pages softly turning

for the last guild meeting we looked into book making, choosing one of four types to create during the meeting. i have some experience of making books by hand, and readily enjoy the process. in the last few weeks i've come to be inspired by the work of wake robin, and feel the growing urges to retry my hand at making more organic freestyle books.

the book style i chose to make has an interesting spine setup whereby the individual codex are slipped into a separate threaded piece which has been glued to the spine after the inside cover paper is laid down. this style is quite useful, as you would be able to carefully remove the pages without ruining the book (in the off chance that you made an error while using the book and a page needed to by torn out; believe me, this happens to me a lot).

i've had these two papers for many years, and bought them at separate times, so i'm quite happy at how well they fit together. the rice paper for the pages is actually one of the earlier additions to my collection (having purchased them at a university store in new york about 10 years ago). at times it is quite useful having a hoard of art supplies!

a sketchbook of my very own

when you say "artist", your brain sees "sketchbook". or at least it should. well, anyway, i have always had a difficult time keeping sketchbooks. the idea of applying pencil to such clean pristine snowy white pages freaks me out. what if i mess up? am i stuck with a permanent reminder of something ugly? this is suppose to be an inspiration and idea book. and i know that at times you get really good ideas from something that could be classified as a "mistake". but come on. really?
a long time ago in my student days i purchased a mini portfolio for postcards. it has been occupying a space on my bookshelf for um, let's see, 5 years? yeah. one day while chopping up scrap paper to keep on hand for idea noting, i had a brain storm. what if i made a sketchbook but kept the pages loose? that way if i draw something i hate, i can simply throw it away without destroying the spine of my precious book. also there's something unethical to me about ripping pages out of books. ouch, it hurts my literary soul.

getting back to the mini portfolio comment, from this i drew great inspiration (i.e. i copied my general idea from). so dusting off my bookbinding skills, i set out to create my sketchbook. i am in absolute love with natural undyed linen. all those varying shifts in value, that texture, the smell! i need to get more of this stuff. then chose a lovely green paper that reminds me of weeping willow trees. then to keep it all nice and tidy, a lovely blue edged elastic detailed with a bone button from my ever-growing collection. et voila! my sketchbook!