experimental book

Have you ever made a photo album from scratch? Don't.

This is an experiment: a fast and dirty photo album, if you will. Maybe that's cheating, but my sanity is still intact. I thought the weighty feel of these things and the landscape format would be good for photos, although they don't always tend to open very well. This particular book has a 7mm channel between the spine and cover to allow it to open all the way.

My friend Luli screenprinted the endpapers. 

Japanese ... ish

These are some books I made today. I have sewn these Japanese structures before (who hasn't?) but what what different this time around was making them with a hard cover. This way the books are more substantial. But maybe a bit klunky.

Each time I make these I'm amazed at both how simple and pleasing the effect is, and how elegantly the whole thing comes together.

Happy Endings

At the book arts conservatory we ended the semester with friends, food, and books (big surprise there). Corks flew in the intaglio studio on Thursday night and large amounts of tortilla, chorizo, and empanada were consumed.

The Spanish are big on what they call the "sobremesa" ... lingering over a meal long after the food is gone.

Bookbinders can be shy (they do, after all, spend more time with paper than with people). But they're definitely not cold! I feel so grateful to have found this corner of the book arts world.

What I'm most grateful for this holiday season: my parents and my brother, my grandparents, and the great Seogvian family I'm going to spend Christmas with. I'm getting a shot at living all my bookish dreams, but I know I wouldn't be here without the support from my family, and all the mentoring that goes on in the book arts community.

Internationally nerdy: we've got paper people from Russia, Peru, Chile, Switzerland, Japan, Spain, and the US.

Homemade sushi from one of the other exchange students

How bookbinders catch the metro: with big rolls of paper.

My first batch of nice books :)

"Holandés" binding

Hand-painted endpapers (by me!) with a softcover binding

More snazzy end papers. 

 This red book has a textured cover and more striped paper inside.

An envelope. 

Also on the note of mentoring, I was thrilled to listen to this story on MPR. John mentored me at Leg Up Studio. The article captures John's generosity, and the great things that are going on at Leg Up, which is a community printmaking studio in NE Minneapolis.

Merry Christmas! ¡Feliz navidad! Or, even more Spanish: ¡Felices fiestas!

Older is better

It takes a loooooooong time to make good books. In the two months of class I've had, I've only turned out a dozen finished books (but there are more in the works, so stay tuned).

Here are some photos of sewing some textblocks .... very slowly:

The books are sewn on hemp cords. You get all the holes in line by using a saw on the spine. (TOOLS).

The nerve is level with the pages (not above or too deep).

Even though it takes forever, it's super satisfying to finish sewing textblocks and for them to turn out well. I guess that's what the handmade book still has going for it!