Chapbook from 1999

I made this book in collaboration with a friend of mine. It is pretty much the only book I’ve made in collaboration with anyone. It’s a pretty simple Japanese stab style binding. Done with black cotton crocheting thread. The stations were bored with a dremel. The fore edge of each page is the folded edge of the sheet of paper. at the time of printing I had a ancient bubble jet. I was working some place where once a week I had unfettered access to the photocopy machine… I made zines then too. I printed the text, took it to work, copied the pages onto my really nice paper took them home and printed by hand all the little block prints then collated and folded every book, clamped and drilled holes then stitched it all up. The whole process took a long long time. My friend and I were mailing back and forth a notebook with the images and text, until we had everything agreed upon, then I typed it all up and emailed it to my friend, she tweaked the text, then I made it fit onto the page.

I’ve got to say that this was a great project, I love how the final product came out. I think we made a total of 100 books. The cost was a lot though. I was really poor at the time of us making this as was my friend, I want to say that we spent about $50 getting this thing going and never made any money on it. I still have a stack of the books. I sold a few on eBay and my friend had the other half of them and I’ve still got a stack of them.

I still thing that they are really cool.

   

New CamCorder

After shooting several lame videos with the webcam,
researching it’s capabilities on the net as well as optimization AND
downloading the most recent drivers and software I was unable to get it to
operate at it’s advertised recording rate of 30fps. The best I ever got was 8.
AS a result I loaded up and made several crappy videos. The quality that I like
isn’t in those videos. I’m leaving them up on YouTube as a reminder of the learning
curve and because people have commented on them and I might as well. Out of
frustration and anger I took the webcam back, got the cash put onto a gift card
and went shopping for a camcorder that would A) record video B) offer easy
linking to my laptop and C) Grow with me as I upgrade my computer and other
equipment in the future. I had settled on a sweet little canon, but they were
out of stock.

So I spent a little more than the budget allowed and bought
a HDD JVC Everio. It’s super easy to use, has manual adjustments, and hooks up
to my laptop with ease making downloading my videos super easy. It came with
some editing software that’s pretty easy to use and so you can expect some new,
higher quality videos of my books and journals soon.

I have made the decision to reshoot all my old videos as
well. So all those barely clear videos I made in the past will be redone in new
sharp video. I also have the option of saving them in DVD quality and burning
them to DVD, which could be very cool.

So all you can expect over the next few weeks that I’ll be
loading up a few new videos. AS usual if you feel like linking to those videos
or loading them up to your blog feel free to do so!

A quick reminder: My etsy shop will be having a $2 shipping
sale
for the rest of 2007 and the month of January 2008. Shipping on items
$9.99 and up will be only $2. Multiple items will ship for only $2.
Unfortunately this applies only to shipping in the US only. International
buyers will have to contact me to get international shipping prices. Feel free
to post this info to your blog.

 

YouTube Journal

I found this on YouTube the other day the YouTuber Cordebra says this:

This is my illustrated diary with entries from 2004 and a few pages of 2005. The book is like a moleskine.

I say it looks like an honest life book or journal of some one’s life. Great little nugget.

MY first Hedgehog ever

This is the first hedgehog I ever made. It’s a 3.5×5.5 inch 100 page hardcovered book, with a long stitch binding. The elastic on it is completely gone- a strip of braiding with hard little lumps. The leather along the spine is from a recycled totally sweet 1970’s jacket I snagged at goodwill in Bangor Maine. IT had holes and it made great red brown books. Anyway Check it out

   

$2 Shipping Sale

For all my etsy buyers in the US I’m having a $2 shipping sale. Shipping on all items $9.99 and up is just $2, even when you buy multiple items. This applies only to buyers in the US, I can’t afford to ship worldwide for this price. International buyers will have to convo me for shipping.

Head on over to etsy, check out my books and buy with super low shipping.

Work(art) Capacity Week 4

I was reading an article about work capacity. It’s a physics
concept that I haven’t thought much about since I was in high school but it’s
one of those great concepts that really can apply to so much more than just
physics. The article that I was reading was about working out and being able to
more than the next person when you need to but I was thinking how can I apply
that concept to art, because really it doesn’t matter too much to me if I can’t
relate it to art.

So I got to thinking what can I do to increase my work
(art) capacity. I came up with 4 items to do so. For the next 4 weeks I’m going
to post a new work(art) capacity item.

#4 Use your tools. We all have a variety of
tools available to us, many save time. I saved a lot of time taking my finished
book blocks to staples and having them trim them for me. I spent $4 but saved
an hour. In my mind $4 is worth it. I have templates I use in my studio for
cutting my basic covers; I save a lot of time by not having to measure them out
each time. Ebay has templates you can use, you set up a basic template of an
item your going to sell a lot of cut and paste what’s different each time and
wow- it takes what used to be a 20 minute process and condensed it down to 5. I
keep text documents on my computer of listings I have for etsy. I have a
generic text for each of my book styles and add the differences of the item to
the listing, as I need to.


These are simple examples of things I do to
increase my work capacity so I can make more books.

Youtube Video of my First coptic book

Here’s a little video I made of my first coptic book. Imade it back in 2002. I used it to brainstorm on bookmaking patterns ideas etc. I’m still working out issues with my new web cam and when I figure it out more fully I expect my videos to look a lot better.

   

Book Press

I suppose many pf you are looking for a book press for yourselves. My brother makes them in limited quantities, but he takes awhile to complete them if you can’t wait, heres another version and it’s on sale and by sale they mean they are taking pre-orders with their current price locked in, which means that as of January 1 their prices will be going up.. Read the below email closely head tot he website and check them out. IF your  interested you must email the person listed in the email. These preses come highly recommended on the BookBinding list serv. PS ArnoldGrummer.com sells these mainly for paper making but bookbinders being a crafty lot decided they could easily be adapted for books!

Subject: Arnold Grummer’s Annual Bookbinding Press Sale

[I have worked with and have several of these presses and feel that they are
a great value in terms of usefulness for bookbinding, quality of
workmanship, and money. The large one is especially recommended as it offers
more flexiblity. Peter Verheyen]

Arnold Grummer’s Annual Press Sale

Arnold Grummer’s is out of presses! Reserve a press today and save!

Take advantage of annual press sale savings and beat the ’08 price increase:
Reserve a press today.

Call 800-453-1485 or email your name, contact info (address and phone
number) and the press you’d like to reserve (Standard or Large) to
<kim@arnoldgrummer.com>.

No payment now! Pay by check or credit card when your press is ready to ship
in January. PO’s welcome.

Don’t miss out – reserve your press today!

400 Standard Book Press
Platen measures 10 x 12. Baltic birch, maintenance free, fully assembled.
’07 List  $245, ’08 List  $275
Press Sale: $219.00

402 Large Book Press
Platen measures 11.5 inches by 14.5 inches. Baltic birch, fully assembled,
maintenance free.
’07 List $299, ’08 List $315
Press Sale: $249.00

See presses at
<http://www.arnoldgrummer.com/product/presses/listing.cfm?prod_cat_id=11>.
This offer is not available online. All presses feature free shipping to lower 48.

More “Tapes”

I liked working with the "tapes somuch that I decided to try them again. This tiem with some recyled scraps of sign vinyl. The sign vinyl looks great and works really well, it’s tough and strong and just stiff enough to not require a sewing frame- something I like very much.

Img_5287
The journal above is a set of split tapes in baby blue vinyl.
Img_5298
This is a set of solid tan and brown "tapes" with brown linen.
Img_5309

Blue and white vinyl "tapes" solid this time. With red linen stitching.