Wish Scroll for the New

I live buy three calendars—the one where the seasons change on the solstices and equinoxes, the traditional Celtic calendar where the seasons begin at the midpoints between, and the school calendar. After sixteen years of being a student, four years of teaching swimming for the Boston School Department, twenty-plus years of teaching bookmaking, and twenty-three years of kids' education (two six years apart), the year starts in September.

This Wish Scroll (which is based on scrolls from Ethiopia and one of the sixteen projects in Handmade Books For A Healthy Planet) contains wishes for the new. The idea is that if the scroll is worn, the wish will come true. You can make a scroll for yourself or one for someone else.

For directions and a chance to win a copy of my book, Handmade Books For a Healthy Planet,
go to susangaylord.com and leave a comment. While you're there, you might want to subscribe to the blog. Look to the right for information.

Book Arts Tuesday/Herb Book

The herbs are abundant and fragrant this time of year. While the flowers are modest, the shape, texture, and colors of the leaves bring interest to the garden. This month's project, an index card accordion herbal, focuses on the leaves. The book is currently decorating a side table in the dining room and also can be used to identify herbs in the garden for novice gatherers.

See the complete project at susangaylord.com.

I am in the process of phasing out this blog so please visit susangaylord.com and subscribe if you want to keep posted. And here's an incentive to make the trip soon: there's a giveaway which closes Thursday (8.18.11) at midnight.

Wish Scroll at the Book Nook

There is something satisfying about planning ahead although it happens most often with expectations from outside myself. I spent an enjoyable hour making a sample and planning the logistics for a Wish Scroll workshop which will be part of the Holiday Open House on Saturday, December 3, at the Book Nook at River's Edge in Ipswich, MA. We'll be making a Wish Scroll for the holidays and I'll be signing Handmade Books For A Healthy Planet which would make a great gift for teachers, parents, and grandparents. Actually for anyone who loves books. The Book Nook, part of the River's Edge Gift Shop, is a cozy and charming and has a good selection of titles. Hope to see you there!

Book Arts Tuesday/Bhutanese-Nepali Folktale Project

I am thrilled to be working on the Bhutanese Nepali Folktale Project which is part of the The New Hampshire Humanities Council statewide literacy initiative called Connections.The project's goals are: to create a bilingual picture book that supports English language acquisition of new Americans from Bhutan, to preserve a traditional tale in the mother tongue, and to present a story for children from all cultures to read. I was invited to get involved by the Literacy Coordinator, and wonderful writer, Terry Farish.

The project began by recording stories from the community. You can hear all of the stories here. The one that was chosen for the book project was The Pumpkin Husband told by Hari Tiwari (pictured above). The first meeting I attended in Laconia, NH was the one in which the story was chosen. Dal Rai, who is doing the illustrations, was there and left with the assignment to prepare a watercolor of a scene in the story. I took some iphone photos of some traditional fabric with the idea that it might be useful in the page design. In addition to decision making and lively conversation, we were treated to delicious soup and noodles prepared by Ambika Sharma.

My second visit was to an ESOL class where Hari told her story once again in Nepali and it was recorded by consulting folklorist Jo Radner. Dal brought us a watercolor painting and several drawings. I was fascinated to see the power of his drawings on the class. Many of the refugees have only memories of their homeland and his pictures gave them visual reminders of the life they left behind. A picture of an ox in a field with a basket muzzling its mouth sparked a lively discussion of farming and basket weaving.

At home, I scanned in Dal's painting and experimented with a design for the illustrated pages. The background is a scan of the Resho paper from Bhutan that I use in my Spirit Book workshops. The border around Dal's painting is from traditional fabric woven in Bhutan.

As the book will be bilingual, I did some experimenting with the page design for the text pages. I found some Nepali writing online as an image and used it for a test. The English is the standard dummy text used in printing. (You can find out some interesting facts about the origin of here.)

My third visit, last week, to Laconia was another visit to Ambika's where we scanned fabric including her beautiful wedding sari.

It is a privilege to be part of the project. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Studio Sunday/Shelf 2

On the left is a stack of tins which contain pennies that I use as weights. I learned this trick in a boxmaking workshop with Barbara Mauriello where I made my first and last clamshell box. I really have a hard time with precision. The tall brushes are rarely used. I use the small cheap painter's brushes (to the right) again recommended by Barbara. And I use glue stick for all my recycled projects. The pink tin contains push pins and the tarnished silver cup (a baby gift for my now 26-year-old) is filled with stones. Scattered around the studio are things from the past, inherited from my parents, like the Hummel figurine.

Book Arts Tuesday/International Dunhuang Project

The Bookbinding section of the International Dunhuang Project is a wonderful resource. Here is a little bit of background about the project from the website:

Little was known of the remarkable heritage of the Silk Road until explorers and archaeologists of the early twentieth century uncovered the ruins of ancient cities in the desert sands, revealing astonishing sculptures, murals and manuscripts. One of the most notable discoveries was the Buddhist cave library near the oasis town of Dunhuang on the edge of the Gobi desert in western China. The cave had been sealed and hidden at the end of the first millennium AD and only re-discovered in 1900. Forty thousand manuscripts, paintings and printed documents on paper and silk were found in the cave itself. Tens of thousands more items were excavated from other Silk Road archaeological sites. These unique items have fascinating stories to tell of life on this great trade route from 100 BC to AD 1400. Yet most were dispersed to institutions worldwide in the early 1900s, making access difficult.


Rightfully they pride themselves on sharing the book structures of which there are many forms as well as the texts. There are photographs, diagrams, and thorough descriptions and explanations. This is from the section on Stitched binding (xian zhuang).

There are a number of booklets in the Dunhuang collection that have been bound with thread. The most striking aspect of these books is the fact that they appeared at such an early period. The colophons on some of the booklets tell us that they were copied and bound during the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907), some six hundred years before the emergence of mature thread binding books in the Ming. What is also surprising is that there was a whole variety of stitching techniques already being applied. It would be interesting, therefore, to have a look at some of these different techniques in order to understand the nature of this development in bookbinding.

The information is also available as a downloadable pdf. Thanks to Colin Chinnery for the text and Li Yi and Colin Chinnery for the diagrams.

International Dunhuang Project/Bookbinding

Studio Sunday/Circles for the Seasons

Most of the time the big table is a workspace but occasionally it is where I place things that are leaving the studio. The two Circles for the Seasons, printed on metal, are going off to the Photography Interest Group exhibit at the Newburyport Art Association. They can hang on the wall but do not conform to the NAA's system so they'll be displayed on pedestals instead. I like them both ways. The one on the left started from a photograph of a pussy willow; the one on the right, a lilac.

Summer/Winter Opposite Book

There are summer days when I wake up and walk outside and glory in the beauty of the season. And then there are days like the ones last week when I throw myself into a snowbank if one materialized. And so was born the idea for a book about winter and summer that celebrates each season. Summer can be read on the glory days of summer and the bitter days of winter and vice versa.

This book is based on the form called dos à dos meaning back to back in French. I used copy paper with writing on one side and had the writing on the inside when I made the first hot dog fold. Two hot dog booklets are glued into a cover that has been folded like a Z. If you've been following the blog, you may already know how to make a hot dog booklet. If not, there are written directions in English and Spanish and a video tutorial.

For the cover, you'll need the front or back panel of a cereal box. The length should be at least 3 times the width of the books.

CREATING THE COVER:

1. Place the cereal box panel so that it is wider than tall. Leaving a small border at the side edge and the bottom, place a booklet at one edge of the panel. If you are doing it with a group, choose right or left so that everyone is doing the same thing.

2. Fold the panel over the booklet and flatten.

3. Turn the cover over so that the booklet is underneath.

4. Flip the panel back so that the fold likes up with the edge of the previously folded section.

5. Trim off any excess cover.

6. Hold the booklet in place, open the folds and trim off the top leaving a small border between the booklet and the cover.

In my Summer Winter Book, I decorated the cover with collage papers before attaching the booklets.

ATTACHING THE BOOKLETS TO THE COVER:
1. Open the top page of the booklet and insert a piece of scrap paper. Cover the surface with a thin coat of glue. Remove the scrap paper and fold it in half.

2. Place the booklet in the cover so that the spine (the side with the single fold) is along the fold of the cover.

3. Open the booklet and smooth to help the glue adhere.

4. Turn the book over and repeat on the other side.

This book has a lot of curriculum applications—contrasting points of view such as the Union and the Confederacy in the Civil War or characters in a book and any debate topic.

View my book on flickr.

Studio Sunday/Blocks of Wood

One section of the studio is storage for workshop materials. I use blocks of wood when I do Japanese bindings—one block goes under the book to protect the table and the other is used as a hammer. It works well and I think it is a little safer than a hammer. It doesn't hurt quite as much if you miss and hit your finger.

In a workshop, the sets of blocks are shared by two or three kids. Each one gets a sewing kit.

* 1 size 16 tapestry needle (These have a very large eye. They're bigger than one would usually use for bookbinding but they're easier to thread. I purchase them at JoAnn Fabrics in packs of 5.)

* 1 small pencil (for marking the holes)

* 1 nail (to make holes for Japanese bindings)

* 1 push pin (to make holes for pamphlet binding)

* 1 small piece of cardboard about 2"x 3" (to protect the table when making holes for a pamphlet binding)

Celebrate Maudslay/Outdoor Sculpture 2011

I'm so excited about my piece for this year's Outdoor Sculpture at Maudslay. I will be doing a collaborative, community piece and I hope that you will be part of that community.

The spreading branches of a maple tree along Hedge Drive will be decked with handmade books made by those who love the park and find enjoyment and inspiration there.

How to participate:
Come to Maudslay on Saturday, September 10 from 10 AM to 2 PM. Make a small handmade book and share your memories, thoughts, and feelings about the park. I'll help you make the book (it’s super simple) and there will be waterproof markers for writing and drawing.

Saturday, September 10
from 10 AM to 2 PM

From the parking lot, walk past the Park Headquarters. Enter through the stone gate to Hedge Drive. We’ll be a little ways in on the right.

Rain or Shine

pdf flyer

My book is ready and waiting for the September 10 installation.


Check out the event on facebook and RSVP

Book Arts Tuesday/Asian Books

Since the beginning of my interest in bookmaking, I have been drawn to the books of Asia. I love the range of materials from paper to palm leaves and the simplicity of the structures. I have a small collection grown from occasional shop purchases and the kindness of traveling friends who have sought out books for me. Although my teaching is very much about books as vehicles for content, I also have a deep love of books as objects. These images are a tribute to that love.

The top image was made from a book that Marie Oedel purchased in Bhutan.

The second from a palm leaf book I purchased in Great Barrington, MA at Barong Imports.

Studio Sunday/Accordion School

Maybe the reason that the accordion is my favorite book form is the family history of accordion playing. Here is a photo of John Roman's Accordion School Class of 1938 in Linden, NJ. My father is in the back row, the eighth in from the left. Here is something I wrote to accompany a photograph at a memorial display I exhibited at the Newburyport Public Library in 2000.

My father wanted desperately to play the accordion, and to play it well. He worked hard, delivering newspapers first and then working for a peddler, to earn the money to take lessons and buy an instrument. Every week he took the bus to Linden with his accordion for a lesson at John Roman’s Accordion School. He got the first part of his dream, but the second eluded him, and eventually he stopped taking lessons. I still have his accordion with Alfred in sparkling letters. In later years, he would sometimes play for his own pleasure.

I was required to follow the tradition but it didn't go as smoothly. My ability to memorize encouraged my teacher (also in Linden and one of my father's classmates) which led to the requirement of more and more practice. When the expectation grew to an hour and a half a day and my mother got fed up with fighting with me to sit down with the accordion, lessons ended, although not without tears.

I take out my accordion very rarely now (maybe once every ten years) and spend my time with the book version of the instrument.

Book Arts Tuesday/Women Binders in the Late 19th, Early 20th Centuries

A recent conversation on the Book Arts List led to an exploration of some women binders in the late 18th and early 20th Century. A request from Karen Hanmer for information about book arts in Halifax led to Barbara Kretzmann's post about the Prat sisters of Nova Scotia who ran the Primrose Bindery in NYC. Susan Mills connected us to the virtual archives of Nova Scotia which has a section on the Prat sisters. Here is part of the introduction:

Annie, Minnie and May Prat, adventurous sisters from Wolfville, Nova Scotia, embarked on unusual artistic careers in the United States in the late 1890s. In 1896, Annie, 35, enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1897, Minnie, 29, moved to New York City to learn bookbinding with Evelyn Nordhoff, who had herself apprenticed in England with noted Arts and Crafts bookbinder, T.J. Cobden-Sanderson. May Rosina, 26, joined Minnie shortly afterward to study decorative leatherwork and bookbinding with Nordhoff.

The sisters had a fascinating circle of friends, centered around the Prat family home in Wolfville. Chief among them were poets Charles G.D. Roberts and his cousin, Bliss Carman, and Charles G.D.'s younger brother, Goodridge, who was engaged to Minnie. In 1892 tragedy struck the Prat family circle. On February 4, a month before Minnie's 24th birthday, Goodridge, 22, died of influenza at the Prat family home. Her father, Samuel, died of the same illness nine days later.

Five years later, Minnie found the courage to go to New York to apprentice with Nordhoff, in a field in which women were still pioneers. Bliss Carman, then living in New York, had arranged for the apprenticeship. Evelyn Nordhoff died unexpectedly in November 1898, at the age of 33, after a short illness. Minnie, May Rosina, and other former students kept her bindery going after her death.


In addition to an illustrated essay, there are images of their artwork, bindings, letters, and this wonderful photograph of May Rosina Prat and Dorothy Cornell operating the book press at Dorothy's book bindery at 'Forest Park' in Ithaca, New York.

I was so fascinated by the three sisters that I did a little more research on women binders in that era and came across a New York Times article Hand Bookbinding Among Women by Minnie J. Reynolds which was published on March 9, 1902. She concludes by saying:

Hand binding is …a part of that wide, recent movement against the machine which demands opportunity for artistic expression in the crafts as well as the high arts.

From the Princeton University Library, Unseen Hands: Women Printers, Binders, and Book Designers.

From Oak Knoll Press—the book Women Bookbinders, 1880-1920 by Marianne Tidcombe about women binders in Britain.

And then there is this fascinating study of unions among women binders published in 1913 by the Russell Sage Foundation.
The bookbinding trade was chosen first for
study because it is one of the most important
trades for women in New York City, and also in
many respects a typical one. As Miss Van Kleeck
explains, it affords employment to every grade
of woman worker from the skilled craftsman who
does artistic binding by hand to the machine
operator, the hand folder, the wrapper, and the
errand girl. The competition in it between out-
going hand processes and incoming machine proc-
esses is incessant. In some branches work is
regular; in others it is highly irregular, overtime
and free days occurring in the same week. Finally,
there is a union in the trade to which some of the
women employes belong; while most of the women
are unorganized and little impressed by the ad-
vantages of organization. Bookbinding in New
York City thus presents in miniature most of the
important problems which confront women wage-
earners.

Studio Sunday/Chinese Scroll

I'm leaving later this afternoon for New York City so thought I'd take a picture of the scroll I bought at a street stand in Chinatown on a previous trip. It's under the skylight and over the sink at the workshop end of the studio. If anyone can offer a translation, it would be much appreciated.

Virgin Gorda Accordion Book

When I purchased this box of ginger tea in Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands in March, I knew it would be a box for an accordion book. On this July day with temperatures similar to our days on the island, I made this accordion book for a gift. What a joy to experience our trip—the Baths, the Crawl, Savannah Bay, and especially our little vacation home at Guavaberry Spring Bay— again!

Book Arts Tuesday/Amanda Watson-Will

As I have mentioned before, the Book Arts List is a terrific resource that has led me to all kinds of book related discoveries on the web. The most recent is the blog of Australian artist Amanda Watson-Will. She made a post on the list about her recent blog posts about her trip to Paris and book arts there. In addition to describing the places she went, she shared some of the books she added to her collection. It is fascinating reading and viewing. Her blog is titled Sharing Studio Secrets and the thoroughness with which she presents her observations and experiences is impressive. Her post on A Safe, Cheap Set-up for Encaustic/Wax is a good example.

Studio Sunday/Standing Desk

My terrible posture while working on the computer (combined with not enough stretching and exercise) is causing me all sorts of physical problems. One of the recurring ones is shoulder pain. I have knowledge that should help me—Alexander Technique and Qi Gong classes—but once I become engaged with a writing, art or design project, it all goes out the window. My latest attempt is a standing desk which I am optimistic about. Today is Day One and so far it is more comfortable than I expected. I am certainly less stationary and moving more.

Book Arts Tuesday/Abecedarian Gallery

Today's Book Arts Tuesday is the first of periodic postings of galleries which feature book arts. I am particularly interested in galleries that have a strong web presence in addition to a physical space. I applaud all who have a gallery that is open to the public and requires staffing, paying the rent, curating and mounting exhibits, and all the myriad tasks and expenses that go into making a gallery work. And extra kudos to those who make their exhibits available virtually to those who cannot attend like Alicia Bailey of Abecedarian Gallery.

Located at the north end of the 910 Arts Complex (don't I sound like I have been there which alas I have not) in Denver, CO, Abecedarian Gallery "exhibits and represents artists working across a variety of disciplines with particular focus on contemporary book arts, works on paper, collage and assemblage." The current exhibition, curated by Alicia, is Interactive Artifact. In her statement, she addresses the difficulties and joys of allowing viewers to interact with the work, an issue that book artists are most familiar with.

During my tenure as gallery director of Abecedarian my recognition of the immense appeal of sculptural interactivity in visual artworks has grown, alongside my respect for artists able to create such works. Inviting viewer interaction is a risky business, subjecting the work to wear and tear or damage it mightn’t receive if exhibited in a strictly hands-off environment or cloistered behind closed doors.

For this exhibition I am pleased to have assembled a group of artists willing to have their work viewed interactively. As book artists’ are who I most often work with, and as book artists’ are by nature more willing to have their work viewed interactively (a book after all is a form of interactive sculpture) this exhibit includes artists who often, although not exclusively, work under the umbrella of book arts.

As both practitioner and dealer in the field, I have spent much time (too much perhaps) pondering and debating the definition of artists’ books and exploring various answers to the question what is a book. Engaging as these musings and discussions often are, this exhibition has given me the opportunity to indulge my appreciation for well crafted, exciting, dynamic and kinetic works without regard to how they relate to bookness.

Visit Abecedarian to see this exhibit as well as many others. There is an online catalog for every exhibit as well as print and download versions that can be purchased. And check out the exhibition blog for a closer look. If you are a book artist, take a look at the Opportunities for Artists for news of upcoming shows and submission policies.

Visit susangaylord.com for a wider selection of my postings including the seasons, the garden, nature, and my artwork.

Studio Sunday/Light Box

I've had this light box for over thirty years. When I was doing a lot of commercial calligraphy, it was a frequent companion. Now it sits tucked in the corner and is taken out occasionally. I used it yesterday for combining a quote from Thoreau with a circle created in Photoshop. After creating the image, I printed it out. I taped a blank piece of paper on top. Using my favorite Pentel brush pen I wrote the quote from Thoreau around the circle created from a photograph of raindrops on leaves of grass. This was preceded by several other attempts so when I didn't like the "y" in my, I wrote another one above and made the correction in Photoshop. I scanned it into the computer and worked from there.

Book Arts Tuesday/DaCosta Hours

While I don't want to get stuck in medieval times, this week's post is again about illuminated manuscripts. It's the solstice and a time to reflect on the changing of the seasons and the turning of the year. A Book of Hours seems appropriate. The link is to the June page of the DaCosta Hours at the Morgan Library in New York. Created around 1515 in Bruges, Belgium, this little gem is only 6 3/4 x 5 inches (172 x 125 mm. The site allows for detailed viewing. Try it full screen. You can go through the year and see all the pages. And while you're there, check out some of the other offerings from the Morgan. The site is full of treasures.

The DaCosta Hours

Scribble/Color Book

Here's a fun book for the summer holidays combining two very different but equally enjoyable activities (at least to me)—the loose freedom of scribbling and the calm concentration of coloring.

The complete post, with a giveaway for those who comment, can be found at susangaylord.com.

Boston Bruins Who Am I? Book

I have joined Boston Globe columnist Brian McGrory on the Bruins bandwagon as they play in the Stanley Cup. You can read his great column, Jumping on the Zamboni, in today's Globe.

I was a huge hockey fan as a teenager but my interest waned when I went to college. It was hard to get my girls dorm mates to watch hockey on the shared TV. Plus the league had doubled in size a few years before and I had trouble adjusting. Growing up in New Jersey, I was a Rangers fan. My parents owned a luncheonette/corner store with my aunt and uncle. We sold magazines and the rule was that if I read them very carefully, I could bring home magazines and then return them. I read two hockey magazines a month. With only six teams in the league and two magazines a month, I knew the players well. In choosing my favorite Ranger, I went for the best looking one—Rod Gilbert who was also an excellent player. And if he weren't a Bruin, my favorite would have been Bobby Orr.

And now here I am loving the 2010-2011 Bruins. And what better way of jumping on a bandwagon than by making a book? In this case a Who Am I? Book about one of the Bruins players. I usually use a grocery bag panel for the Who Am I? Book but I wanted this book to be smaller. I used two sheets of used copy paper with the writing sides glued together and a coffee filter box. I found the Bruins logos and photo online.



Directions for a Who Am I? Book

in Spanish

Bookmaking Travel Kit

When the kids were young, we would bring a small selection of bookmaking materials on our family trips. You can make a kit per child or one for the whole family. And as always, don't let the kids have all the fun. Join them and make books of your own!

I think the three books most conducive to travel bookmaking are:
The Hot Dog Booklet
The Accordion
The Index Card Accordion

If you have access to the internet, look up the directions online while traveling. If not, print them out before you go.

Start with a large resealable plastic bag. I prefer the heavier freezer bags but a thinner weight would be fine. If you have some interesting bag or box you've been saving, use that.

Put inside:
Some sheets of used copy paper with writing on one side. You can also collect papers on your travels. Check out this hot dog booklet made with the program from The Office Convention in Scranton, PA.

Front and back panels from one to two cereal boxes

Scrap paper for gluing. I usually bring a thin catalog.

An Index Card Accordion Book accordion and index cards. I think it's easier to make the accordion at home and write/illustrate the cards and attach them as you go. You might want to plan for a page for each day. You can also have a picture on the front and glue a second card on the back with writing. I used a side panel of brown paper grocery bag for the accordion. You can bring 3x5 or 4x6 index cards.

A small resealable plastic bag filled with papers from the collage box. And do collect papers along the way. Brochures and flyers, chopstick sleeves, candy wrappers, etc.

Glue stick

Small scissors

Some pieces of yarn. I cut mine to be twice the length of the cereal box panel.

Markers and/or Colored pencils. I think I brought colored pencils more often than markers when the kids were small to avoid markers on car seats, clothes, and furniture but I do prefer the vibrancy of markers. Bring whatever you think is best. I got washable markers for this.

This is just a starting point. Add more things if you like but the point of this is not to make a traveling studio, just a simple kit. Sometimes the less you bring, the more creative you are.

Happy Birthday Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan turns seventy today. The photo was taken in Woodstock, NY at a place where Dylan stayed.

Here are two picture books—written for kids but great for adults as well. When Bob Met Woody is brand new by Gary Golio who also wrote an excellent picture book about Jimi Hendrix. Forever Young is the lyrics to the song. Great illustrations with lots of little biographical details tucked in.