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, May 18, 2011

Book 111 - A Ricanela's Cracker Box Hand-Made Book/Journal

The other day I introduced you to "Marias con Cajeta," delicious cookies I always buy when I am here in Mexico. So now here's my second favorite Mexican cookie/cracker. "Ricanelas" are basically graham crackers with a whole lot of cinnamon sugar on them. Yum!

And of course, they come in a bright, colorful box, which, of course, had to become a book. This hand-made blank book/journal is approx. 8" square, its covers cut from the front and back of the box, with a bit of the sides at the spine. To make the cardboard both more attractive and sturdier, I glued recycled red paper on the inside. The glue has caused the cardboard to warp a bit--you can see the bow in the second picture--but the book is now under weights, and after a day or so, it should be nice and flat. I also used the same red paper for decorative end papers.

The pages are regular bond paper, folded into 6 signatures of 6 sheets each, giving 72 leaves (144 pages counting both sides).The longstitch binding is done with whitewaxed linen t hread in an "x" pattern.






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