a coming together

slowly but surely things are happening

you cannot rush book-making, not if you want a good result; a book that is flat with neat, even pages takes time... every step of the way the components have to be pressed under weight until they are perfectly dry or warping will happen

the first one here is a new structure for me, one I learnt in a course on Domestika, an online learning site with myriad courses, very reasonably priced, though often in a foreign language

this one is in Spanish but there are subtitles and terrific camera angles

and by the time the class finished I was developing a good command of Spanish terms for book-binding... to the point where I even turned up the volume when a work truck outside started beeping!

anyway, this course teaches bookbinding without sewing so it's perfect for showcasing art, especially pieces that stretch across both pages

as this was my learning piece I was more concerned with putting the book together properly than with what I would put on the pages - still, I wanted it to be something I would happily keep out and look at from time to time so I decided to use some thumbnail photos I took at McGuire Lake over the past few years

here they are, arranged in a grid format

the book opens to this as the title page... words to come

below is the only two-photo spread but you can see how it extends smoothly across the centre fold with no obstruction to the flow of the image

the cover is made from watercolour paper, three layers laminated together (glued under weight) with decorative paper for the spine

I'm very happy with this one and am already at work on the next in this same format 

another book I made recently is this one: a simple fold over cover made from cardstock with an overlay

a variety of fabric and papers were cut to resemble cattails, then collaged in layers with stitching added here and there to add definition and interest 

I like doing these kind of collages and have more ideas for other versions

it's an enjoyable but messy process and the results are never quite what I expect them to be though they are almost always much better than I had hoped for

there is a bagful of bits and pieces like this in my studio...

"possibilities"

odds and ends of this and that, too good to toss...

 nothing on their own really, but in a coming together with other bits and pieces, they're transformed into little works of art