365: Make a Book a Day: Book 316 - Fold-Over Hard Cover Sketchbook

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.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Book 316 - Fold-Over Hard Cover Sketchbook - Perfect Binding

I've been meaning to do some sketchbooks with good paper and finally got around to it.

This one has a block of Strathmore sketch paper -- very nice -- that I glued into a perfect bound book block. The covers are made of Davey board and covered with a nice decorative paper with a pattern similar to woodgrain, in a mossy green/brown on ivory. The spine is covered with maroon bookcloth.

I attached the book block to the finished covers so that the front cover can fold back all the way onto the back cover and make a sturdy back for sketching on while holding the book.

If I were the kind of artist that could draw, this is a sketch book I'd like to have with me all the time--to capture those fleeting images that tend to run away if you don't get them down immediately.