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

Boom 308 - "Danger in the Desert" - Recycled Children's Book Journal/Notebook - Soft Double Spiral Binding

Here's Another Vintage Kid's Book transformed into a blank book/journal. I enjoy making these recycled book journals. At least I know I am giving new life to a previously loved but worn book.

I love the cover on this one. It's a young adult book called "Danger in the Desert," with a great vintage graphic of two boys fighting the snake so big it looks more like an Anaconda you'd find in the Amazon rain forest than any critter I've ever seen here in our Arizona desert. But since there's a prickly pear in the foreground and a giant saguaro cactus in the background, I have to assume that Arizona is where it's meant to be.

The usual drill here: I cut the covers from the spine and glued down end papers of dark card stock. I bound the cut edges of the covers with washi tape. I folded up the sigs, plain white text paper, and poked the holes for the sewing stations.

The binding is like a Japanese stab binding but without a hinged or folded cover. It's basically a double spiral binding, but with ribbon instead of wire. You sew down the spine in a spiral from top to bottom with the ribbon, then sew back up again, creating a cross-stitch pattern. The trick is to not get the stitches too tight (or the book won't open flat) or too loose (or the book will be floppy).

This one worked out well.





1 comment:

  1. OMGosh! That is one big snake! I like the binding with the Xs. :)

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