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, July 7, 2011

Book 162 - Green Cowhide Leather Journal-Handmade Blank Book

I wasn't up to thinking too much tonight, so fell back on my stand-by. Here's a very pretty green leather journal in a medieval limp binding with a longstitch. The paper is gorgeous 70 lb cream velvet finish paper with hand-torn edges. There are 8 signatures of 6 sheets (12 pages) each for a total of 96 sheets (192 pages both sides). It is sewn with medium brown waxed linen thread.

This leather feels wonderful to the hand. It is fairly thick but very soft. When the cover of a longstitch journal such as this is soft and "limp" it's called the medieval limp binding. I may come back later and add some kind of closure to this, since the leather is not stiff enough to stand up on its own. On the other hand, I like the clean look of it with no strap or closure. We'll see.

NOTE: For those of you who follow me regularly and sometimes comment, I often leave replies to your comments in the specific thread. If you've asked a question or made some other comment of note, I might have answered you there. Please check.




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5 comments:

  1. RitaJuly 7, 2011 at 6:57 AM

    The only thing about some closures is that they can create a big lump when you actually are trying to write in the journal and use the backsides of the pages. They look cool but, as a person who writes in them, they can be annoying. Just a thought. ;) Hence, I like this one fine the way it is.

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  2. AnonymousJuly 8, 2011 at 12:00 PM

    Hello Donna;

    I sell supplies for papermaking, bookbinding, and paper marbling, and I've been following your blog for a while. You do beautiful work!

    www.papertrail.ca

    Would you be interested in me sending you a few odds and ends from my shop for you to use in your projects?

    Drop me a line!

    Audrey
    audreyh@thinkage.ca

    ReplyDelete
  3. RachelJuly 8, 2011 at 5:16 PM

    Donna is the Goddess of Odds & Ends. Sounds wonderful. Love those limp journals, but just to beautiful for me to use.

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  4. DonnaJuly 8, 2011 at 7:41 PM

    Rachel - I have three words for you. Get. Over. It. Nothing is too beautiful for you to use, to precious to serve you. And nothing is better than you deserve. By adding your thoughts, dreams, ideas, sketches, hopes, odds and ends to a blank journal, you are simply making it MORE beautiful and wonderful. You certainly deserve to have a beautiful book to hold some of your beautiful essence... and even to show it back to you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. alineJuly 23, 2012 at 7:42 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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