11 August 2010

Making books (summer school) - 3

Having printed the big sheet of Zerkal paper, I set about making it into a book. First decision was the type of structure - I decided it would be a flutter book ("good for showing a journey of some sort") rather than the interlocking structure.
I wanted to use all the types of mark-making technique mentioned the previous day, and did manage to tick them all off the list, adding some window cut-throughs and some collage -
Printing is with two freshly-cut eraser stamps -
The "TravelWriting" is transferred with carbon paper -
The windows were placed where the pages had an extra fold. This structure is also known as "boustrophedon" - the cuts go from alternate edges of the folded grid.
Various types of lettering, including stencils, letraset, cut outs, handwriting -
The backs of the pages have images too - there's even a bit of printing with that plant label -
Finally, the covers - the monoprints, unfortunately on newsprint. How to protect them? Spraying with beeswax furniture polish, then buffing, was suggested -
Needless to say, this book lives in a slipcase.
I like the restrained look of it (a bit heavy on the stamping, perhaps), and its purpose is to act as a reminder of ways to pattern or fill a page. It has no story - and frankly, I'd rather it had no words or even letters - they seem to go beyond "marks" into meaning.

1 comment:

magsramsay said...

Love the complex simplicity of this (if that's not an oxymoron)
You've given me food for thought. I've signed up for the sketchbook project on theme 'inside, outside' and once I've restocked it with decent paper was going to cut apertures. Might consider it as a 'flutter book' but then how would I attach it. Hmmm.