For the last few weeks I have started every work session by making a few small blank books, just a humble pamphlet stitch holding a single gathering in a cover made of card stock or heavy paper.  I like that, in  a single sitting -- really just a few minutes -- I get to practice all the component actions of book construction : plan, fold, cut, sew, paste (sometimes).  I'm feeling much more intimate with my paper.  I'm developing a much better sense of how various kinds of paper act when manipulated, folded, pasted, etc.  AND, because  my hands are engaged, the distraction monkey in my head is calmed, but because the tasks are so familiar, my mind is able to drift, allowing creative ideas to bubble up.  When I'm done, I feel fresh and relaxed, eager to move on to other projects.  AND, because it's not Serious Book Arts, I don't feel pressure to execute difficult and precise expressions of meaningful and momentous book art.  I just have fun trying things that are light-hearted and may or may not be successful.  I have made this a risk-free time for myself.  Perhaps not surprisingly, I have produced some things that I quite like.  AND, I get to use up lots of scrap paper.  Brian Allen, whose letterpress studio includes a guillotine, has begun renting shop time, so I can make books out of all different size pages and, when I have a stack, go over to Brian's and trim the edges.  AND, friends and relatives seem delighted to have my little books.  Typically, they ask for one and then grab a few more, "For  ___ and ___."   It pleases me to do this and I'm having fun.

One "series" of little books involves covers that I have printed in my inkjet printer.  I have added the word, "it" beneath an image of a hat (either a public domain image or one that I created myself.  The back cover proclaims, "Keep It Under Your Hat."  Let me know what you think.

After more than a year, I'm back to this blog, attempting to break out of the procrastinator's spiral down to absolute zero.  The last year has given me so much to write about that I am daunted by the task of getting the blog caught up, so I give myself permission to pass over the missed time and simply pick up with what's happening now.  I will feel free to fly back in time and fill in the the huge blank as I can.

I am keeping a list of words that please me -- favorite words, for lack of a better designation.  I am planning/starting a thematically-linked  cluster of projects that have grown out of these words (more about that another day).  The first one completed is a variation of a structure I learned from Shereen LaPlantz's book, The Art and Craft of Handmade Books (pp 40-43).  The word is YONDER.  It's fun to say, and I like the homey feel.  Even more, I am attracted to the aspirational pull of phrases like "the wild blue yonder".   It's easy to let oneself be seduced by the promise of great rewards just (be)yond(h)er(e).  I made the paste paper; the plane and sun images are from public domain collections (NYPL and NASA respectively). 

An encouraging word in the comment section would be very, well, encouraging.

It has been way too long since I updated this blog.  Soon after my last entry, I drove to Michigan and spent ten days immersed in the Paper & Book Intensive.  What an experience! So good, in fact that I kept putting off writing about it because I didn't think I could do it justice -- and I can't, really. So I'll just say that it was challenging, exhilarating, inspiring and endlessly fun.  I learned from and with some wonderful artists and became part of a community that is passionate about book and related arts.  I made new friends and acquired new skills. There's so much more to say, but I'll limit myself to a few words about each of the classes I took.

Sheet-a-thon was a paper-making class with the distinguished and irrepressible Steve Miller.  We cranked out paper, trying various combinations of several fibers, using both eastern and western techniques.  Here's a picture of me couching a sheet and one of my share of the class's production:

The other half of my days in the first session was taken up learning Variations in Case Binding from Chris McAfee.  Chris is not only a ukulele virtuoso, but a great teacher.  Here are the books I made:

The second session, four full days, was devoted to a class with Kevin Steele called The Multi-Accordion: Flexible in more ways than one.  First, we made a couple of maquettes of the structure, which Kevin developed himself.  We also learned a few basic pop-up structures. Here are my maquettes (the second one is still in progress):

We spent the last two days developing individual projects.  It was amazing (and inspiring) how many different directions people in the class went with this structure.  I varied the height along each row and from one row to the next and then used spray paint -- to pretty good effect, I think.  Here's my project:

I can't say enough in praise of PBI. A magical experience. I hope I'll be able to go again.