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.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Day 88 - Haiku by Elizabeth Searle Lamb - An Origami Wallet Book

Once again, I was tired, bored and uninspired. I was thumbing through  Alisa Golden's book looking for something I could make that was easy, fast, and didn't need too many materials or any inspiration. I came across an Origami Wallet book that was interesting and, most importantly, looked easy. That's it, I cried (though silently).

And then I had to make it complicated.

I didn't want to make a blank book, so once again I began searching for appropriate content. The origami nature suggested something Asian. I knew I wanted small slips of paper with text tucked into the wallet pockets. Then I remembered that the mother of my old friend Carolyn Lamb had been a haiku poet. In fact, she was one of the finest American Haiku poets of her generation, much published and an Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives.

I googled her and found some of her work, printed it out on lovely gingko and flower print paper. About three hours after I started looking for a simple and fast project, I had my book.

There are three origami "wallets" for pages, each with pockets on all four leaves. A dark green poster-weight paper serves as a wrap-around cover, tucked into the end folds on the outermost wallet.

A very pretty and delicate little book. I like it a lot.

Here are a couple of the haiku tucked inside:

deep in the world
of Monet water lilies...
    no sound


the year turns--
on the harp's gold leaf
summer's dust


the apricot
in full bloom--O'Keefe's
black sculpture

I cross the courtyard--
shadow of ravens, flying
beneath my feet





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