Check out the little ACEOs and sketches from Jessica Doyle. Her blog is full of fantastic art and imagery as well as some great raw emotional posts. Anyone who has worked retail can feel her pain.
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.
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.
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: $219.00402 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: $249.00See 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.
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.
On Tuesday I found a few old posters at work, I asked the
representatives about them, if they were to be used again all said no and that
I could have them. I knew that at least one of the posters was at least 3 years
old, the other at least 3 seasons old. I knew in advance that they wouldn’t be
used again. Bringing them home I tried to figure out what I was going to do
with them. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to glue to them- one was a thin sheet
of plastic and the other typical vinyl coated ad glued to thin foam core.
Neither of which would take glue well, I knew it was going to have to have
Coptic stitching to use these posters.
SO I cut them all up, somewhat randomly to 3.5×5.5 inches
and then punched a series of 4 holes in each cover. I also matched up the
covers with some recycled backer board (very much like book board) that I had
saved from packages of tags also from work.
I expected that I wouldn’t have a chance to work on any of
these books until Friday, when I was to have my 2 days off. Instead I caught my
significant other’s cold and I have been sick and I’m still ill. It’s one of
those head colds where concentration is difficult and “stuff” comes from
sinuses. Let us not talk about that. Let’s talk of pleasant things like Coptic
stitching.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done any style of Coptic stitch,
other than long stitch. I’ve been quite caught up in this recycled thing. So
I’m out of practice and on the first 2 books I made, it shows. The first one I
made was a standard 2-needle sewing done twice. The first set of stitching went
well and looked great. I started the second set and it went well until the last
signature. Where I forgot myself (James Bond Double OH Days of Christmas on
Spike- my favorite cold weather TV marathon) and pulled in the wrong directions
with too much tension. The combination of DayQuill and James Bond made me want
to find a bad guy to toss it at to distract while I got away… (Only partially
kidding, DayQuill does make me a little loopy.) I patched it up and cursed the
fact that I had tied off the other set of stitches already, because if I hadn’t
I would have been able to simply remove the bad signature and attach the cover.
Ah well. See some pictures of my mistakes below.
The next mistake I made was when I decided to attempt a
particularly difficult Keith Smith stitching where you attach the covers to
each other first and then stitch on as if you are sewing onto cords. Instead of
attempting this sewing with a single cord I attempted it with a double cord and
a pack. Here again I blame the DayQuill for giving me a sense of ability far
beyond my 2 year lay off from a stitch. It’s far better to practice a stitch a
few times before attempting it on a cover you like. It’s also better to
practice on easier stitched before attempting something so… Difficult. (Before
anyone leaves a message scoffing at the difficulty of said stitch I implore you
to go take a dose of DayQuill, fill your nose with mucus, smack your head with
a hammer and get back to me after attempting any stitching.) Again check out
the picture below. I realize now looking at the picture that though I wanted to
do a loop and pack I didn’t pack as I had intended. Go figure.
The next 4 books were very successful 2 single needle
coptics, one with a larkspur and braided linen book marker, one double needle
stitch twice on the spine and a particularly interesting spine with black
leather “split tapes” with a stitch and pack on them. The leather is then
stitched onto the cover. For all the work that book was it’s my favorite. I
love the binding and it just looks great. The red on black is a great
combination and the dense heavy stitching is fantastic as well.
I fell in love with the book with the coffee cup and coffee
beans. I managed to punch the holes on it upside down but still I love the
cover and I’m keeping that one for me, a little feel better soon gift to
myself.
Each is filled with 200 pages of Wausau opaque in ivory,
unlined, acid free paper. I cannot vouch for the archival or acid free nature
of the covers. I did test the backer board and it is lightly acidic. The
stitching is all done with hand waxed Irish linen thread, unbleached but dyed.
The 3 books without imperfects will be up on etsy later today and I’m deciding
what to do with the 2 books with imperfections. I’m considering putting them up
on eBay as a set. Or maybe something fun.
The blog over at Brown Livres has some excellent photos of books and what has been done in them. Some nice sketching calligraphy practice and drawing head on over and check it out.
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.
#3 Organize. Organization takes time to set up
but if you sort through things get it set up and make a change to always put things back where they belong it becomes
second nature. If you always know where your needles, thread and hole punches
are you can save a lot of time by not having to search for them. During busy
times I let my studio go to hell and it’s the worst time for me to do that, but
it usually takes 15 minutes for me to clear everything out and get back to
organization.
These are simple examples of things I do to
increase my work capacity so I can make more books.
Next Week: Use your Tools
One of my all time favorite bookbinding blogs has got to be Cai Lun’s blog over here. His stuff is fantastic, tight little books that look oh so nice. He also takes fantastic photo’s of his books. I go over there and graze on the book pr0n and get inspired. Head on over and check out his blog read a little and if your inspired to make a book check out his tutorial on "tacket binding" which Keith Smith refers to as a "coiled line binding." Good stuff
