going around in circles

Over the past couple of weeks I've been binding circular book forms... I've already shown you the first 2 created from 1984 World Book encyclopaedia Year Books... now I've moved on to some world book Childcraft Annuals

I had a set of these as a youngen.... and I LOVED them.... I spent hours devouring their contents.... I loved 'the green kingdom', 'about me' (with the great acetate overlays of my inner gizzards.... yummo) and 'look again' (oodles of art reproductions... I think this was possibly my first look at great arty works). As I've been pulling some old volumes apart I've been amazed at how so many of the book's contents have worked their way into my subconscious.... its really been quite a freaky trip down memory lane!

sooo I suppose I should show you what I've been doing with/to them hmmmm?

volume 15 - 'guide for parents'... bound as a simple circle.... the diameter of this is approx 35cm

volume 14 'about me' - (part one) also bound as a small circle - diameter is about 12cm

here are all my itty bitty sections arranged ready for binding a second circular structure

and here are the two 'books' together.... one enclosing the other....

I loved the serendipitous realisation that the 'about me' volume had an abundance of baby-puke yellow pages - that I think look fabulous all together on the spine. And that I had just enough of these yellow sections to encircle the initial small booklet.... don't you love it when a (non) plan comes together?

that yellow spine - up close and personal

well - I'm on to some other volumes now - binding up 'the green kingdom'.... I'll show you how it goes when I get it finished!

wow

such excitement at my kidlins school this week - whilst preparing the site for a new classroom builders uncovered a pristine aboriginal axe head - of course when they realised what they were looking at all work ceased whilst an archeologist was quickly consulted..... who without too much trouble immediately uncovered a seed mortar and several tool shards.....

I was up at the school this morning to take in the giant sweet potato we grew in the garden for EJ's news (as you do)

(our monster sweet potato weighs in at over 4kg... the kindy kids were suitably impressed)

when I stumbled over the archeologist and the axe head (wow!) it turns out that such is the importance of the find that the school is about to be declared a 'Significant Aboriginal Site' on the National Register and apparently an archeological team is about to descend upon the school to see what else can be found - ahhh well it taken more than 35 years to get a new building at the school (don't get me started on how crappy the state or federal governments are when it comes to education..... or the 'building the education revolution' aka 'building the most expensive buildings in the history of education'....insert much eye-rolling now) ..... so a few more weeks won't be a burden for the kiddies to bear - and given that a significant proportion of those kiddies have aboriginal heritage - I hope it works out well for everyone. (p.s. I wish I had my camera with me to show you the axe.... but I wasn't expecting to run into an archeologist on the way to the classrooms!)

learning absences... (page by page)

Remember how I promised to show more of the small book edition I created as part of Book Art Object project? No? well it was a while ago.... I posted out all my books to the other BOA participants in early March..... but I wanted to wait until absolutely everyone had their book before I posted piccies here (and one of those folk was off touring) sooooo at long last I can now share my small creation with the rest of the world.... here it is page spread by page spread..... hope you enjoy

inner covers featured paper hand marbled by your truly in a simple stone pattern on either canson or ???....
(ok I admit I don't know what the other paper was - it was a gift from my darling friend julie)

endpapers are a kozo paper - text pages are mohawk superfine

printing is archival inkjet -
accurately feeding the long middle spread through my printer was ummmm 'challenging'

middle spread features fold out page with calligraphic rendering of an excerpt from the poem
(yes the original calligraphy was also by moi - executed free-form with a ruling pen)
layered in photoshop over background image of immature eucalypt leaves...
that I photographed in my garden here at sams creek

pamphlet bound with 2 ply hand coloured waxed linen thread

colophon page - I have a tendency to sign my work in pencil... I can't help it

inner back cover....
the stone marbled paper actually led much of the design direction of the project....
including the subsequent colour and circular motives on the paste paper covers,
the background image in the middle pages and the choice of book cloth and thread....

Of course its not the same as holding and turning the pages of the book yourself... but....

I really enjoyed the challenge of this project - I suppose because I set myself additional parameters (I was determined to create a rather traditionally bound booklet - and to undertake most of the processes, such as marbling etc. myself) but as always I'm filled with self doubt (especially now that I'm receiving such delights from the other project participants!) One day I'll be filled with self confidence (oh sure!) until then.....

.... its back to head down on my MFA booky work ...

another infinite book...

Yesterday I completed a second 'infinite' book - bound from another world book encyclopaedia 1984 year book. This time it is bound as a simple circle - but as I was playing with it I found I liked the look of  it when displayed like this....

and in my mind was the simple idiom - 'what goes around comes around'....



as I was finishing this piece off I received a note in my inbox from my bloggy friend amanda - that she has passed on a bloggy 'happiness' award to myself and all the other book*art*object participants...

well and I must say I was a little stumped for a moment - but as I've come to realise over the past year, my bloggy and online friendships have brought me a big slice of happiness too... as I'm sure it has many folk who value friendships however they are formed and maintained.


righto now according to what amanda has posted I'm supposed to do something like this....


- Thank the person that awarded you this in the new post. (tick)

- Name 10 things that make me happy.

- Pass this award onto other bloggers and inform the winners


but of course I've never been one to follow rules and guidelines to the letter - so here's my reply

so many things make me happy - from the mundane (rain-on-the-roof) to the profound (the-miracle-of-life) - that I'm scared if I start listing them I'll never stop! In the end, everything I would list would point out one simple truth - it is my connection to family, friends and place that constantly brings me  joy. I'm a lucky person.


thanks amanda, your kindness has reminded me of this....


and to share the happiness around I'm sending this to julie and gemma - two wonderfully creative calligraphic friends who survived my arm twisting to co-author calligraffia and still remain on friendly terms!

and although this will sound terribly corny - I hope that the little bit of happiness I'm passing on from amanda continues on its infinite journey....

the infinite book....

Over the past week I've been making this little number.....

It's a booklet - coptic bound with a twist to form a mobius strip (of sorts!) It's constructed from a 1984 World Book Encyclopaedia Year Book (one of my many encyclopaedia year books)..... I chose 1984 as it was my last year of high school (geeeez now you'll all guess my age!) and in 1984 of course George Orwell's novel 'Nineteen-eighty-four' was one of the set texts for the NSW Higher School Certificate English exams (I still endure rat nightmares!)..... but at that time the future still seemed far away and full of endless possibilities .......

ahhhhhh but now, as I'm doing a bit of a life stock-take I see that my journey thus far tends to resemble a mobius strip - the odd little twist, turning inside to outside (or outside to inside) around and around the same old ground we go...... (ahhhh scheeez, I think I'm getting too filo-sof-i-cal for a good friday night...... it's only a fun little book-type form after all.....)