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.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Book 242 - A Hard-Cover Journal w/ Hidden Long Stitch Binding-Red Fish

I wanted to try this hidden long stitch book structure as soon as I saw it for several reasons.

1) It's fairly easy to make--easy structurally.
2) Since the front and back boards are covered separately, you can use up smaller scraps of decorative paper.
3) The long stitch binding is hidden by the bookcloth covering the spine. That makes for a very neat, clean package.
4) It's sturdy, neat, and looks really good.

Basically, you just cover your front and back boards with the cover paper and paste the leather/bookcloth spine piece in place between the covers. In this case, I chose an Asian-feel paper of black and metallic gold fish on bright red paper. I used a piece of black silk bookcloth with both a sheen to it and a slight slub.

Cut a second strip of the bookcloth and sew the signatures of the book to it. I used a simple butterfly stitch. Then lay the book block in place inside the cover, glue down the "hinge" made by the inside bookcloth, then paste the end papers in place, covering over the "hinge"

Put it under weight for a while and you have a very nice, sturdy little pocket or purse book.






2 comments:

  1. Another winner! Love the red and gold and black together. :)

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  2. Really quite a striking book cover, very pretty. Thanks for breaking down the step by step info on type of paper used, how you bind etc. I find it so interesting and helpful as I am just learning.

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