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, August 27, 2011

Book 206 - A Red Vinyl JOurnal with Leopard Accents - Long Stitch Binding

Here's a longstitch bound journal. I had a leftover smallish piece of the red vinyl placemat I used a week or so ago and it kept smiling at me in the studio. Then the other day, Allen came home and told me he'd bought me a "surprise." It turned out to be a roll of leopard-pattern duct tape. Does my guy know me or what?

The shiny red vinyl and the leopard tape just seemed a heavenly match. So I put tape on the spine and up onto the covers, folded up some peach colored text paper for the pages, made seven signatures and started stitching. I used some fairly heavy hemp cord for the stitching. It's OK, but I would have loved it if I'd had something gold and metallic.

Instead of punching holes in the spine like a usually do, I tried doing the slot trick. Since this vinyl cuts really easily, it was pretty simple to cut four slits in the spine. Then I just stitched my long stitch binding like a usually do, but this time through the slits instead of separate holds. The hardest thing is getting the cord to lie flat and stay where you put it on the spine.

I do like this color...





2 comments:

  1. Somebody not only loves you but knows you so well--LOL! ;) Slits! Never would have thought of that. It turned out quite cute. :)

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  2. What a great gift. And you used it right away. You go girl.

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