The Golden Age for Writers
By Stephen Marche
Read more: Writing Careers in 2012 - Stephen Marche on the Golden Age of Writers - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/thousand-words-on-culture/writing-careers-1212#ixzz2DzeAZEoW
Monday, December 3, 2012
So Stop Complaining
Read more: Writing Careers in 2012 - Stephen Marche on the Golden Age of Writers - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/thousand-words-on-culture/writing-careers-1212#ixzz2DzeAZEoW
Friday, October 12, 2012
Sperm Donor
Got your attention, huh?
The past few months I've been working on my
artist book skills...and they haven't come easily. I've wanted
to make books about a lot of things lately: living in morocco, infertility,
changing family dynamics, good books I've read, pictures I've taken, dogs and
husbands I love, Moroccan rug prints, the list goes on and on. But
whenever I sit down to tell a story that is personal I'm completely bereft of
ideas and enthusiasm. I don't know if I'm afraid my technical skills
won't live up to my emotional attachment to these ideas or what, but It took me
8 months to get halfway through a book about our trip to Portugal last year but
then I hated it and dismantled it for parts.
So, Max and I have been pulling prompts from a
grocery sack the last few weeks. He has to write about them and I have to
create a book around the prompt. The first one we drew said "A Golf
Caddy Learns a Dark Secret". Since my reading and thinking habits
trend non-fiction I immediately hit the google to research golf scandals and
the like - thinking I'd take my inspiration from real life. (Max wrote a
delightful piece of fiction. Our brains work very differently.)
I came across this crazy story about a caddy who claimed he was
seduced by his golfer solely for the purpose of getting pregnant. He
later sued her saying he was an "unwitting sperm donor". Close
enough for me. I know it's a super weird thing to make a book about, but
for some reason it worked for me and I was able to try a few new techniques I'd
been wanting to experiment with.
The design and construction are really simple -
mostly I wanted to see if I could finish a task and stick to a theme.
Telling a story I had no personal attachment to was a really great
exercise. It let me step back and see what worked and what didn't and how
to construct an idea using mostly images. I think after a few more goes
I'll be ready to tell my own stories.
"Sperm Donor"
Accordion Fold
Paper: Arches Cold Press, Ingres
Matte Medium Image
Transfers
Text taken verbatim from
newspaper clippings
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Raven's Foot Binding
I've been carving out some great studio time lately and I've even FINISHED some books. Last night I finished my first Raven's Foot Binding.
Raven's Foot, like a Coptic binding, features exposed stitches and hinges on the outside of the book instead of hidden away beneath glue and book cloth and other sundry junk. But instead of knotting the threads together along the spine like a Coptic binding, you wrap them around a core which later becomes the "Raven's Foot" on the outsides of the cover.
I had to restart this book a few times to get the tension just right on the wrapping. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the consistency of stitches along the spine, but that's why you practice. Doy. (Have I been watching My So Called Life on Hulu? Maybe...)
Raven's Foot, like a Coptic binding, features exposed stitches and hinges on the outside of the book instead of hidden away beneath glue and book cloth and other sundry junk. But instead of knotting the threads together along the spine like a Coptic binding, you wrap them around a core which later becomes the "Raven's Foot" on the outsides of the cover.
I had to restart this book a few times to get the tension just right on the wrapping. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the consistency of stitches along the spine, but that's why you practice. Doy. (Have I been watching My So Called Life on Hulu? Maybe...)
 |
| 18 cover holes, four signatures, two covers and a wooden drawing mannequin's foot. |
 |
| You have to sew on a little sewing frame which can make things a bit wonky if your text block and the frame aren't properly weighted...as mine were not. |
 |
| And Blamo. Waiting for the fly pages to dry on the inside. |
 |
| And thar she is. The sewing holes got a bit stretched out after sewing and un-sewing a few times, but you sew and you learn. |
Monday, April 2, 2012
One Good Shame Deserves Another
I'm still here! I'm still a librarian and I still read!
To pay penance for my blog slacking, here is something shameful I keep on my laptop to remind me not to get too smarmy. I wrote it my first year of library school.
"My husband is convinced that the e-book will catch on and change the face of books forever, but I just don’t buy it. I am very enthusiastic about using technology in the library, but e-books - I just can't see them re-inventing the library."
Actually, the best part about this is that before I read this note in my own handwriting, I read a short article written in 2008 wherein the author stated all the reasons why e-readers wouldn't catch on.
"What an idiot" I say to myself...and then read my own astute agreement with the article.
Wah wah. (like grown ups in Charlie Brown)
To pay penance for my blog slacking, here is something shameful I keep on my laptop to remind me not to get too smarmy. I wrote it my first year of library school.
"My husband is convinced that the e-book will catch on and change the face of books forever, but I just don’t buy it. I am very enthusiastic about using technology in the library, but e-books - I just can't see them re-inventing the library."
Actually, the best part about this is that before I read this note in my own handwriting, I read a short article written in 2008 wherein the author stated all the reasons why e-readers wouldn't catch on.
"What an idiot" I say to myself...and then read my own astute agreement with the article.
Wah wah. (like grown ups in Charlie Brown)
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