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.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Book 289 - "Splat" - A Recycled Fly Swatter Flip Book - Stab Binding

Well, I promised you something different... Here we have a recycled fly swatter. Found it in a thrift shop. I kept staring at it, wondering what to do with it. Then poof... the idea appeared full blown.

This is a flip book. When you flip the pages smoothly and fairly quickly, the image on the pages appears to move, like a movie. The image shows a housefly flying left to right, arching up, turning its body down and diving to the bottom of the page. And then... "splat." No more fly. Well, that is what fly swatters are for, right?

Once I'd figured out the images, I printed them out on beige paper, arranged them in order and poked a row of holes along the top for sewing stations for a stab binding. I laid the book block on top of the screen mesh of the fly swatter and stitched through the punched holes and the mesh, so the book is completely attached to the mesh.

At the very back of the book, I added an image of a dead fly that can be seen from the back of the book, through the mesh.

This book makes me laugh. And it made me feel creative again after weeks of just getting by.









7 comments:

  1. At first I actually believed that you had collected dead flies in the book.

    Cool project!

    ››Daniel

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  2. Daniel - You made me laugh out loud! Thanks.
    Noah - Thanks for the kind words.

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  3. OMG! This made me laugh! You are so funny! And clever! :):)

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  4. spt...haha...giggle....lol...thats a lot of laughs!

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  5. Thanks Klaus. I would love to post a video but I don't have a video camera. Since we have no cell service where we live, no smart phone for me. I'll see if I can borrow one to get a vid.

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