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

to know…

or experience…

or try….

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?!!

BOOKED! (2)

BOOKED! (2)

“The world is so full of a number of things,
I ’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” –Robert Louis Stevenson

Today I celebrate an embarrassment of riches…a gaggle of glorious words and images exploring all manner of fascinating facets of the worlds of art, design, graphics, type faces, artist books, and art made from books!.

100 Classic Graphic Design Books… “Bibliographic“: a treasury of graphic design, and the relationship of word to image. Lettering, typeface, symbol, color, shape…savor these elements, and return to this book as a reference and inspiration time and time again.

“Letter and Image” by Robert Massin, French designer and author: “…all things lettering…”

American Type Founders Company (ATF), was the leading producer of type in the world, and produced large specimen books, huge catalogs featuring borders and ornaments among other things.

“Art made From Books, Altered, Sculpted, Carved, Transformed“, is a machine printed book, with what appears to be a hand-sewn binding.  It features artists from around the world who use books as their primary artmaking material, including artist Brian Dettmer, who also wrote the book’s preface. An absolutely fascinating anthology.

“Le Maroc”, Georgia Russell, cut and painted book in circular acrylic case. Amazing.

“Cook Book Ballet Slippers”, Jennifer Collier, vintage cookbook, pages, ribbons, buttons, hand-stitching. you can see the artist’s training in textiles taken to a completely new conceptual level.

Art Books on Book Art…Word and Image chronicling the phenomenon of Word and Image…will wonders never cease?

I certainly hope not.

An embarrassment of riches indeed…just a book away.