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, January 2, 2012

Book 304 - Sculpted Mexican Amate Paper Guest Book/Journal with Single-Needle Coptic Stitch

This is more-or-less a repeat of a book I did when I was in Mexico, but I love this sculpted amate paper so much I decided to do another one.

Because of the cut-outs in the amate, I glued it onto a shimmery orange backing. For the back, I used a piece of Davey bookbinders board covered with dark maroon lokta paper and backed with more of the shimmery orange paper.

I used more of the orange paper, cut into strips, to cover the folded edge of the signatures where they would show at the spine. The pages are white text paper with hand-torn edges. Finally, I added sheets of brown amate paper at the front and back of the book block as fly leaves and punched the stitching stations.

The book is bound with a single-needle coptic stitch with a dark purplish-brown waxed linen thread. The book measures about 8"x 8" and would make a lovely guest book on an entry table. Also, a journal or sketch book.

I do love this book.






3 comments:

  1. That paper is gorgeous! Especially the front amate paper, but the back and insides are beautiful, too. :)

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  2. Oh oooh, I hit jackpot today. A lot of books to enjoy, and all so different. I love how you cut outs in the cover paper and overlaid onto another orange paper. This is a high quality book...sigh...

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  3. Thanks, Frances, but i can't take credit for the cut-outs. It came that way. I bought several pieces, all sculpted differently, with spirals, crass-hatching, grids, etc. Can't wait to use more of them.

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