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.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Book 143 - A Circle Book From a Coffee Can Lid

The kitchen came to my rescue for tonight's hand-made book.When I spotted the lid from a coffee can on the counter, it sparked this idea. I've got one of those nifty can openers that cuts the lid below the rim, leaving a lip on the lid and no really sharp edge. So I  had the idea to make a stitched book block with half-circle-shaped signatures that would nestle right inside the lipped lid.

First I edged the lid with a strip of  bright red duct tape. to give it a more finished look. I made five signatures from circle-cut recycled paper and stitched them into a block like I'd make for a case-bound codex. Then the first and last pages were glued down into the lid.

On the other side of the lid, I glued a piece of heavy card stock with a wonderful quotation hand written in a spiral. The quotation reads:

"When our eyes see our hands doing the work of our hearts, the circle of creation is completed inside us, the doors of our souls fly open, and love steps forth to heal everything in sight.” --Michael Bridge

I really, REALLY want to find a program that will let me set type in curved lines. Anyone know what I should be using?







3 comments:

  1. It's been a while since I've used Illustrator, but I'm pretty sure you can curve type with it. Photoshop has something called "warped text," but I haven't played with it and don't know what it might do.

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  2. hmmm... even microsoft word will let you write any text on a curve (insert: word art), but it won't let you do a spiral like that.

    Photoshop has a cool feature that lets you draw a line of any shape and then attach text to it! But, sorry, I don't remember the exact name since I only took one photoshop class last year. (Google gives me this: http://www.webdesign.org/photoshop/text-effects/spiral-text.11382.html)

    This website: http://www.festisite.com/text-layout/ has some very basic abilities to let you type in a spiral, heart, waves, or maze shape! It then outputs as a PDF picture.

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  3. You continue to surprise me. :) This is so clever!

    I am no help. I barely even know how to add anything to my blog. ROFL!!

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