Bookmaking – Page 72 – Green Chair Press Blog

Spelling Words

At the BABA book jam in October, calligrapher Cari Ferraro stopped by my table to say hi, and when I asked about the book she’d just finished, I got a huge treat when she brought it over for me to look at. Here’s what Cari says about the book on her website:

Spelling Words explores the roots of the English word “spell” and its intersection with letter magic. The book has two beginnings which meet in the center spread where the book may be turned over and read again from the other direction. Each side of the book begins with dictionary definitions of the word spell, the verb and the noun. Alphabets, magical symbols, and various rules and instructions for spelling fill the other pages.

Reading and handling her book was quite a pleasure: the handcrafted care of the painted paper, binding, and book case; the beautifully lettered words and page layout; and the wonderful surprise of reaching the middle of the book and having to turn it around to read the rest. Reading from one end, the words are loose, relaxed, breaking free of the page layout. From the other, they are more constrained and regular.
Below is a detail from Spelling Words. Cari has lots of pictures of page spreads and more details on her website as well as her blog.

Inauguration Pop-Up

To celebrate Barack Obama’s inauguration, Carol Barton designed this do-it-yourself pop-up commemorative. You can download a PDF from her website and make one too.

Atlas Landscape

Maya Lin, Atlas Landscape, detail, Rand McNally The New International Atlas

Last week I saw the exhibit “Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes” at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. I knew I was going to see Lin’s large-scale installations that interpret natural topography — one was the geological surfaces of a mountain range. But I didn’t expect smaller works, like altered books made from old Rand McNally atlases. She’s cut into the book’s pages to form a precise and detailed topographic view into the map (although it doesn’t appear that the result has anything to do with the map on the top-most page). The smaller works were a good balance to the large ones, although the installations cried out to be seen outdoors and from above as well as at ground level. The photo is a detail from one of the altered books, Atlas Landscape. There’s a nice overview of the exhibition with photos here.

Adhesives: War and Paste

“Making paste is a lot like making polenta — superstitions about always stirring in the same direction included.

Of course you have to stir twice as long & as hard to make the paste.

Who knew it was so hard to make paper stick together.”

That’s a quote from Mary Tasillo‘s zine “War and Paste.” I bought a copy at Pyramid Atlantic back in November. She works in a paper conservation lab and is the official pastemaker. Mary gives several paste recipes and ruminates on paper conservation including “Mending Paper 101” where she explains how to fix tears. And I thought I had issues with glue — at least I can buy mine pre-made in a bottle!
Mary also edits the Book Arts Classified website which summerizes all sorts of book arts news, including calls for entries, exhibitions, new bookworks and periodicals…

Adhesives: Laminating

For my recent book Walking, I wanted to print the insides on one long piece of paper. I had paper long enough — 26 inches — and with the correct grain. But it is a thin Japanese-like paper and I didn’t want the interior to be semi-transparent.
The solution was to laminate another piece of paper to the printed sheet. I tried using wet glue, but my gluing skills aren’t good (or patient) enough. Plus the whole thing curled, despite putting it under weight (it curled because the papers I tried were stronger than the thin paper, and when glued together, the stronger paper pulled at the lighter paper). I tried a non-wet adhesive (Yes paste) which doesn’t cause the paper to curl but it’s hard to work with on such a long sheet.
That’s when I remembered my Xyron laminator. I bought it originally to make kitchen magnets (it sandwiches a piece of paper between a magnet and thin protective plastic) but I also had cartridges that would apply glue to one side of a piece of paper. You feed the paper through the machine, turning the handle and the cartridge applies the glue or magnet sandwich. No electricity or batteries needed. The glue is spread evenly and the resulting sheet is easy to apply to another piece of paper. It’s not wet glue, so the paper doesn’t curl. The Xyron comes in several sizes. I happen to have the 9″ one, which turns out to be over-kill (and wasteful) for most of the projects I do — the 5″ wide model would have probably been a better choice.

Books on Books: How to Make Books

One of the first books on making books I ever bought was Shereen LaPlantz’s Cover to Cover. I still refer to it — and share it — especially when someone newish to bookmaking asks me about making a book for a particular purpose. The instructions and diagrams are clear and there are lots of photos of finished examples.
Recently I got Esther K. Smith’s How to Make Books. It’s a quirkier, more up-to-date complement to LaPlantz’s book. And I’ll be keeping it in my library for sharing with others when they’re looking for book ideas. It starts with “instant books” made from a single sheet of paper and moves on to accordions and sewn bindings. There are lots of photos and examples, and the diagrams are colorful and fun. An added bonus: hard bookboard covers that are de-bossed and wonderfully tactile.