The Circus

When the circus comes to town, it's magic.  The animals, the acrobats, the clowns... it's a visual spectacle of the imagination.. all the wonderment of a magical dream world.. and it never gets old for me. The book I've made for Week 11 is based on a box of animal crackers.. those fun boxes with a string tied on like a little pocketbook, full of adorable animal cookies. Once, these fun cookies were in every grocery store, in their cute little box with the ribbon handle. Now, they aren't so common. Once I found the old fashioned cookies, I bought a half dozen boxes.. I've been eating them ever since...in order to empty the boxes for the books I make from them. Believe that? 

So what is your favorite part about the circus? The clowns, the elephants? the acrobats? the food? 

 Circus tent stripes line the spine, and a longstitch binding hold the sky blue pages in place. A magnet on the edge snaps shut for the closure.

There's something missing in this book.. where are the circus stories?

Kathy

What's in a Name?

The book for week 10 of the Book-A-Week challenge is called What's in a Name? It's one of my FAVORITE book structures.. its a two-signature pamphlet book with a pencil holder pop-out AND a folded card case for holding business cards and charge cards and stuff like that... I LOVE THAT BOOK! I love having that pencil holder pop-out to whip out your pencil when the need arises! So efficient!

Inside the book is the folded card case and a couple of cards sticking out for you to see...

And the note pages have signature covers of natural dyed paper and button closures.. just to keep those notes extra private... hummmm.

I carry my own card case and note book everywhere. It's full of addresses, names, phone numbers, grocery lists, and anything that comes up when I'm out and need to remember something. So when I meet someone who gives me their busisness card, I have just the place for it.. and a place for my stash of business cards to give out.


What's in a Name? I think there is A LOT in a name...the stories of how people got their names, and the untold stories of how those names affected those people... folklore of name meanings, and family connections based on names.. firsts (Srs.) and seconds (Jrs), thirds (IIIs) and even fourths (IVs).. I knew of a fourth, (his real name was Ben) who's family called him Ivy.. get it? And there are times when names get changed.. so do the people change too? What's in a name? So much!

Kathy

Bryony's Book

The book for Week 9 is Bryony's Book. The definition for bryony "is any Old World vine or climbing plant belonging to the genus Bryonia" (dictionary.com).. For me Bryony is a friend. One who makes everyone who knows her feel good.. who is sunshine and kindness and giggles even on the worst of days. We all should have someone like that in our lives, right?

I made the book for week 9 over a series of weeks... It has a painted fabric cover with a ring of chain stitches and a chevron of longstitches as the binding, and a paperbutton clasp and red macrame cord... The paperbutton is a photograph of my friend Bryony and her lovely smile. The papers inside are blank.. so far.. but the mouldmade Italian Magnani velata paper is creamy and lovely to feel. It's my favorite paper! I've included some of my marbled papers to separate the sections.. how can anyone not love marbled paper! 

So why this book on this week? This week marked the occurrence of our Leap Year... I didn't realize February 29 was happening.. that it's a Leap Year!.. and on Wednesday when I realized it.. thought of all those folks who get to celebrate their REAL birthday for a change.. and for the rest of us, the FULLNESS of this year, with the extra day and all... and in a way, every day can be that extra day.. the one we can make beautiful and happy and full of smiles (even when things aren't really all that great) like my friend Bryony makes all her friends feel. 

So, enjoy your coming year in all its FULLNESS.. and may you feel like you always have an extra day of good things to fill in for the others.

Kathy

Week 8: Book of Lists

   In an earlier post (December 29, 2011) I mentioned The Pillow Book, a journal of sorts written by Sei Shōnagona who was lady-in-waiting for the Japanese Empress Teishi around 1001 AD. In addition to poetry, sketches, and musings, her book had over 60 lists. I'm a list writer.. a box checker off-er, a person who likes to put things in groups...  to look for a pattern... So, I've wanted to print a series of books for making lists. This is just the first of many variations that are on my list.

Cover of the Book of Lists

   The book for Week 8 is Book of Lists. I marbled the Japanese paper using suminagashi (marbling with inks that float on water). Then I letterpress printed the pages on a beautiful Vandercook press at my friend Lisa's studio, Common Life Press.
   The font is CHELTENHAM OLDSTYLE, 18pt and the border is an antique border ornament she had on hand. The binding is the Japanese Kangxi binding with the Hemp Leaf variation added.

Title Page

List of Wishes...

Printing again was a joy, and I have plans to print for the rest of the coming week while I am here in the mountains. I have a LIST of things I want to accomplish. Below are some photos of the Common Life Press studio and the Vandercook press I use. 

The Vandercook Press

The type cases

Out the Studio window towards Burnsville, NC

Dog model and studio partner, Tilly

What lists would you make?

Kathy

Crossroad

"Crossroad" ..That's what's written on the bottom of the painted mug. How many times do we come to  a crossroad in our lives? Do we always know when we're at a crossroad, or is it afterward, on looking back that it becomes clear?

For Week 7 of the Book-A-Week Challenge I've made two Japanese Four-Hole Pouch books and a hardcover wrapper. This is the final week of our Bento Box class and I'm wrapping it up by teaching how to make a hardcover wrapper for a set of soft-cover books.. The books are titled Floating and Blooming. They seem like they would to go well with the mug, a rainy day, and a pot of tea.

Andy's Book

Andy's Book with Two Stories

   A few weeks ago I was asked to share a bit of my book-making techniques to a class of NCSU first- year design students. The class was asked to create a children's book based on a defined artistic style, such as Art Deco, Impressionism, Installation Art...and so on. The students' ability to absorb complex process information and their out-of-the-box creativity were awe-inspiring. The books below are some of the books made by one of the students, Andy; but all of the students' books were phenomenal!

   Andy's first book is a series of boxes bound by a drinking straw threaded up one corner of each box. The boxes remain stacked on each other because of the flat "pages," which are sandwiched between each box. They all swing out for reading the platform "pages" or looking inside the boxes. 

Stacked boxes book

Book 2, a new construction using the drinking straw as the binding....

                    
 Looking inside at the second of Andy's sample books.. notice how the pages flip out? Give you any ideas?

                                 Book 3 has pages that you pull up.. see the colored tabs?

This is the front cover of the final book... which is a teaching tool for kids ages 3-5 about installation art and also a story Andy wrote about a little boy and his dog. Look inside....

Inside each page is a pop-up of installation art!

A volvelle of the sun is part of a page that shows the story about the boy and his dog.

Inside the box page of The Weather Project

The volvelle swings around to form the back side of the box 'page' about Olafur Eliasson's The Weather Project at the Tate Modern in London, England.. Cool, huh!?!

Notice the page that also describes the art, its location, and the creator. This was really helpful for me...

It was a great 2+ weeks working with these future architects, designers, and artists.. and seeing how the term "book" can be stretched. I hope I get asked to "teach" again.. I learned so much!
Kathy

Lilac Creek

The challenge book I made for week 6 is titled Lilac Creek. It's a tiny book, about one and a half inches on each side. The story of this book is about the beauty of nature, about the celebration of creating things ...of being involved in a process,  and it's about the joy in small things.

                                            Lilac Creek

     The pages are handmade paper I made by beating kozo (the Japanese mulberry bush) fibers with a wooden mallet. There is a magic in drumming that goes way back; and the rhythmic pounding of the mallet on the table was delightful and enlivening. There were a group of us that day, and as we pounded the piles of kozo stalks, we became a laughing, sassy, happy tribe.  When I had the right consistancy of soupy pulp, I sprinkled in crushed mica I had gathered from the mountain paths and dirt roads at Penland where I sometimes live in the summers.. Then I formed the sheets of delicate paper by dipping in a papermaking screen and draining off the excess water. In the finished paper sheets, mica catches the light and throws it back to me, like a sweet gift, a flirtation, a smile from the earth.

And I added sheets of paper I marbled on another day. Marbling too, is a process that is somewhat magic, usually fun, often challenging, and always interesting. Sometimes it works perfectly.. sometimes the pigments drop to the bottom of the tray, or colors muddy up, or bubbles form like some poltergeist's light... unexpected and unwelcome. But this marbled paper was lovely with its swirling patterns of color and shaded hues of stone-like shapes.  Some of the marbled papers reflected the muddy browns of a North Carolina creek bed, the olive greens of algae and moss, and the purple hues of lilac and paulownia petals floating along a lazy stream...

The book cover, etched vines on copper then enameled, holds the pages by coptic stitching along an exposed spine. And the clasp of macrame linen thread with a handblown glass bead and a pearl, keeps the contents safe from too much exposure...

My book for week 6 is Lilac Creek... reflections of walking alongside a vine-covered meandering creek,  smells of honeysuckle and lilac, heat of a sauna-hot Carolina-blue-sky summer day, sounds of a cool stream trickling close by.... Where is your Lilac Creek?