Know When to Fold Em #AtoZChallenge

  A good accordion fold, it's a tricky business. 

Get it wrong & it looks awful. Done right & you feel you've accomplished something.  

This tutorial link gives you the proper approach.

I've had my share of fails on this but some have gone well.

This little guy was  an experiment in gluing to get a long enough stretch, 

& cutting an inside frame

I can't take credit for the accordion. The teeny tiny text block

for these teeny tiny books were provided in a workshop. 

The cover structure was our focus.

 This book, Urban Sprawl,  has been in several shows. I still love it

 but would be happy if it found a new home with someone who appreciates artist books. 

Happy folding!

PBI 2015 Continued

During my final class we learned a few amazing ways to construct multi level accordion structures.
Kevin Steele is an amazing graphic designer and paper engineer. He brought his book The Deep
I encourage you to go to his site and scroll down to the video of The Deep to see it unfold.

 

             The mock ups we started with to get the sewing procedure cemented in our brains.

             Kevin made this wonderful little book for the auction that is held on the final day. 

Show & tell is one of my favorite things at PBI as there is so much inspiration and fodder for talking with other participants about their art. Every evening you can wander into other class rooms to see what they've been up to.

  I could go on & on about my time at PBI. If you care to know more please comment or send an email.

PBI Inspiration

It's time to share some of my experiences and thoughts on PBI 2015, short for Paper & Book Intensive,

 Held each year at Ox-Bow,  just outside Saugatuck MI. The grounds are a beautiful natural setting. The Kalamazoo river as it dumps into Lake Michigan is the backdrop.

Over a total of 11 days participants take 3 classes. This year I chose clam shell box construction, digital book content & creation, and accordion craziness. My title not the instructor's.


Of about 70 total attendees we had several countries and many states represented. Everyone gets to the studios early and stays til late at night. I loved this schedule for day 3, sums up the pace.

There were several newbies to book binding as well as seasoned veterans in the world of books & paper.

Mary Uthuppuru taught the box class. It was VERY time intensive and loads of fun. Making a clam shell box is something I've wanted to learn for some time, and we got so much more in this class.

 

In the book content class we did several writing exercises and played with loads of images we all brought to help generate ideas. Tate Shaw, our instructor, shared his great personal book collection with us.

 I will share more over a couple more posts. So stay tuned and please comment!

Accordion Book

It's been quite some time.  Pictures & comments to follow from Vieques trip. It's been back to winter here, again, in Northern MI. Will Spring ever come?

        Completed an accordion structure book for the Kalamazoo Books Arts show coming up.

I created several stencils, then did pouchoir with Akua inks in layers.

                                       Eight pages total with sunrise & sunset progression.

 

& the cover 

.

                          Then created a slip case for the finished book using "Cave Paper".

 

 Now I'm on to a piece for a fall show that will be fiber based.