A Pop-up Book

A few weeks ago I had the idea of making a pop-up book, something I had never tried; but with all the stress and chaos in the world it really seemed like the right time to throw myself into something new. And it was fun, and exciting and it went through a lot of drafts, and still didn't end up quite as I imagined.

Page 1, getting closer to the final template. © 2017

Final layout [which changed at the last moment.] © 2017

Final Build, © 2017

Catching the light on an early build of the book. ©2017

Late afternoon sun on the final book form.  © 2017

Layout for Elegy to Betty

One of my favourite parts of making a book is designing the layout. With Elegy to Betty, I knew the sequence of the images, but not how they would fall on a page, or over several pages. So you play; try this, try that and then I do a trial print. That always teaches me that there are things to change. Usually I need more white space, and sometimes the font size. That's maybe the biggest difference between working on the computer screen and having the printed book in your hand.  For Betty I made 5 trial mock-ups of the book before I was satisfied. Each row, or spread, in the photo is 40 in. wide by 10 in. high and there are 5 pages in each row. I print one spread at a time, trim it top and bottom, then do the folding and glueing.

Another Path

Last week a couple of friends [thanks Fiona and Jennifer] suggested I use the list of Words for November and do a book. So while I was working on Lines and waiting for Big Blue to resolve it's problems, I started to visualize how I might approach this. The piece I was working on was perfect for sleet, the 6th word. Velum sheets for the numbers and words, paper for the image. The trick will be to find velum I can put through my printer, and that won't smear when printed.

November Rain, mixed media

page idea, number and letters on separate vellum pages

The Helvetica Variations #7

I belong to a group called A Letter A Week  [link here] where the challenge is to create 2 alphabets over the course of the year, according to certain criteria. And I confess I have been hiding. I am way behind; this latest variation doesn't quite fit the guidelines, for that matter most of the variation don't, but I have had great fun, lots of challenges, met some very generous people, and, am waiting for the final variation which should be finished at the end of the month. But I was thrilled to pick this up today from Will at Charm City Laser [link here]. I had found Will while doing some research into how I could get these letters cut from a book block. Nobody was too excited about the idea until I met Will, whose only concern was that the whole thing would catch fire. Thanks Will.

Some of the earlier variations are here, here, here, here and here

Temporary Alphabet or A Time-Based Alphabet

This alphabet continues to elude me. Every time I think I have it, it's somewhere else. Maybe I need to tie string to it. Yesterday I decided I was taking the whole thing way to seriously and decided to play. Take a roll of paper, staple it to the wall, add a container of joint filler, and a paint scrapper and let's see what happens. The letters only lasted a few moments as I kept smoothing over the surface before writing the next letter; and I only forgot one letter, which I faked for the photo below. Next time I will use heavier paper and if I am really smart use a gessoed board so I can really move into the surface; the wet joint filler and my use of the paint scrapper ripped the paper several times. Oh well, just smooth that into the whole.

The Temporary Alphabet

Love Affairs

Just wanted to tell you about my latest love affair. Crinkly, sensuous, velvety, rippled, fragile, [w]holey, dare I say it, holy paper and show you a few photos of  of my love. And just for your information, not only did the paper enjoy its' bath, I put my thumb drive through the wash today and it works just fine.

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After The Bath / Desperate Measures

After I had finished drilling the other night I soaked the alphabet in water and tied it up in desperation. I was giving it a bath. It needed to relax, probably I needed to relax. A friend, Rosie, [link here and here] talking about the [w] hole thing, quipped that the process was getting violent. She mentioned drowning, shooting. Mmmmn, she had a point. Things were not going the way I expected or hoped. Not being able to saw through the holes was a blow. It's still not totally dry but some of what has happened I love; the wrinkling and curling of the paper, the new texture of the paper [it feels so much thicker, more substantial]. I love the bound edge curling back on itself. In fact it's the paper, that has so much vitality and life, that intrigues and moves me. The holes give it the sense of braille, another form of an alphabet.

After a bath the bound alphabet

Opening the pages

View through the holes

Curling pages

Water meets binding

Folded pages

Another Day, Another Lesson

Spent most of yesterday drilling, and not for oil. I may have demolished John dremel. It wasn't too happy about what I wanted it to do. Clouds of smoke were rising from the book block, but the big drill, which I might add, weighs a tonne, held up to the job. The holes aren't as pretty and there are no scorch marks or the smell of burnt paper, but I was able to see if this idea works. It doesn't. But some more ideas came out of it so all is not lost.

Using John dremel, smoking paper

All drilled out

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Building Bridges

My x-acto knife and I have become good friends over the past couple of days as I cut out more and more letters, and better yet, not my fingers. Because I am trying to use both the positive and negative shape of each letter, and keep the negative shape page whole, the process is definitely trial and error and tiny pieces of scotch tape. Must say that some of the mistakes look great but I really want all the letters to hang together, which is where the bridges come in as I connect white spaces. In the 1st photo you can see that I have finally gotten all the letters to connect. In the lower left photo is the page they are cut from [the negative shapes], and the lower right are some of the trial and errors.

Layout Ideas

I am still making maquettes for this alphabet. Every idea seems to generate more ideas, try this, mumm, try that...what about this. It's exciting, frustrating, and baffling. At this rate I will have 102 alphabets. Need to get clearer...HOW??? Ah yes, my tried and true method, sleep on it. Here is the latest ideas. Using a laser to cut out the letters, all the letters cut from one book block.

layout, need to put the bridges in so all the inner spaces don't fall out

letters cut into the book block

Notebook, Nov. 6.11

Letter B. The negative shapes are more interesting, except where the positive shape of the letter is bound.  Love the pages splayed open, the play of the cut words. Check font used by BBC. Check that off the list, ugly, even if it is a square. DECIDE : upper or lower case, and stick with it. Why not both? Try frame around each letter and maybe lose the interior of the letters.

 Love the pages splayed open

From My Notebook

Nov. 4.11. Some elements I want to incorporate into this alphabet. The old books I have been collecting because the paper is so beautiful and the text is usually so elegantly set up the page. I want to use the negative and positive shapes of each letter. The letters need a certain weight and mass, they want to occupy actual space, 3 d. space not just as marks on paper. Considering: after the letters are cut, wet the paper, free it a bit, maybe bind the letters before soaking them, use the spine of the book, what about the covers---  encase the letters in them in later? Buy more x-acto knives and emory boards at the $ store N.B. do another A without the slice in it, problem with the negative shape then, but figure it out later.

Trials on the letter A

Feeling Very Guilty

I have not started my second alphabet yet. And I signed up with a fine bunch of people over at A Letter A Week. Well I have thought about it, done some sketches, thought some more, bought old books a various library sales this summer, thought some more, procrastinated; well you get the picture. Now I am ready to start, still not sure quite where I am going but the only thing I'm sure of is that I will be breaking the rules. Maybe I should have warned them that I am not so good at following guidelines. Wandering through some of my books the other day I was reminded, again, of the work of Jacqueline Rush Lee. I love how she understands the physicality of paper. What it wants to do and be. I hadn't realized that she uses "used books" in her work. Here, in her own words "For almost a decade I have found myself drawn to the intimate, tactile, and symbolic qualities of used books. I am interested in how these recycled books come with their own histories of use and meaning and how they serve as potent vehicles of expression." How this will translate into my alphabet, I can only wait and see.

Volumes Series 2001-2003, Manipulated, soaked, dried books, Copyright Jacqueline Rush Lee 2010

I can't get her web site to work but here is the URL: http://www.jacquelinerushlee.com/

you might find her Facebook site easier: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001255745685&sk=wall

A Find and an Old Friend

The other day I was searching for something on the net, and, as in the way these things happen, came upon a find. I had never heard of Jonathan Singer and his Botanical Magnifica and never seen his magnificent photographs of rare plants. The photos are striking and so is the size of the books. Like Aubdubon's Birds of America, the edition is a five-volume, double-elephant folio of 250 of his floral images. “Double elephant” is the technical term for a rarely used, very large book-paper size, in this case approximately 100 by 75 centimeters (39½ by 29½ inches). I couldn't help but be struck by the similarity in feeling to the work of Mary Delany, who, at the age of 72, created a new art form, mixed-media collage. Over the next decade, Mrs Delany created an astonishing 985 botanically correct, breathtaking cut-paper flowers, now housed in the British Museum and referred to as the Botanica Delanica.

Top 2 rows from the Botanical Magnifica, bottom row from Botanica Delanica 

Treasures

One of the great pleasures of being away is having the time to find treasures, especially book treasures. I was delighted to find one on my list that a friend had recommended The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, definitely not an adventure story, but beautifully written and very moving. It's a small book that I am eking it out, only allowing myself a chapter a day. The other 2 gems are tiny facsimiles of pages from  the Mira Calligraphiae Momumenta. Am amazing combination of calligraphy and botanical drawings. I have been wanting to make a book combining the images from Sophia's Garden with text somehow, so this is pure inspiration.

 Mira Calligraphiae Momumenta

Waste Paper

While I was cutting the 44in wide pages for the book down to their 8 inch width, I saved all the off cuts, and now that it's time to clean up the studio; again, I started to play with them. I know I need to clean up as I am a messy worker but I would much rather play with the paper. Love the feel of it, love how light plays with it, love it's memory. Made me think of a poem of Margaret Atwood's called "Resurrection"  where she talks about the great circle of life and how in the end we will all be trees. For me the great circle will continue and we will become paper then books and so on and so on.

Lovely off cuts

"Why I Paint" is a Blurb

A Blurb book that is, and this with this neat gaget below you can read through the whole book. In the bottom right hand corner [with all the little arrows] you can click on it and the book will appear on your whole computer screen which might make it easier to read,  or you can click on the squares in the middle and see thumbnails. Use the left and right arrows to scroll forwards and backwards through the book. Enjoy. I sure had fun making it. To see more of James Lourie's work, fellow artist and writer of the words, check out his website.

Why I Paint by Liz Davidson | Make Your Own Book

Layout

Figuring out the layout for 'Why I Paint" was a fascinating challenge. Every version taught me something, usually that less is better. Lots of space, not only around the images but also the words. In fact spacing between the letters of the words became crucial. The more space equaled more presence, so that the words sat well on the page. And because I had made the original books in accordion style I could play with the images and how they led one to another over the fold, some grouped together, some on their own, always with a band of paper top and bottom. Because I knew that I would print in 44 inch spreads, gluing the 10 spreads together, I soon learned to pay BIG attention to where the folds would be. Below you can see how the spreads looked, hopefully showing the rhythm of the book.

44 inch spreads for 'Why I paint"

Cue The Hallelujah Chorus

Finally, it's done. My edition of 5 books "Why I Paint". Which, if you know me is a pretty funny title considering I don't paint, never have, probably never will. You would think I was printing the Bible what with how long I've taken to do these. Mind you they weigh almost as much. So, as you will see below there is a lovely stack of books, each one with different coloured endpapers. It's been a long time in the doing and a lot of learning, especially, that I don't do glue or repetition well. That being said I am pleased. Now on to other things, like another letter to Winter...forecast has up to a foot of snow on Friday. Begone Winter.

Why I Paint, Edition of 5, 8.5 in. x 10.5 in, Accordion Folds, 400 in. long

Score and Fold and Glue

Almost there. Spent the last day trimming the 44 inch long pages, for the last of the edition. Scoring them, folding them, glueing them into the 400 inch final length and cutting the inside covers. Feels good to be so close to finished and I  keep trying to figure out why this has taken so long. I have never used so many X-acto knife blades and waxed paper. Need to buy more glue and make a glueing pad. The waxed paper likes to dance about and I really need it to stay still while I glue. Next time I also want to try a roller for the glue. As you can tell I still have "issues" with glue.

Prep for the book