Book 217 - Recycled Paper Plates Blank Book/Journal for 9/11

A paper plate book? Well... why not? Allen picked these flag plates up for me one day not long ago, knowing I'd find a way to use them in a book. Today, on the 10th anniversary of that horrible day, seemed like the perfect time.

I used to live in New York City and spent a lot of time down at the World Trade Center. My ex-husband and I used to take regular evening walks there. I often ate a picnic lunch in the plaza by the fountain. And I remember standing at the very base of one of the towers looking straight up that very tall, very straight wall. I also remember one very down day when I took the elevator to the top observation tower and watched the planes take off from JFK airport wishing I were on one of them.

The  NYC skyline will never be quite right for me without them. But how much worse the lives of those who lost loved ones there and their lives will never be quite right without them.

So it is a day to remember... for many reasons.

I took these flag-pattern small paper plates and cut one flat edge for a spine. I cut the cover plate down so that it nestled in the bottom plate and added the pre-9/ll skyline silhouette to it. Then I cut red, white and blue pages and nested them into six signatures. Hand bound the whole book together with a single-needle coptic stitch. I like the way the book lies in the bottom plate.

Book 216 - A Pamphlet Book of the Flores Mine - Chloride, Arizona

This little pamphlet book with a historical photo of the old Flores Mine here in Chloride, Arizona, came about as a last minute necessity. Earlier tonight I was putting together five gift basket raffle prizes for the Chamber of Commerce for a Sunday event. All the items in the basket are "Chloride" in some way. The basket was nice but it just seemed to need that one more item to make it feel abundant. Allen asked if there wasn't something I could make for it.

Well... what do I make? I make books. Lots of books. So I thought a few minutes and came up with a book idea that would say Chloride, would be cheap to make, would be fast to make, and would look nice. We have quite a nice collection of old photos from Chloride (which is, by the way, the oldest continuously inhabited mining town in Arizona). The picture of a bunch of miners arranged outside the entrance to the Flores mine is my favorite.

I sized the photo and printed it out on beige cardstock. I folded nine sheets of text paper in half, then had to trim about  1/4" off the fore edge so the book block would not be wider than the cover. I nested the pages inside the cover, poked three holes in the whole bunch, stitched them together with a pamphlet stitch with brown hemp cord. I tied off at the top with a tail long enough to tie on a dangling flintstone arrowhead.

Done.

It took me about 10 minutes to find the photo, size it, tweak the contrast and sepia color, and print out six copies. It took about another 30-40 minutes to fold, trim and stitch all six copies and tie on the arrowheads. I ended up with five books for the gift baskets and one more for today's book here.

So I really made six books today, but I'm only counting one (which means I still have a few to make up).

Book 215 - A Recycled Package Book/Journal - Henry Weinhards Root Beer 6-Pack

A Root Beer book! Well, a recycled root beer six-pack carrier book/journal. Ooh, I love root beer. And this Henry Weinhard's is the best! Creamy with a wonderful foamy head. And great for root beer floats.

Not bad for books either. I cut the sides off the 6-pack carrier and used part of the bottom for the spine. I like that little curve at the top of the carrier that now is part of the book's fore edge. I lined the pieces with ivory pearlescent card stock and added another piece of the same  stock over the spine as an accent and to cover up some print there. I folded eight signatures out of peach colored text-weight paper.  The book is bound with a long stitch binding with brown waxed hemp cord.

It's a neat little book.

Book 214 - "A Little Nonsense" from Edward Lear - Single Sheet Folded Book

Something easy tonight -- a little 6-page book folded from a single sheet of paper. Fun to make and, I hope, to read.

I've always enjoyed the nonsense songs and writings of Edward Lear, ever since I first came across one of his silly songs in college. And I remember how surprised I was to discover he was a Victorian writer. He seemed so contemporary to me in the '60s. For this book, I choose three of his limiericks and the three matching illustrations. I picked a pair of self-portrait line caricatures--one for the front cover and another for the back.

This single sheet folded book structure is the easiest thing in the world. The only tricky part is getting the text laid out correctly so it reads right after the book is folded. I just folded up a prototype from computer paper then marked the front and back covers and numbered the squares for the interior pages, noting their orientation on the page as well (up or down). After you've marked it, unfold it flat and you have a very clear map of what goes where and in which direction.

I laid out the drawings and text in PageMaker. Most likely any other desktop publishing or design program would work as well or better.

This would be a nice simple project to try with kids using t heir own drawings.

Book 213 - A Pamphlet Stitch Journal/Blank Book/Guest Book with Olive Branch

I'm excited right now because this pretty pamphlet stitch journal  made with hand-made paper and Mexican amate paper cover is the first book I've made at my brand new workbench! Solid oak, just the right height, 4 drawers, a shelf for large paper. I love it! I've had it for a while, but it's been in a very large box waiting for me to make room for it. Today I did and tonight Allen and I put it together.

I felt so good standing there being able to simply reach for any tool I needed and it was right there, available! No digging in boxes looking for it. What a concept!

OK, enough about the workbench. The book is nice too. This is almost an exact replica of a book a friend used as a guest book/good wishes book for a party she threw for me several years ago. Everyone wrote lovely thoughts in it and I still have it. This book is a very simple structure. The lusciousness of it is all about the paper. The pages are a thick, wonderful hand-made paper with leaf inclusions. It's hard to photograph the texture, but it is really yummy. The cover is a piece of wonderfully swirly Mexican amate bark paper I brought back from San Miguel. The binding is a simple pamphlet stitch with the addition of wrapping the stitching around a small branch from our olive tree at the spine. I used deep red embroidery cotton, left a longish tail at the top and threaded on a pale red bone bead as an accent.

This would make such a pretty guest book on a hall table for all your visitors to sign.

Book 212 - "Let Silence Speak" - An Accordion Style Fingerspelling Book

This accordion-style book touches on something I've thought about for awhile. I've always been fascinated by sign language and some time ago learned to fingerspell in American Sign Language, albeit slowly and haltingly. I thought it would be interesting to do a book in fingerspell. The accordion-style seemed the most logical because the pages unfold rather like the words "unfold" from the fingers when using ASL.

I knew what I wanted to spell out, so I knew it was going to be a very long book when completely unfolded. Since I have no paper that long to print and fold, I came up with the idea of cutting each page separate then hinging them in some way. I finally settled on the idea of stitching the pages together loosely at each corner. It does make the book a little floppy, but I don't really mind that. I like the fluidity of it, because ASL signers are usually very fluid in their movements. And each signer has his/her own "voice" in the way they sign. I left a short tail on each of the corner knots then curled them slightly with a pair of scissors (like you'd do with curling ribbon on a Christmas package). I think it gives the book more personality and movement.

For the covers, I wrapped a pair of boards with a lovely dark green textured paper and added a title label to the front, then pasted the accordion pages down inside the covers. I didn't want to add a ribbon or other closure, but I do think it needs something to make it more "finished" and hold it steady when it's closed. I'm thinking of making a printed paper wrapper to slide over it when it's closed.

An interesting side note. A young friend of mine who is in high school wants to study French but the only languages her school offers are Spanish and American Sign Language.

I had an interesting phone conversation with my sister tonight. I was telling her that many of the books I've made for this challenge (including this one) feel like they are prototypes for the day when I have the time to do them better, cleaner, with better materials and the time to pay infinitely more attention to detail. She laughed and said that every time she starts to make a new book structure or work out a new idea, she figures she will have to make three before she gets one good one the way she wants it. Glad I'm not alone in that!

P.S. The hands spell "Let Silence Speak."

Book 211 - Burrito Book - A Recycled Blank Book/Journal from a Burrito Box

I'm on a packaging kick. Stop me before I tear up another box! Today's victim was a box of frozen burritos. I liked the cheerful colors and the strong graphic. I also liked the fact that if I folded it into a gatefold/French door style, you wouldn't see the burrito logo on the front, just the nice step-print graphic.

Once again, I lined the piece of packaging cardboard with pearlescent cardstock, in green today. I folded the two sides into the center and stitched a two section booklet into each side with a simple 3-hole pamphlet stitch. I left a bit of the light green hemp cord to hang at the top of each side. I used another piece of the green cord, threaded it through a couple of holes in the back and wrapped it to the front, then tied it in a bow to hold the book closed.

This is really a cute little thing. I'm happy with it.

Book 210 - A Twinkies Book! Recycled Packaging Blank Book-Journal

More sweet tooth junk here. First pink snowball, and now this time it's a Twinkies box that called to me. I will say, Twinkies are one of the few true junk foods we sell that I NEVER want to eat.

This blank book/journal/notebook is pretty straightforward. Though it may fly in the face of the idea of "recycling," I always feel like I need to line these covers made of pieces of packaging. They just feel too flimsy otherwise, and the back of the package is often a little ragged looking from glue. So... I lined this one with more of my favorite pearlescent cardstock, in pink this time. I also added a second narrow strip of that stock to further reinforce the spine.

The journal is stitched with a long stitch binding in pink hemp cord, six signatures stitched into three sets of holes/sewing stations. And that's that.

Book 209 - Pink Snowballs Recycled Packaging Mini-Journal-Coptic Binding

Back to some more store packaging with this little coptic stitch mini-journal made from a box of pink snowballs. I'm afraid I have to admit that whenever I don't have an idea for something original, these package books are a fine fallback. Owning a grocery/convenience store means we have so many boxes to choose from! If it weren't so big, I'd probably  make one from a Stetson Hat carton (yeah, we sell those, too).

Anyway, this little mini-journal has seven signatures stitched in pink hemp with a single-needle coptic stitch binding. I had to put the covers under weight for a really long time to get them to stop curving up on me and they are still ever so slightly bent. But they'll do. I do think the pink cord is a nice girly touch!

I realize I have fallen behind on photographing and posting books here on the blog. Since I do most of my bookmaking at night, after Allen has gone to bed and I have peace and quiet and solitude, it's always really late by the time I finish. Sometimes adding the time to take the photos, size them in PhotoShop then writing and posting to the blog is just more than I can handle.  It's bedtime and I can't hold my eyes open to make a post.

I'll try to make some progress in getting caught up with posts in the next few days.