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 30, 2012

Book 360-363 - "Four Dangerous Women" - Pulp Fiction Pocket Notebooks - Running Stitch Binding

These little pocket-sized notebooks feature some pulp fiction heroines you Do. Not. Want. To. Mess. With. You're not going to win. That's what I love about them.

After choosing the dangerous women images from my collection, I sized them to fit on 1/4 of a normal sized page. I printed the covers out two to a page, let them sit a few minutes to dry, then sprayed them with a light coat of acrylic sealer to protect the image from scratching. The matte finish photo paper I used is heavy weight and didn't really need a backing to work for the covers.

I scored the spine fold, using three score lines with very small spaces between so I would get a slightly rounded spine to accommodate the thickness of the single signature. I folded the pages and trimmed the single signature to fit then rounded the corners at the fore edge. After nesting the pages inside the folded cover, I poked holes 1/2" apart the whole length of the notebook and sewed it in a running stitch, down the spine then back up again, with white waxed linen thread.

After boning the fold a bit more, I put the little notebook under weight so it would lay more or less flat and closed.

Done. I like these. I'm going to make more. They look good, they are fairly fast to make, the materials cost is low, and I'm certain they will sell.






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