Hand-i-Work: Making Books
Picturing Bookmaking…the work of our hands.
Saying goodbye to summer 2016 “Wonderland: The Book Makers’ Studio. Cherish the memories!
Until next year…walk in peace, and make books…read them too!
Bookmaking: A Handy Form of Expression
Bookmaking: A Handy Form of Expression
A Picture Poem giving new meaning to hand work…handiwork…the work (play?) of our hands!
These students HANDle the form well!
Bravo!
A Visit to Wonderland: The Book Makers’ Studio
A Visit to Wonderland: The Book Makers’ Studio
Five weeks of bookmaking with students aged 5-10. An incredible opportunity to witness and nurture creativity in action!
Taking an existing book and altering it.
Some students had no problem cutting right into the book…(a paperback)…and others were more hesitant.
Some students think of books primarily as a space for their many writing ideas….
and others are focused on the visual, enchanted my the material possibilities.
Giving new meaning to the term “Getting Your Ducks in a Row”…
And the story idea…: “A Bunny With Fairy Wings”
Re-purposing tags as flags in the flag book.
The purple tee-shirted bookmaking sistahs!
Concentration. Beginning to write after creating a glittering border.
Book End (table end) inspiration.
Handmade Portfolios using hanging file folders and shoelaces.
Portfolio, and the joy of glittery stickers.
Creating dimension with “pom-poms”.
Bead embellishment
Treasure hunting.
Our piece of heaven: the supplies table.
Sketch book…
Working in a single signature book. Why use one pencil when you can use three?!
Creating scrolls…an ancient book form. We added wooden dowels later.
Thank you for visiting our summer wonderland: The Book Makers’ Studio. You can always create your won…with whatever you have on hand to create with!
Wave your Flag!: Teens Create Flag Books in Honor of The Big Read
Wave your Flag!: Teens Create Flag Books in Honor of The Big Read
As a program of The Big Read in LA, 2016, I taught a flag bookmaking workshop at Verduga Hills High School. The Big Read book is Ray Bradbury‘s “Fahrenheit 451“, in which firemen light fires to burn books, instead of rescuing them from the flames. Although published over 60 years ago, the book remains uncomfortably relatable to present day issues. Even prescient at times.
Conducting the workshop with the teens was great. I loved it, the students loved it, the school librarian loved it, and the classroom teacher loved it. Here are a few images of what the students made.
Students had a choice of “flag” pages: rectangles of uniform size, cut from tagboard in an array of bright colors, repurposed library return cards offered up by the school librarian (treasures!), pieces of sketchbook covers, and one off items such at the card above, painted in black chalkboard paint and adorned with red letters and numbers.
Students used a variety of materials to create layered meaning through text and image.
They mixed it up, playing with pattern, visual texture and color in their compositions.
A curated selection of quotes from the book were available, and a number of students used them in their books.
These young artists had the passion!
They spoke their hearts.
“Meaningful elements remind us to live”
“Pura Vida” = Pure Life. Setting the intention?
The color combinations were striking, and students had the chance to see first had how the red accordion spine looked different pared with green….
and blue. This ambitious young artist reassembled the words that had been cut from this sketchbook cover, to striking effect on his book.
The Flag Book is a potent vehicle for personal expression, allowing for visual and verbal content on its numerous surfaces, places and spaces, in the form of writing, drawing, collaging, note taking, photographs, and combinations of any and all of these.
Once makers see and experience the possibilities, they are off to the races, their creativity limited only by time and space.
Let the flags of your own creativity, ideas, thoughts and feelings wave! Ray Bradbury did.
Material World (4)
Material World (4)
One of the pleasures and deep satisfactions of bookmaking is delving into the visual, visceral, and tactile pleasures of materials. Though many artists do not make the kind of money that allows for indulgence in what might be termed, “material pleasures”, we may be seen as materialistic…for materials are the very warp and weft of our trade. We can find our way to the ineffable through immersion in the materials and techniques we choose to create with. Here I share some of my own investigation into the qualities inherent in materials that create texture. Though I am a visual artist, I find the sense of touch as powerful as that of sight, and am fascinated with how the two work together.
“A Stitch in Time Saves 9”, Flag Book, Title stitched onto flags, covers textured with crumpled tissue paper and adhesive, collage and repurposed beads stitched onto cover.
Textured Fan, covers covered with textured, painted and glazed paper, accordion spine made of repurposed Neutra VDL House brochure
“Brown Paper Bag”, Covers textured with crushed plain brown paper and brown paper bags, bound with hemp cord.
PaperPaintPlant, single signature binding, using paper containing plant material.
Teapot Book, Japanese Side Stab binding using thick highly textured handmade paper for covers, and drawing paper for pages, teapot rubber-stamped.
“Synesthesia” is “a rare neurological condition in which two or more of the senses entwine.”
The sense of sight and the sense of touch. How can we separate the two? Does something feel like what it looks like, or does it look like what it feels like? Powerful questions for anyone working in the visual, or any realm of communication and expression. Powerful stuff.
Material World (2)
Material World (2)
One of the pleasures and deep satisfactions of bookmaking, is delving into the visual, visceral, and tactile pleasures of materials, and how to employ and combine them. The following shares one step of my journey exploring and investigating the qualities inherent in materials. Though many artists do not make the kind of money that allows for indulgence in what might be termed, “material pleasures”, we may be seen as materialistic…for materials are the very warp and weft of our trade. We find our way to the ineffable through the use and exploitation of the materials we choose.
Front view…closed and tied.
Peeking open, ribbons wafting
An open book…
Seen from behind
Single signature binding with wrapped covers, collage, patterned paper from scrapbook pads, drawing paper, recycled shirt-weight cardboard covers, binding sewn with hemp cord, ribbon. Ribbon inserted through book, between cover board and wrapping and over spine.
Artists Books, The Book Arts, Bookbinding, Bookmaking, The Making of Books, however you want to put it, is fertile ground for this exploration/exploitation. In this sense, we are turning even our language on its proverbial head. For what might be seen as negative, such as materialism (being “materialistic”) and exploitation (making use of and benefiting from resources) becomes an act of creativity, imagination and exploration through this transformative process. Which becomes ultimately, an act of expression.
Material World (1)
Material World (1)
One of the pleasures and deep satisfactions of bookmaking, is delving into the visual, visceral, and tactile pleasures of materials, and how to employ and combine them. The following shares one step of my journey exploring and investigating the qualities inherent in materials. Though many artists do not make the kind of money that allows for indulgence in what might be termed, “material pleasures”, we may be seen as materialistic…for materials are the very warp and weft of our trade. We find our way to the ineffable through the use and exploitation of the materials we choose.
Three Books in Bows…all dressed up and ready to go. An exploration of textiles, papers, ribbons, beads, shells, repurposed materials, collage, hemp cord, jute, nylon and bindings. Textures created with tissue and brown wrapping paper and adhesive, layering of transparent material over collaged two-color cover, and stitching. Detail added with recycled and found beads, a treasured shell, and gauzy, glittery, patterned and woven ribbon.
Two Friends…My own version of an “art pauvre”, …a simple structure of humble, repurposed materials existing quietly in the world. Single signature binding of recycled graph paper pages, using jute cord, covers and spine made of recycled cardboard, covered with scraps of recycled cloth. Repurposed ornament stitched to front cover with hemp cord. The pleasures and mysteries of the seemingly mundane and everyday.
Unzipped…so named because there is a zipper stitched to the front cover…(to be depicted at a future time if a good picture can be made of it.) Another example of my expression of “art pauvre”. Single signature book with pages made from recycled paper, covers and spine made of recycled cardboard, covered with repurposed cloth. Jute cord used for binding, and to attach exterior cloth to covers. Interior cloth strips/insets glued on.
Zebra Book…Single signature binding with wrapped covers, patterned paper from scrapbook pads, recycled shirt-weigh cardboard covers, folded card stock weight spine, patterned gauze ribbon, embroidery thread used for sewing. Ribbon inserted through book, between cover board and wrapping.
Lace 2… Single signature binding with wrapped covers, collage, patterned paper from scrapbook pads, drawing paper, recycled shirt-weight cardboard covers, binding sewn with hemp cord, ribbon. Ribbon inserted through book, between cover board and wrapping and over spine.
Los Angeles, California, Single signature binding with wrapped covers, collage, maps printed on multipurpose paper, patterned paper from scrapbook pads, drawing paper, recycled shirt-weight cardboard covers, binding sewn with hemp cord, ribbon. Ribbon inserted through book, between cover board and wrapping and over spine.
Artists Books, The Book Arts, Bookbinding, Bookmaking, The Making of Books, however you want to put it, is fertile ground for this exploration/exploitation. In this sense, we are turning even our language on its proverbial head. For what might be seen as negative, such as materialism (being “materialistic”) and exploitation (making use of and benefiting from resources) becomes an act of creativity, imagination and exploration through this transformative process. Which becomes ultimately, an act of expression.
Material Girl 4: This and That Creates the Whole
Material Girl 4: This and That Creates the Whole
Book Bunch Bower
Fold out Accordion “Pocket” Book
“The Word is Art”, Front Cover
“The Word is Art”, Flag Book
“The Word is Art”, Flag Book, Aerial View
“The Word is Art”, Back Cover
“Interior Dialogue”, Flag Book
“Radical Humanity” Flag Book
“Teapot”, Double Fan Book
“Teapot” Double Fan Book, “Spout”
“Teapot” Double Fan Book, “Handle”
“Beauty is….”
Material Girl 3: Many Parts Create The Whole
Material Girl 3: Many Parts Create The Whole…FLAG BOOKS!
The fun and innovative Flag Book structure can be a powerful form to express thought, feeling and idea through word and image.
Within the flag book…there can be a
We all know that…
Above are Flag Book front and back covers..with a “found writing” title..which employs text, color, the font/typeface, the design, composition, and space between the words for cognitive and emotional impact.
A single word or phrase can pack the proverbial punch, when paired with color and placement.
Putting together “found” words and phrases can yield unexpected poetry…the poetic power of Found Writing.
Found Writing can help us define our vision (or one of them…)
and give us a hitherto unknown directive of sorts. We find that we can advise ourselves…
within the context of numerous ideas.
The layering of words, colors, shapes and text
creates new meanings,
and may tell us something important…
about something we want,
or need
or experience…
You may find that you make a promise…to yourself…
That must be kept.
Something new…has been born.
Wave those flags!!!!
Material Girl 2: Many Parts Create The Whole
Material Girl 2: Many Parts Create The Whole
Preparing for bookmaking programs at the West Hollywood Library, the Diamond Bar Library, the Fairview Library, and the Montana Avenue Library isn’t just a labor of love…it can be pure joy.
The spread of papers of just the right thickness, ready to be folded into the versatile accordion/concertina spine.
Pages are attached to each fold of the spine. More folds = more page possibilities!
A rainbow of front and back covers cut to the same height as the spines.
“Mottled” book pages.
High contrast, and “grey on grey” spine-cover color designs. The effect can be elegant!
The glory of your basic colored construction paper…not just for kids.
Assorted papers…Japanese patterns, parchment, and ‘plain brown wrapper” card stock. Variety is the spice of life…and bookmaking!
Let’s take a closer look at those papers! Now…what can we do with them?
Front cover design…
Use of paper heart found at “Trash for Teaching” in Los Angeles, on inside front cover.
“Fan” page designs! The pages will be attached to each fold of the spine, and will “fan” out when the book is opened by pulling the back and front covers away from each other. The “fan” book can also be opened ‘traditionally”,by turning the cover, and moving through the pages by turning them consecutively.
Putting it all together….a family theme.
“Doors” and Windows” can be cut in pages and covers, to reveal the unexpected beneath and behind!
“Fan” pages are attached to the accordion /concertina spine, seen here in a variety of colors.
“Heart” openings on the “fan” pages (“Windows/Doors”) reveal surprises behind and beneath…which can deepen and expand the theme of the book.
Cardboard shapes, another treasure found at Trash for Teaching, create a slight three-dimensional (“relief“) effect, and can be used to create visual frames for photos or other treasures added to the book.
Don’t we all?!!
Artissima - Blog of ArtiFactory Studio 