiting before his first big deployment (9 months!) with the Navy. Needless to say, I didn't have a lot of time. But I don't work in the summer (joy!), so the next couple weeks I can really dedicate a lot of time to this final.

Making progress....

2010-06-28T11:32:00.000-04:00

I think Meredith was right about cutting -- the more you do, the better you get! After cutting 20 boards (and only breaking once for lunch), I was really getting the hang of it. I felt more confident knowing how much pressure to apply to the knife and how to make sure my lines were being cut straight.

2010-06-26T16:05:00.007-04:00

So far in my final project book making I have covers cut & a lot of brainstorming down. I decided on 8.5 x 7 inch covers. It was probably one of the biggest and easiest decisions to make, but now I have that to work with. I'm betting (hoping) it's all downhill from here, as far as the grunt work goes.
A couple things I've learned and hope it isn't too late in the game now to be useful lessons for others:
1- The start of a ruler is not necessarily the point at which measurement begins.
2- Always withdraw a box cutter blade when you put it down to do something else, even if you are going to come right back to it.
Initially I thought my cutting mat and ruler were a fraction of an inch off from each other. After a lot of puzzlement (yeah, kind of embarrassing) I realized that there is a "0 inch" mark. I'd been measuring from the start of the ruler. I will deal with this mistake as I go, I suppose, because I hope that tiny bit isn't enough to make a difference in the great scheme of things. Will find out! (*Do all of our 10 books need to be exactly the same size? Hmm, then again, who will know...just kidding. A little...)
I also had a could-have-been-very-bad moment with the box cutter and from now on will be putting the blade back in whenever I put it down. I advise everyone do the same!!!
I can't get the text to wrap around images the way I like in Blogger, so I'm putting them at the end of this post.
Happy crafting, everybody!

Image #2, about as straight as it gets with me, the board, & the ruler.

Image #3, a break is needed for my hands to recover after cutting out less than half of my covers.

Before I forget: An awesome book...

2010-06-25T14:30:00.004-04:00

Hi all! Just wanted to say thanks for letting me sit in on your class last weekend. I had a great time. It was wonderful to see the beautiful books you've been making, and I can't wait to read about your finals. If you need anyone to bounce ideas off of or to answer questions about sewing or pasting, I'm happy to help. You can email me at meredithpurvis [at] gmail [dot] com!

I also wanted to share this amazing book that a college professor of mine told me about it. It's Anne Carson's latest, and it's published by New Directions. It's called Nox. It's a continuous accordion book in a box. I ordered a copy last night and can't wait to see it in person, but in the meantime, this is a pretty great blog post about it with nice photos of the book:

http://rainingacorns.blogspot.com/2010/06/anne-carsons-nox.html

I was thrilled at the beauty of the form and how well it tied into the subject, but most of all, I was super excited to see a press willing to put that amount of effort into a book--you all know how much work it would be!

Wishing you bookiness and cool breezes!

10 is the magic number

2010-06-25T11:17:00.000-04:00

For my book, I will be making 10 little hardcover magic books. The book is called postcards and contains small poems written about the city Prague.

Here are all the pages ready to be folded

Ah, I love the bone folder!

Here are the little magic books all folded

A closer look

Here are the outside pages

After Breaking 5 Needles...

2010-06-22T16:26:00.009-04:00

Since I wasn't in class this past Saturday, I had to make the two hard cover books on my own at home. This was a bit of a challenge, particularly the stab bind. I did not have too much trouble putting the hardcover journal together because I had a sheet of directions from Jenny. I got stuck on how to glue the signatures into the cover. I don't think I did that right, but I'll keep practicing! Also, one of my inside covers is a little crooked even though I did work super carefully. I am still happy with how it turned out, and I loved the paper I used and will go buy some more this week!

The stab bind was REALLY difficult for me. I could not find very good directions anywhere on the internet, so I just used Jenny's book as an example and tried to figure out how to do it from that. I do not reccommend this as a process although I learned an awful lot. My covers did not come out quite even, which makes me think that one end should be shorter than the other to allow for the hinge? The worst part of this for me was the sewing! I broke 5 needles trying to complete the spine...and that was all I had, so one of the stitches is incomplete. I vow to buy more needles and finish this when I get it back. I am very excited about the flower details I added to the lower right corner. I fastened them with brads before I glued the board to the paper. The white paper is a little see-through, but I think I am okay with that.

flagaccordionmatcchbookpaintchip...book!

2010-06-20T12:36:00.002-04:00

[Photos to come! ... camera cord MIA!]

As soon as I saw Jenny's practice accordion book - with pages that became longer at the back of the book - I knew it would be perfect for a paint chip project. I'd been interested in working with paint chips for a month or so and I thought the color gradient of the chips and the flag-style accordion bind would make a great pair. I brainstormed several concepts: town and country (maybe a gray booklet with high contrast images along with an earthy booklet with country words), old and new, etc., and finally settled on By Sea and By Sky. Finding chips I loved helped me settle on a concept - the yellows especially spoke to me. So on weekend one I had quite an impressive collection of paint chips in my purse. As a side note, it was exciting to see how no two brands are the same - not only in terms of color, but in the style of their chips. Some are long and narrow, others more square; I got one set just because each had a small square cut-away at the bottom that I thought could be interesting in book-making.

The chips I ended up using offered the largest surface area, as well. Since I was cutting each down by increments of about half a centimeter, I went with the taller chips, as opposed to the more strip-y chips. After these decisions were made, it was just a matter of slicing each page to size, embroidering or gluing the content matter on, assembling the book and cleaning up the construction (I relied HEAVILY on Pantea's nail-file tip to make the pages uniform). I also made a matchbook wrap to keep things neat and protected, a button and string embellishment, and colored backsides to each page to hide the paint branding and embroidery guts.

Did I mention...

2010-06-19T16:10:00.003-04:00

...how awesome you guys are? Love the posts, love the books I've seen. I'm very very excited to see your proposals!

jo'g

Matter Over Mind

2010-06-19T00:26:00.004-04:00

Okay, I knew what I wanted to do. I had it all planned out in my head. Well the concept at least. This as we discussed in class was a lot more complicated when it came to the actual execution. Why? Because of me of course. I had the concept in my head and was determined to bring it to fruition. We were supposed to work on two different types of books, one solely based on images and the other on wordplay. The wordplay I had in my head even before we were halfway through class. Would I present it using the magicbook and how exactly could I make this work. What would I chose as the concept for my imagery. Lately, I've been inclined to metafiction of all types for the novel I've been working on for about forever. Last semester I set up a Facebook page for three of my novel's main characters and for this project, I thought about creating a children's book using only images. Why? Again the call of the character's living and breathing in my head. I thought about Lucinda and Jillian's collaboration for the children's book and decided to try their first foray. Now here is where concept and execution were having issues. I wanted to do something with Japanese creation myths. I ended up brushing up on different stories and a dozen or so different cultures. Most...were alot more complicated and too intricate for the form that I'd finally decided on (magic book). So while the Celtics were slowly losing the lead they'd held for much of the final game, I was ready to pull my hair out trying to figure out how to tell the story that I wanted to tell within the confines of the construct I'd chose without the freedom of even a single vowel to get my point across. In the end, I'm satisfied with what I came up with.

The second book was a stab binding with a soft cover. This one came together with concept and execution alot easier than the first. It was only when I was ready to get everything all bound and ready that my problems came up. Little things. Floss nowhere to be found. Fraying thread that insisted on becoming tangled and knotted and driving me crazy.

Anyway, here's what I came up with. Not too sophisticated but fun after the earlier headache. Just have to remember not to bind myself up with ideas of concept. This took days while the little magic book that I used as a birthday card/giftcard holder for my friend was ready to go in under 15 minutes. LOL.

Pair o' Books, Part 1

2010-06-18T16:17:00.013-04:00

The 1st tester for my image book:

The color is washed out because I'm running out of color ink and I had the print quality set to low. Notice the magic book from class, from which I totally copied the layout in InDesign (and it worked nicely! After some tweaks, of course.)

The images are old photos I have from a certain course that has MFA students walking around Baltimore taking pictures of random things. I chose ones I thought were not-so-nice mundane objects (like trash) and vice-versa (streetlamps.)

And another photo from hunting & gathering around the house, neither here nor there but I liked it because it looked messy, though not nearly as much in this photo as it was in real life...ye old (and new) supplies:

my private bookiness

2010-06-18T11:08:00.005-04:00

I always forget how much I LIKE making books, once I get rolling. The first hurdle, of course, was coming up with a concept. For a while I thought I would do LAND and SEA, and then I thought I would do LOST and FOUND, but I ended up with WILD and TAME. Which meant I had to find book-form-shapes that would suit. I considered an accordion book, because I like them so much, and briefly considered a flag book (although my flag book from class came out a little wonky), but in the end I went back to the forms I like (so far) best: stab-bound softcover and the magic book.

I started with WILD. For this, I used an older poem of mine because it was making a lot of noise and REALLY wanted to participate. I created a text block in InDesign and printed it on shiny paper for that crepuscular feel, and then I put it together in a stab-bind with fox colors.

THEN I had to figure out what SIZE of magic book. I ended up getting a big sheet of soft paper from Plaza, which folded into a rather large magic book. I thought it would be good for TAME because the design, while quite pretty, seemed like a domestic pretty, not a free-range pretty.

I decided to paint images for the book. I thought about acrylics because they have good lines, but then realized that the blur of watercolors would add to the claustrophobic feeling I get when I think TAME. Deciding what kinds of images to paint took most of an afternoon.

I painted them on 190 # watercolor paper, and then added a tiny bit of precision with my trusty Rotring art pen.

Things I learned:

1) I love playing with paper

2) I have a lot of trouble not getting myself covered with glue

3) My dogs are not as helpful as Courtney's dog

4) Although a stab-bind is really easy to unravel upon error, it gets harder when the thread decides to make itself into a Gordian knot of unspeakable horror.

5) I still love magic books quite a lot but need to practice more with other kinds.

Handmade Book & Book Handbag

2010-06-18T07:35:00.005-04:00

*There were several additional paragraphs at the beginning of this post, the product of brain fry & lack of time for editing. If any of you read them while this was saved in drafts, let's just pretend it didn't happen, k? Thanks. :o)

Mount Hope: Grave Thoughts, by Elizabeth Rotchford-Long:

http://www.elizabethrotchfordlong.com/images/book1.jpg

Sorry for the link and not a photo. I read the fine print after the fact and got nervous (see below; not any form, for any reason!)

© 2010 Elizabeth Rotchford-Long & e#design All art presented on this site is the original artwork of Elizabeth Rotchford-Long who holds sole ownership and copyright. Use of any image of any work on this site, in any form, for any reason, without express written consent from the artist is expressly prohibited. The graphics on this page were created by Elizabeth Rotchford-Long who holds sole ownership and complete copyright. Do not copy, save, distribute, reproduce or use in any way without express written permission of the artist.

The shape first caught my eye, though it took a few seconds and the title to realize it’s shaped like tombstones. It looks pretty crafty & difficult, which I’m sure it actually was, but it’s an accordion style book, and I associate accordion style with being, well, more ease than grief. I am aware that this association may be tested and broken in the future, perhaps semi-near future.

In the description of the book’s make-up is “gelatin printing” & “solvent transfers,” neither of which I’m familiar with and certainly aren’t among my craft supplies. But they seem neat, and I have an idea of what they are as I know what gelatin, solvents, and transfers are, so I think I can see where they’re utilized. It’s very nice.

The following isn’t advertised as a book, not in its current form. However it really stuck out to me in Google Images. I’ve never seen this done before and it seems both extremely genius and...something else I can't put my finger on. I think it’s funny because we could argue that this is, in fact, a book. I mean, who knows what’s inside!

*Update: I took this image from another blog (www.trashionista.com) but after visiting the Etsy site where it's actually sold I figure I should share it, too. SpoonFulofChocolate

Trial and Error and Error :D

2010-06-16T21:13:00.013-04:00

For my soft cover books, I decided to work with the contrasting ideas of sound and silence. I thought about how I was going to actually execute these for several days before I got down to any real executing. I thought it would be interesting to write about silence and use images to interpret the concept of sound because I wanted to give myself a challenge (foolish!). For silence I wrote 12 images that I thought communicated silence through the moment being described (only 10 made it to the book though). I made the book an accordian because the order that each image is read in doesn't really matter; they can be viewed separately or as a group. I made it tiny, like a secret. I liked to think of the book as being really quiet -- shhhh, silence! So here it is:

With this one, I ran into a problem that I think I will have a lot and that is finding paper that is just right for the inside pages. Regular printer paper is too thin, card stock is too thick. I know other weights exisit, but where can I find them? I wound up gluing two sheets of legal paper together to get the thickness I wanted. Not the most efficient decision, but it did the job.

I knew immediately that I wanted to illustrate the concept of sound -- the one problem? I didn't really know how. Then after reading a book of Carl Sandburg's poetry for my other independent study, I came across the line "look for songs hidden in eggs." I thought that was really cool, and that line was the inspiration for my other book, listen to songs hidden in eggs. I like the idea of songs and music being born. So here it is. Sorry for the tremendous amount of photos. I won't be in class, and I wanted you to see it all because it took a REALLY long time.

So if you can't tell, it's an egg, hatching in a mouth, and the last page continues to fold out as the bird flys away. I hope you can hear the egg cracking and the wings beating and the bird song (that way it fits with my sound/silence idea).

Again, I struggled with the perfect paper and settled on card stock. Although it is a little thick, I wanted this book to be sturdy and the colors to be more vibrant than they are on regular paper. All the images I created in Photoshop and Illustrator. I had the most trouble with the mouths--pen tool to the rescue! For both books I created a lot of practice ones, so that when it came to printing and putting together the real deal I wouldn't have a lot of trouble. Sorry for the long posting. Have a lovely class! Also, I'm a terrible speller, and I am typing on a keyboard that is not mine. Please pardon any mistakes.

A flower pot? A bird's nest? A book!

2010-06-16T16:53:00.007-04:00

Like Rafe, I get a little intimidated when I look at artist's books. I tend to have tunnel vision (at times) in the way I work (and write), soft and small is my path. In creativity class, I made a little book that I really loved: it was purple, and I painted the inside pages with water colors.

Later, when I tried to create something larger (for my final), it fell apart, literally. What a bummer. I won't be putting an image of that here.

I think I was drawn to Leijonstedt (she only gave one name--like Madonna) because she is so far beyond the edges of my comfort zone that is both scary and inspiring to see where creativity can take you in book-making. Her work is varied, from the more traditional bound versions of existing texts to scuptural works that push the boundaries of what can be considered a book. All her work seems to be centered in nature, structurally or in terms of her color palette. They all feel connected to earth and time. This is her hand bound version of A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf:

I just want to hold this in my hand to know what the texture of that cover feels like. What I liked the most about her work, however, were her sculptured books, particularly Paradise Found.

She doesn't explain exactly what materials she used for this one, but everything seems so textured, soft and moveable. She actually writes a small argument on her site about why this should be considered a book: there are pages with handwriting on them (handwriting!), they are bound within this flower-pot type structure, and they can be enclosed with the binding. I would never (or maybe I shouldn't say never. . .) think to make a book like this, but, WOW, how beautiful! I would love to have this sitting on my coffee table or in my office. I think the experiance of reading this would be so wonderfully -- what's the word? -- kinesthetic? This is the perfect blend of book and artwork, in the way that it could be viewed as both or either. It looks like a garden when it's closed, a nest when it's open -- so many possibilities! Leijonstedt says that she thinks a book can not only be read through its literal pages, but also "from its tactile details and structural function." I would like to think that, as I move forward in the course, I will begin to think more about writing the structure and material of a book, allowing them to be read along with the words inside.

I made a wooden book once. It was not this pretty, but I loved it. I still do.

2010-06-15T11:57:00.005-04:00

The problem with being sent off to find someone else's handmade books is that the process becomes the world's deepest rabbit-hole. At the bottom of the rabbit-hole, after much fretting about whether I would ever make books as beautiful as some of the ones I found (not to mention some of the books I've seen from classmates and other folks in the program), I discovered minus + minus and fell just a little bit in love.

Some of Katya Reka's books are just beautiful examples of how to make a book. Others, though, such as the neckbook, dazzled me with their brand new approach to what a book actually IS.

This is the neckbook, which is made of flax paper, typewriter pieces, wire, and thread. It comes in a little round box. I love it.

Meanwhile, Katya also makes hats. Her cloches are a tiny round panorama of lovely, and I want one, even though I am NOT a hat person. Perhaps especially not a cloche person. She makes prints.

I should mention, perhaps, that she is in the process of finishing her MFA in graphic design at Indiana -Bloomington, and that she has held Book Arts Fellowships in Minnesota. I think it's terrific that she makes books that are so lovely and demanding of attention, like this journal, below, which is full of beautiful Cyrillic text and inspired by traditional Ukrainian embroidery.

australian for awesome.

2010-06-14T21:32:00.005-04:00

While I've always loved books, I don't think I've always loved artist re-interpretations of them. Even at my very youngest, I think the first strong opinions I held could likely have been about books and their purity. Maybe it's because I'm less imaginative, or maybe it's because I don't have the kind of fine motor coordination that my artistic perfectionist demands, but I love me two solid covers with a stack of clean-cut papers between them -- something that holds up to being used as a pillow or dropped in the bath or pummeled in a beach bag.

Now that my tastes have matured -- I enjoy a variety of vegetables and finally retired that bright blue, lace-collared party dress I insisted on wearing whenever I was out of my uniform -- I am blown away by how artists are reinterpreting one of my greatest friends and passions: the book.

Jonathan Tse (b. 1967)
Portrait of an Australian
Robertson, Qld: J. Tse, 1998
Edition: 6 of 10 copies
Australian Library of Art
State Library of Queensland
ALAAB TSE

Everything about this is wonderful. The best bits of the passport -- the rounded corners, the smooth - almost plastic - almost leather paper, the security patterns that ought to be used as wallpaper -- PLUS child-sized kangaroos, DICTIONARY treatments, and stamps. Whether this is a book about these creatures or only a spread, I definitely want to pick it up and see more.

Anne-Maree Hunter (b. 1965)

Tower of Babel
Newcastle, NSW: Anne-Maree Hunter, 2006
Edition: 3 of 4 copies
Australian Library of Art,
State Library of Queensland
ALAAB HUN

I really gasped when I saw this. I wish I could see it closed, as well, but the composition is -- obviously -- stunning. I've already confessed I lean a bit on the boring side, aesthetically, so it might come as no surprise that fantasy isn't usually my favorite genre, visually... and even though my brain sort of tells me this could be that, my eyeballs just see cities at sunset.

Priscilla Foster Handmade Books

2010-06-13T20:06:00.001-04:00

I came across the site Priscilla Foster Handmade Books and what I love is her attention to detail with these books. She has been creating books for 15 years and really has a knack for books that cater to special moments in life, such as weddings and babies. What I think makes these books successful is how distinguished the intricate weave of ribbon on each spine is and how the colors are matched so well together for certain occasions.

Here are some samples of her books. Each book is covered in silk fabric with ribbon on the spine. They are hinged to allow the album to open flat. Also the pages are acid free, for archival purposes.

Wedding books

Baby books

Guest books

sky and earth: two softcover books

2010-06-13T19:38:00.000-04:00

The part of this project I had the hardest time with was selecting the two contrasting narrative concepts. So, I did what I always do when I'm at a loss for ideas or words...

I laid out a pile of Magnetic Poetry.

And a word that stuck out was sky. I decided to go with the idea of sky and earth.

With that decision made, I needed to figure out what kind of books I would make and with what sorts of paper.

Here is my mess of a makeshift bookmaking desk.

My dog Magnolia also wanted to help out.

Book # 1, the book of sky is a magic book. Since Magnetic Poetry was its inspiration, I decided to write tiny little poems out of words and glue them (with a hot glue gun - ouch!) onto the pages.

Here is the book of earth. I made a stab bind softcover book using string, a dowel, green banana paper and white paper from Plaza.

This book contains only images that made me think of the earth.

All together now.

What I learned from making these books:
1. I STILL have difficulty cutting straight lines, even with a ruler and an xacto knife.
2. Don't worry about messing up a stab bind, you can always pull the string out and start over.
3. Don't cut the tail ends of the string too short, they won't tie together and you'll have to trim them, praying the book will stay together.
4. Yet again, Magnetic Poetry to the rescue!

Dimensions for book board and paper

2010-06-05T15:32:00.003-04:00

For the stab bound hardcover book, you'll need:

- A stack of c. 50 pages of 8.5x11 inch pages
- Four pieces of 8.5x11 inch paper (a different color/kind) for the end pages
- Decorative cover paper at least 14x20 inches
- Two pieces of binder board measuring 9x11.5 inches each
- Binding string (I will bring mine, if you'd like to use it)

For the hardcover journal, you'll need:
- Your nicely-pressed text block from June 5 class :)
- Two endpaper sheets cut to 8.5x11.25 inches
- One large decorative sheet at least 13x16 inches
- Two pieces of binder board measuring 6x9 inches each, plus one 9x.25 inch piece for the spine

Please remember also to bring your:
- Box cutter
- Xacto
- Glue and brush
- Scissors

Books and Online Resources

2010-06-05T15:24:00.002-04:00

There are lots and lots of books and other resources for bookmaking. Take a look at the crafting aisle at B&N and you'll see...the place is lousy with bookbooks!

Here are a few of my favorites:

For book form basics, plus beautiful pictures that will inspire you:

Creating Handmade Books by Alisa Golden
Cover to Cover by Shereen LaPlantz

For really detailed descrips on hardcover binding:

Bookbinding for Book Artists by Keith A. Smith

For books on visual theory, etc.:

Structure of the Visual Book and
Text in the Book Format, both by Keith A. Smith

These are a couple of specialty books I also really like:

The Pop-Up Book by Paul Jackson
Re-Bound (Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials) by Jeannine Stein

ON THE WEB

Two of my favorite sites offer instruction, connections to the book arts community, lists of places to order supplies, and more:

http://www.philobiblon.com
http://www.booklyn.org

Yay!!

2010-06-05T15:23:00.001-04:00

I wasn't kidding when I said you guys were a great class. I truly was impressed by how quickly you picked things up...especially all the sewing!

GREAT JOB :-)

Final Project

2010-06-05T07:27:00.002-04:00

Students will create 10 copies of a book. Students may choose from any of the book forms we have done in class, or -- if approved by the instructor -- may create an artists book of original form.

The book should contain at least one work by the student (one poem, one short story, etc.) and at least one graphic (either on the cover, or inside, depending on what seems appropriate).

The text block of the book should be designed using InDesign. The text block should also include:

title page
about the author
colophon

Students will blog weekly, starting the week of June 21, on their progress, and will create a final blog with photos by July 19 to show the completion of 10 books. One physical copy of the book should be in the instructor's hands/UB mailbox by 5 p.m. July 19, along with a one-page reflection on the process and final product.

Extra Credit

2010-06-05T07:21:00.002-04:00

Since we will only be meeting twice, it is important to be in class. Missing a class will result in the reduction of overall grade by one letter.

However, students who miss one class may make up the grade by completing a small extra credit assignment, due along with the final on Monday, July 19:

Choose a line of poetry written by someone other than yourself. Determine which type of book form would best represent the words, and make a book including words and graphics. Write a one page paper describing the concept and execution of your book, along with reflection on the final product.

SYLLABUS

2010-06-05T07:14:00.003-04:00

OBJECTIVES

To learn the basic hard and softcover bookbinding techniques.
To understand basic materials and tools of bookbinding.
To become proficient paper measurers and cutters.
To learn about the parts of a book, visual hierarchy, book arts resources, and how to combine written concept with design concept.
To understand the process of planning and printing/binding a small edition of books (10).

JUNE 5 - CLASS

"Magic" book
Matchbook book
Tools and materials
Cutting and measuring
Accordian book family (visual hierarchy project)
Pamphlets with pockets
Stab bind sewing
Signature sewing for next class

Assignments due June 19

Choose two of these book forms to create a pair of books with the same or contrasting narrative concepts. One book should use only graphics; the other should use only words.
Create and post one blog entry (with at least two photos) for the book projects, describing your thought process, as well as the process of actual book construction (including any discoveries, hurdles, etc.).
Create one blog entry writing about an artists book you've found online. Post a picture of it, describe the materials used, and talk about why you like it and why you think it's successful.
Write a one-page proposal for what you might do for your final project. We will discuss in detail on the 19th, but feel free to send it to me earlier for feedback.

JUNE 19 - CLASS

Cut and bind hardcover stab bind book
Cut and bind hardcover journal (using signatures from June 5)
Discuss final projects, grading sheet, page design, strategies for multiples
Discuss art books, project if time

Assignments

Due weekly:

At least one blog post logging your progress on the final project, with photos.

Due July 19 (Monday):

Blog entry showing the completion of 10 books, including plenty of photos (overviews and closeups).
One physical copy of the book should be in the instructor's hands/UB mailbox by 5 p.m. July 19, along with a one-page reflection on the process and final product.

Note: Grades are due in July 22. Work received late will be docked half a letter grade each day.

Places to get your supplies

2010-05-28T08:29:00.003-04:00

In the city:

Utrecht's -- paper, board, tools
Pla-Za (also in county) -- paper, board, tools
MICA bookstore -- -- paper, board, tools

Online:

Paper Source -- lots of papers, binding fabrics (if you're interested)
papermojo.com -- lots of papers

Note: check for online coupons for Utrecht's and Pla-Za...both stores have wonderful sales, often because they compete with one another.

A word about binder board

2010-05-28T08:24:00.002-04:00

Binder board is expensive. If you're going to spend extra money, I'd rather have you spend it on lovely paper for the outsides of your books. That's why you should consider using recycled binder board for projects, if you have the time to scout for it.

How do you do that? Go to Book Thing or any other place with cheap or free hardcover books...the larger the better. Make sure they're sturdy. Bring them to class, and we'll strip them down for parts, so to speak.

Yay, recycling. :)

Materials list for June 4 class

2010-05-28T08:23:00.002-04:00

To prepare for your first class, here is a list of tools you'll need to have handy:

Small self-healing cutting mat
X-acto knife
Glue stick
Scissors
Mod Podge glue
Pens/markers/etc.
Hole punch/paper piercer
Wide-eyed needle
Bone folder* or plastic knife
2-3 sponge brushes
Ruler
White, unscented dental floss

In addition, you'll need these things for the June 19 class:

Binder board *
Box cutter
Awl

For both classes, please plan on bringing some white Xerox or business-style paper, along with some magazines you can cut up, and any other scraps of paper you might be willing to share with others. Please note that some of these tools will be available at normal craft stores, while others will not. You can find binder board, along with nicer papers, at Utrecht's or PlaZa...but we can talk about that more during the June 5 class.

Lit Pub: XTreme Summer Edition!

2010-05-27T21:44:00.001-04:00

Coming soon: details about the summer Lit Pub extravaganza...

LitPub Final Books...Beauty & Substance!

2008-12-22T15:58:00.039-05:00

For their final projects, my Literary Publications students had to create a hand-made edition of 15 books containing original writing. As you can see, they made all sorts of books from all sorts of materials. Great job, everyone!

Lindsey's book, "Illumination," revealed its title only when plugged in...

Katie's untitled book resembled a guitar's fretboard...and inside, sheetmusic-style pages unfurl to reveal tiny poems...

Rose figured out how to incorporate her favorite breakfast food -- oatmeal -- into "Swallow," her collection of microfiction...

In her short poem collection, "Everyday Notes," Tania used a delicate chain binding to stitch together tiny observations from her everyday life...

In "Our Journal," Sylvia used her own creative works as prompts for the writing of her friends and family...

Jane created a double decker accordian book about a "Sensei Rabbit" and "Wriggle, the Poet Squirrel"...

Krystle used a glass soapdish and real lavender sachets to give her short story, "Love, Lavender and Loneliness," additional depth...

Meagan incorporated fun typography and colorful threads into her humor collection, "A Short Stack of Silly Shorts for the Morally Sidetracked"...

Amy's poetry collection, "Into the Chokecherry Tree," takes on an arboreal shape as it expands...

In "Duckie's Week," Abby uses a playful format to hold a playful children's story...

Michelle's book, "TM," uses colorful photographs and fun text to teach children about trademark law...

Kate created nature-inspired woodcuts to illustrate her poetry collection, "Transverberation"...

Rebekah's fake fortune-telling tome, "Asstrology," evoked giggles from all within listening distance...

Mystery Bag Challenge!

2008-12-04T14:30:00.015-05:00

For a recent class, I put random items (for instance: magnets, rubber bands, packing materials, toilet paper rolls, cables from the inside of my dead computer) into brown paper bags and let the students choose one apiece. Whatever was inside had to become a book. Given the time and material restraints, I was amazed at what they came up with...sooooo creative!

Look at them hard at work...

From a square-ish piece of bubble wrap, an Anthropologie ad, and some telephone wire, Kate made "Satellite T.V. in Iceland"...

From five empty toilet paper rolls, Michelle made a lovely, rabbit-y children's story...

From a curly magnet and some leftover burlap, Rose made the first book-y watch I've ever seen...

From a handful of wooden skewers, Amy created a stab-bind book about trees...

From a plastic Coca Cola bottle, Jane made a snow globe book...

From the IDE wires inside my old Sony Vaio CPU, Lindsey made a book about space...

From a fold-out map and the cut-off spiral spine of a (former) strathmore drawing pad, Katie made a voyage book of her own...

Emergence

2008-10-31T17:47:00.005-04:00

by Kate McGill

Thirty-One Days

2008-10-31T17:45:00.001-04:00

by Michelle Colburn

Speak

2008-10-31T17:43:00.002-04:00

by Rose Huber
Read about Rose's book-y process

Perspective

2008-10-31T17:41:00.001-04:00

by Meagan Nyland

You Fucked Up

2008-10-31T17:40:00.001-04:00

by Amy Rowland

Baby Jessica Must be Stopped

2008-10-31T17:37:00.002-04:00

by Rebekah McLain

Things

2008-10-31T17:35:00.003-04:00

by Lindsey Culli

Leading Lady: Memories of Our Grandmothers. A Collection.

2008-10-31T17:33:00.001-04:00

by Krystle Carter

Three Songs Seen

2008-10-31T17:30:00.002-04:00

by Katie Feild

spontinuity

2008-10-31T17:25:00.005-04:00

by Tania Cordes

Metamorphosis

2008-10-31T17:22:00.003-04:00

by Abby Haroun

Inkblots

2008-10-31T17:18:00.004-04:00

by Sylvia Vadakara

Walk Awhile in my Shoes

2008-10-31T17:12:00.004-04:00

by Jane Sellman