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.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Books 176-177-178 - Game Board Book Trio - Coptic, Stab & Perfect Bindings

We have a group of books today, all recycled/upcycled from a board game board. The trio includes a Coptic Bound Journal, a Japanese Stab Bound Book and a Perfect Bound Notebook.

On my recent trip to the Salvation Army store, I scored this very cool game called "Conspiracy" in like-new condition. I loved the graphic on the playing board and I love the way it looks in these books.


The first book, on the left in the photo, is the one I made yesterday, but I waited to upload it so it could be part of the set. It's a coptic bound journal with eight signatures of five sheets each, for a total of 80 pages (160 counting both sides). After cutting the board into pieces, the covers had two finished edges and two cut edges. I finished those raw edges with black tape like electrical tape. The coptic binding is done with waxed linen thread.





For the next book, a Japanese stab-bound journal, I decided to use the part of the board that includes the center fold. It seemed perfect for the hinge for a stab-bound book. Again I finished the raw edges with black electrical tape. I cut the stack of pages, positioned them and drilled holes through the whole thing. Then I stitched it with a herringbone stitch with red waxed hemp cord. A nice book.






Finally, for the perfect bound notebook, I took the remaining pieces with a very cool graphic from the center of the sides of the board. I finished off the two raw sides with electrical tape, cut the stack of pages, clamped the whole thing together and glued it with a couple coats of padding compound. When it was completely dry, I covered the top glued edge with a piece of black bookcloth to give it a clean look. For a lark, I turned the back board "inside out," so the fun graphic is on the inside of the back of the notebook, sort of a surprise when you get to the back.

I think this trio of game board books is very cool.




6 comments:

  1. Game boards!! Yes, you do see books everywhere! These are really cool. Neat that you used three different kind of bindings, too. Never heard of this game. Great graphics--yes! Super job. We needed to see them as a set. :)

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  2. Such a clever use of this game board. It would never been seen if you hadn't upcycled it.. Nice!

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  3. very nice! what tool do you use to drill through the paper and covers for the Japanese stab binding? a regular power drill?
    thanks!

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  4. Ellen, - Thanks for the comment. Yes, I use a regular power drill. But I'm not 100% happy with it. It works best if I have something very solid under it. On this one, I had bulldog clips holding it together and that created a space between the book and the board under it. So I got a few ragged holes where the bit came through on the back. Better a is drill press. Even better, somewhere in the bowels of my studio I have a Japanese screw punch. I plan a major clean-out this week (prepping for the new workbench that is going to be my birthday present:)) and mayhap I'll find it. Best solution of all.

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  5. Bingo! What a score and you just did so much with it. Great little set. A highlight of the collection.

    Ah, using the right tool for the job, well if you're going to be THAT way about it. I suppose I should sort and toss and find lots of things around here.

    Happy birthday in advance and great news about the new workbench. Sounds perfect.

    I forgot to mention what a treat it will be for you to Studio and Mom sit for your sister. Sounds like a lovely time. and likely cooler.

    Nice to be caught up. Oh, I have commited to Brenda Swenson's Ink Sketch a Day for 75 days. Started out today with sketching the chinese dancers at the library summer program. You are inspiring me to give this a try.

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  6. Rachel - What a great idea. I really can't draw at all, so that would be an enormous challenge for me. Enjoy it, and report back. We can help keep each other honest!

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