365: Make a Book a Day

I'm Donna Meyer and this is a Daily Journal of a Challenge: to make a book a day for a year, to stretch my imagination, creativity, skills and discipline. Inspired by Noah Scalin's Skull-a-Day. Why books? A book can be made of almost anything, and I can stretch its definition. Some will be fancy, skilled and take time. Others will be quick-&-dirty, maybe just images, or ephemeral, disappearing books. Follow along. We'll discover together how to create a book a day for 365 days.

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.

Showing posts with label stick binding. Show all posts

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Book 321 - Gingko Leaf Guest Book or Journal - Stick Binding w/ Bamboo

I love gingko leaves and I love this paper. As soon as I saw it in my sister's paper cabinet, I knew I wanted to use it. It was a natural to pair with the piece of bamboo stick that was originally part of a placemat I took apart.

I covered two pieces of Davey bookbinders' board with a base paper, then a piece of the gingko paper in brown. For the front cover, I added another piece of gingko paper in black, layered on a light piece of smaller print gingko paper and finally added a cut out of a single gingko leaf. I love the final effect.

For the binding, I drilled two holes in the covers to match the holes that already existed in the bamboo stick. With beige twine, I stitched the covers to the bamboo stick.

I think this is one of the prettier books I've done recently.