365: Make a Book a Day: cup holder book

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 15, 2012

Book 326 - A Little Jotter/Notebook for Sitting in Starbucks - Recycled Cup Holder - Stab Binding

With no computer, I've been spending a lot of time in Starbucks, where I can connect my Kindle on their wi-fi connection. So the last time I picked up one of the cardboard cup holders there, I realized... of course... that I had another book in my hands.

The ubiquitous green mermaid on brown kraft paper was a simple one to do. I just cut the cup holder in two pieces and glued them to some gold card stock for extra stability. I traced the curved shape of the covers to make a pattern and cut out a bunch of pages from "grande latte" colored text paper. I stacked the pieces up and clamped it with binder clips so I could punch holes along the spine edge.

I stitched the little notebook using a classic Japanese stab binding with brown waxed cotton thread. Pretty cool little book, and you'd probably get some attention if you pulled it out in a Starbucks to jot down an idea or a phone number.

(I sometimes can't help but wish they were all this quick and easy. I don't seem to be very good at doing quick and easy. I start out that way, then I have to complicate things. Hours later, I beat myself up for not just doing QUICK AND EASY!)