365: Make a Book a Day: cigarette pack

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 - 306 - Blue Pyramid - Recycled Packaging Mini-Book/Notebook/Jotter - Long Stitch Binding

More upcycling, this time another little mini-notebook/jotter. I've been hanging onto this piece of a Pyramid Cigarettes carton for ages, knowing I'd use it sometime. I do like that silver and blue logo.

To make this little pocket notebook/jotter, I cut the carton up and backed the pieces with nice thick card stock for body. I creased the cover with my bone folder to make the spine and reinforced it further with a strip of bright blue duct tape. I sewed the signatures to the spine with a long stitch binding. Pretty simple. Another go-to book when I need to get something done.

I have a lot more of these Pyramid brand cartons (it's the cheapest cig we sell). I've got them in red, green and blue, so you'll probably see more of them before I'm done. I've been thinking about cutting the pyramids out and folding them up somehow into little pyramid-shaped books. Still working it out.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Book 102 - A Death Journal

If you're in the U.S., you might think the warnings on cigarette packs there are quite strong. Come to Mexico. The packs here really make the point. Smoking is NOT a good thing. And since, unfortunately, many of my Mexican friends do smoke, I've had plenty of opportunity to check out these packages the last few days. I begged an empty off my friend Juan to make this book.

Yes, that really is a photo of a dead rat on the cover, just above the Marlboro branding. The line at the rat's feet says "Toxic Product." The spine says "Smoking kills." And on the back we get:
"When you smoke, you're looking for a slow and painful death.
"Tobacco contains more than 4000 substances that seriously damage the body."
And..."Contains cyanide, a mortal poison used in rat killer."

But still they smoke.

This little hand-made mini journal with longstitch binding has 12 signatures of 14 pages each. The signatures alternate in cream and tan bond paper. The stitching is done with tan linen thread. After cutting the box open, I lined it with cream colored paper. Because of the glue, it needs to go under weights for a day or so to stay completely flat. It's a nice fat little journal and a good size for a purse or pocket.

Smoke, anyone?"