A Book a Day? What's Up With That?


Hi, and welcome to this year-long project. So what's this all about and how did it happen, you might ask. In mid 2007, artist Noah Scalin decided to make a skull out of anything he could find, every day for a year. It stretched him in ways he never imagined, as an artist, a writer and a person. His experience turned into a blog that went viral, and then a book.

Others have picked up on the idea: 365 Hearts, 365 Masks, 365 Bears drawn on a cellphone, 365 paper napkin mustaches.
I wanted to play, too, and I chose books. I love books, I know a bit about making books (thanks to my talented book-maker sister, Marilyn Worrix), and they're broad enough in definition to give me a lot of creative leeway.

The whole point is not really the books. The idea is to stretch myself in many ways as an artist and a person, to set up a discipline, stick with it and see what that teaches me.

I hope you'll join with me and follow along on the journey chronicled here, and let me know what you think.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Day 82 - John Muir - A Flag Book

I've been wanting to make a flag book for a very long time. I think I was intimidated. It looks so complicated. Actually, it's not all that hard, just a little picky about lining things up just right.

A flag book is basically just an accordion book, one of the easiest books to make, with "flags" pasted onto the folds going in alternate directions. If you look closely at the photos you can see quite clearly how it goes together.

I knew I wanted to use a page from a topographical atlas of northern California for some of the flags. That got me thinking about what would be a logical accompaniment for a contrasting paper or text for the opposing flags. Looking closely at the map, I saw the John Muir Wilderness marked. I found a few wonderful quotes by Muir and used a short one for the front/title, another short one for the back, and a longer one cut up for the flags.

The inside quote reads:
God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But He cannot save them from fools.

I'm looking forward to making more flag books!




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5 comments:

  1. ellenApril 20, 2011 at 4:20 AM

    really nice-papers, covers, theme and quotes all fit together so nicely! isnt it nice to try something "scary" and find out how (relatively) easy it is? keep up the great work-i enjoy following you daily!

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  2. Jean BaardsenApril 20, 2011 at 5:21 AM

    Lovely book and great theme!

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  3. CJGallegosApril 20, 2011 at 2:07 PM

    Love it, Donna. Boy are you going to have a grand show at the end of the project!!!

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  4. RachelApril 20, 2011 at 3:08 PM

    CJ is right, you are preparing for a show. Great idea.

    I am going to Yosemite May 17-20, so the Muir book is an extra special reminder.

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  5. DonnaApril 21, 2011 at 2:44 AM

    Funny, just yesterday my guy said I should take some of these to the local county museum in Kingman and see if they might be interested. It had never occurred to me, but now... ?

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