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.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Book 125 - My Touring Notebook - a Perfect Bound Hand-made Note Book

Well, now I am officially cheating. This was supposed to be yesterday's book. But by the time I got home from my travels--after 21 hours traveling door to door--I was exhausted. I decided to lay down for a "nap" and didn't get up until 14 hours later. So my window of opportunity for making yesterday's book on time was spent sawin' some ZZZs.

So here is yesterday's book and I'll get around to today's book tomorrow... I hope.

Since I'm still tired, I wanted to do something simple. I decided I would just walk into my incredibly cluttered studio here at home and make a book out of the first usable thing my eye fell on. And that turned out to be perfect.

The thing I saw was an old voucher book from my days working as a professional Tour Director for the largest escorted bus tour company in the world. For 8 years, I spent most of my late-spring-to-early-fall months guiding bus loads of tourists through some of the most beautiful country in the United States, including many of the western National Parks, as well as crossing into Mexico to show them the glorious Copper Canyon. I loved sharing these beautiful places with people, helping them see beyond the surface and ensuring that every detail went smoothly and they got the vacation they paid for.

BUT... it was the most tiring and stressful job I've ever had. And after a few years, I came to dread the approach of touring season, finally understanding why my best Tour Director friend starting falling into depression and horrid moods as the season got closer and closer each year. So though I am thankful for the wonderful trips and passengers I encountered... I am equally relieved and joyous that I don't have to do it anymore.

That's why it was pure joy to chop up this old voucher book (forms used like checks to pay hotels, restaurants, helicopter companies, river rafting companies, etc. for their services) and make it into a notebook.

The book is perfect bound, the clean cut edges glued with special padding compound. The covers are backed with promotional material for Zion National Park and the glued edge is covered with decorative masking tape for a clean finished edge.






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