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.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Book 358 - Vinyl Record Journal - "Cabaret" with Liza Minelli - Coptic Binding

I loved "Cabaret" and thought Liza Minelli was simply magic in it. I love the music, too. So I was delighted to find a vinyl album of the show in a thrift shop. It was perfect for one of my vinyl record journals.

I cut the record to size with a band saw and smoothed the edges on a belt sander. I also sanded the fore edge corners of the covers into curves. Then I cut two pieces of the cardboard record jacket for the back cover. On the back is a picture of Liza on top of the word "Cabaret" in red lights. The inside back lining is a black and white picture of her.

For the pages, I used a cream-colored paper with lint flecks, folded into eight signatures. I tipped in bright orange end papers to repeat the orange color from the record label. I also rounded the fore edge corners of the pages to mirror the corves of the covers.

I drilled the stitching holes in the covers and poked holes in the sigs with an awl. The book is bound with a single-needle coptic stitch, also called a chain stitch binding.

This is a great journal, clever and very well made, if I say it who shouldn't.





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3 comments:

  1. Whee GinaJanuary 30, 2012 at 2:59 AM

    I am so enjoying this series that I am sorry to see how close you are to finishing the year. I wish I had enough money to buy a stack of them...I shall definitely be visiting your Etsy shop for gifts. Gina.

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  2. RitaJanuary 30, 2012 at 5:59 AM

    Love the "album" journals!!
    You must be getting close to showing us the whole collection!! I can hardly wait! :)

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  3. DonnaJanuary 30, 2012 at 11:35 AM

    Thanks, Gina. Yes, the end is near, but I will still be making books and I still plan to post them here... just not EVERY day!

    Rita - I'll take a pic of the three bookcases full asap.

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