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, August 8, 2011

Book 188 - Hair-On Hide Leather Journal - Longstitch Binding

Here's another of my standard longstitch binding journals made from hair-on hide. This part of the hide is mostly off-white but with a sprinkle of brown in the upper right corner. I put that on the front.

The stitching is done with dark purple/brown waxed Irish linen thread. The pages are a pretty mottled beige/cream paper, hand-torn at the fore edge. Ten signatures of six sheets each for a total of 120 pages (240 both sides). The end papers are heavy paper in a textured cream print.

A nice utilitarian journal that feels good.






5 comments:

  1. Feeling good in the hand is subjective--LOL! I am still not sure what I think of leather with the fur on it. As long as I don't have to touch it--looks really good--hehe! ;)

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  2. ok, I have a dumb question. You made 8 signatures but I see 5 long stitches. Do you double up? I've only attemped one of these, a long stitch on a cardboard box, and I assumed I made a stitch for each signature....I think I'm wrong from looking at this. I did look in the book I have and I don't see the answer to my question so I have skipped right over to you! Thanks in advance!

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  3. Hi Cheryl - Not a dumb question at all, since I unintentionally confused you. I said the book has eight sigs but it actually has 10. And yes, when I have this many sigs, I usually sew two sigs into each set of holes. It makes them lie closer together and neater. Also, if I punch or poke too many holes across the width of the spine, they can run together and create a slit instead of separate holes.

    Hope that explains it better. I'm going to go correct that error now.:)

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  4. Donna, thank you thank you! This is ALL making sooo much more sense to me....if I wasn't so anal about things, I would just take the bull by the horn and figure it out; but I am still hesitant to experiment too far out of my comfort zone. I so appreciate your willingness to help!!

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  5. Cheryl - I'm glad that was useful. but as far as leaving your comfort zone... just go for it. I left mine the day I started this challenge! Do another cardboard box book. If you screw it up, so what? You will have wasted nothing but a little time and learned something--so time NOT wasted.

    In my mind, the secret to learning to do anything well is to give yourself permission to do it badly first. That's how you learn. Jump on in!

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