June 16th, 2016

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.