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.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Book 255 - A Small Perfecet-Bound Pocket Notebook

Well, y'know, not every book in this 365 book project is going to come out perfect.

This book is not awful, it's just sort of blah and has a little more "crafty/home-made" look than I'd like. And I'm only about 85% certain the perfect binding will hold for the long term and not fall apart. I won't ever offer this one for sale.

I do like the paper of the pages, creamy yellow smooth paper with a naturally deckled egde like hand-made paper. I really  have no idea what it is, just fished it out of my sister's scrap bin. I cut the spin edge nice and clean--crucial for a perfect binding to work--tapped it very firmly together and painted the  spine with padding compound (glue for making notepads) then clamped it tight until the glue dried. I cut the covers from chip board, covered them with two colors of textured cardstock. On the inside, I glue the book block to the spine, glued on some liner papers and blocked it well. Where the textured cardstock creased on the outside cover, it showed white cracks, so I got out a silver paint pen and painted over the cracks, then added some scrolly flourishes to make it look like it was supposed to be that way all along.

It's a nice size for dropping in a purse or even a pocket. It has enough body to be able to write on it without a table, but it's not really heavy. It's... OK.






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