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, January 21, 2012

Book 331 - "Rocky Road" - Recycled Candy Package Journal - Slit Spine Binding

Gee, what a surprise. Another recycled candy box journal!

So we got a new kind of candy for the store. But not NEW. Rocky Road used to be my favorite candy bar when I was a kid and I didn't even know they still made it until we saw it in Sam's the other day. Had to grab it. And of course, I had to grab the box for a book.

After I cut a single piece of the box big enough for a smallish journal, I lined the piece with heavy card stock. I creased it with my bone folder and folded it to create the spine. I folded the signatures and punched the sewing stations. Then I cut slits across the spine to correspond to the stations. I stitched it with a variation of the long stitch binding through the slits.

I don't quite have a handle yet on this stitch. I'm constantly having to stop and talk through the binding in my mind to get it right. And as you can probably see in he pix, it's still not exactly right. Need some work on this one.

But the graphics are fun. And I added a big square chocolate brown vintage button for a closure.





2 comments:

  1. That was and still is one of my favorite candy bars, and the chocolate button is a great add on. I missed you. Glad you are back and all is ok.

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  2. Frances - thanks, you are such a trooper and great support and butt-kicker (though subtly and gently). We're in the home stretch and it's a sprint. Lots of finished books to post and a lot more to finish.

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