its all about the book...

For the last few weeks I've been making book models 

oodles and oodles of book models...

concertinas everywhere!

The impetus for all this making was the inaugural
About the Book festival in Merimbula

I'd been invited to come along and share/show
whatever tickled my little booky fingers

I thought a collection of book forms
along with my very very loooooooooong book
might be interesting for folk attending all the author talks

so my fingers got busy!

 

double pocket concertina

concertina with origami pocket covers 

To make a unified collection of book models
where the structure and form would be the focus
I used a restricted palette of colours and materials

its all about blues/purples and neutrals with sprinkles of repurposed atlas pages

 

flag book

slot and tab

When I started to share some pics of my little super models on IG
things got interesting

(note to the world: the names of book structures would really benefit from
a universally accepted terminology - just like biology)

one person's fortune teller is another's chatterbox
(or cootie catcher, whirlybird or even a conversation)

And what is it about the names we use for some of the simplest structures:
the ubiquitous 4-page 'instant book' that's probably been around forever
mostly became known (at least in some circles) as a zine structure
even though the term 'zine' refers more to the contents than the form

(side note: the zine became an underground (and undergrad!) fixture in the post-punk, DIY, activist, art school world.... )

and you know how it is - when you give creative people a piece of paper
it's not long before they cut and fold and find new ways of making book objects...

so - is this a double zine? an eight page instant book? eight-fold v book? an island book?

or perhaps you know this form by another name?

ooooooo and talking of 'zines'
have you noticed how some folk say 'zine' (rhymes with 'mine')
while others pronounce the word 'zeen' (rhymes with teen)? 

I suspect it has something to do with where/how you first encountered the word:
if you read of 'zines' then its perfectly understandable that this word would rhyme with 'mine'.
BUT if you encountered a 'zine' through zine culture
then it's a ZEEEEEEEEN baby (as in 'maga-zine')

I think you can figure how I pronounce the word
and I doubt you'll be surprised to learn that I first came across zines back in the 1980s
when cut-and-paste, scissors and glue ruled the (art) school yard 


Essentially the zine was my gateway structure to the wonderful world of book arts

'River book' 
I adore the name that India gave to this form
that I first encountered at the 'being (t)here' retreat at Scotts Head last year.

hey - has anyone encountered this one before? perhaps with an alternative name?

 carousel book
(ps I'll have to make/share a 'star' book to show what I see are the differences between the two forms....
maybe the star book and a 5 peak carousel are the same thing in your universe?)

Phew!

all this nomenclature and thinking about the book family tree is tiring wot!

Suffice to say - there are more book forms in the universe

with more and varied names

than you can make and spread out on a table...

 

three trestle table along a wall for all my little super models
and the end table was for a handful of my artists books.... where form and content come together

Yesterday I packed the car and took the collection down the road for the festival

It was surprising that I needed 3 long trestle tables for all the little models to strut their stuff

 I set myself up next to the end table,
opened the suitcase containing my loooooooooong book
and started to bind...

(hello old friend! good to see you again!)

In the other corner of the room was Richard Jermyn - another old friend of mine
who brought his delightful little Albion press and a few cases of type to the festival
(mmmm I love a little bit of press work)

good times

...

so now -  I'm working on increasing my stitched model collection...




keep an eye on my insta feed for more little models in the next while

and feel free to add your voice to the conversation

(knowledge shared is knowledge doubled)



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