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.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

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.







3 comments:

  1. Donna,
    I wanted to let you know how inspirational your blog has been. I took a one day bookmaking class several years ago and haven't done anything since. I want to get started making simple books and starting slowly. What are the essential materials you recommend for getting started with bookmaking? If you have already shared this information, a link at the top of your blog would be really wonderful.

    Thank you so much,
    Rean

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  2. Love the little curves--like finger grabbing spots. I have never seen this brand of root beer. Have to keep my eyes open. :)

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  3. @Rean - Thanks for the kind words. I applaud your desire to start making books. You will love it! Start simple then advance at your own speed. I just added a couple of links to the top of the left column to some books at Amazon that I continue to use almost daily. The Alisa Golden book is great to start with because she has many book structures that are very simple to begin with then move up to move complicated ones.

    To start, you don't really need any fancy materials. You can begin with computer paper and simple card stock. For tools, I recommend a good X-acto-type craft knife with lots of SHARP blades (replace them often), a bone folder for folding pages and a self-healing cutting mat. A needle awl for punching holes (but you can use a big needle if necessary tho' it's harder). Some crewel or craft needles and linen or hemp thread/cord for stitching (make sure it doesn't stretch). White glue (PVA if possible) and a brush. Some kind of paper board/chip board/mat board if you want to do hardcovers.

    That is really enough to begin. I'd love to see what you make. If you post a picture to flickr, you can put the link here so we can all see what you've made.

    Good luck.

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