Book Arts Mania: Zines

"Not every act of art creates something special, but it does create something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

I taught a small class last year for the Cultural Art Society of West Jordan about folded paper books. After they folded and cut several styles of these books, I showed how the format has been used to make zines. I showed them one I made. I printed thirty copies and left them on Trax train seats and other places I have frequented since then. Someone may have picked them up and kept them. I suppose many of them ended up in the trash bin.

Book Arts Mania: Family History Photo Book

"Not every act of art creates something special, but it does create something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman 

This is a small [6" X 53/4"] folded-page book with a folded cover which I made several years ago as a demonstration showing various applications of this format. The first two photos "pop up" as the pages are opened. The third folds out so that the back can be read.

John H. Ewing was my 2nd great-grandfather who served in the American Civil War. These are the only photos I have of him. I have shared them with many relatives on genealogy websites.

The Cover

The Title Page

Page One and Two

Page Three and Four 

Pages Five and Six

The Photo Turned Out

Book Arts Mania: Simple Folded-paper Books

 "Not every act of art creates something special, but it creates something. It is the act of art that is important." Michael L. Goodman

I taught a book arts class for the Cultural Arts Society of West Jordan in May. Eighteen people signed up for the class, but only nine showed up to participate. It was a free class, so there was no financial commitment to attend except for curiosity and a desire to learn something new. It was a Friday evening after all. Those who did come had a good time learning to fold paper into simple books, and I enjoyed teaching again. We had a creative discussion about ways to use the books while we committed acts of art folding "pants" books, hidden-page books, "T-fold" books, and book covers.

I showed a few examples of how I used these "origami" books when teaching middle school art students. This is a simple "pants" fold book using one sheet of paper. It is 4 1/4 inches by 2 3/4 inches with a folded-paper cover.

Title page.

Pages one and two.

I made some collage "hidden" books with images and quotes from various artists I admire. I laminated each book so the students could handle them without weakening the folds and wearing the books out. Even so, someone thought to improve Lautrec's work with a red line on page four. These two books are 5 1/2 inches by 4 inches.

The cover of the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec book.

Pages one and two.

Pages three and four.

Pages five and six.

The hidden image inside the book. (15 3/4 inches by 10 3/4 inches)

The cover of the Georgia O'Keeffe book.

Pages one and two.

Pages three and four.

Pages five and six.

The hidden image inside the book. (15 3/4 inches by 10 3/4 inches.)

Book Arts Mania: Filling the Book, Part two

"Not every act of art creates something special, but it creates something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

I have continued to doodle as often as I can with my favorite ink pen on a few small torn-edged pieces of paper. These eight I added to the small reverse piano hinge book I made in February. Fourteen more plates and the book will be completed.

The doddle above on the right was an herbal teabag stain [a very nice German peppermint, by the way] on the back of a piece of note paper. I almost threw the paper away when I was cleaning my desk, but the circle caught my eye. Serendipity!

Book Arts Mania: Completed Concertina Fold Book

 "Not every act of art creates something special, but it creates something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

I finished this 5 1/2" X 6" concertina book a couple of weeks ago. I would like to add a circular design on the front cover, but I haven't progressed that far yet. As I have said before, there is something mysterious about circles, circular shapes, and spirals. Wassily Kandinsky remarked, "The circle is the synthesis of the greatest oppositions. It combines the concentric and the eccentric in a single form and equilibrium. Of the three primary forms, it points most clearly to the fourth dimension."

Circles as continuous unbroken shapes can symbolize completeness, wholeness, and unity. Circles and dots have been used in "primitive" art since prehistoric cave paintings. Helen Wells, an artist and writer from the South Coast of England, uses concentric circles and dots often in her work. While not being Aboriginal Art, it does have an echo of that art form which I like.

Here is my book:

An orange slice

Mayan-inspired circle with a spiral

A harlequin circle and another spiral

Two Vicki Grant-inspired circles

Book Arts Mania: Two More Simple Reversed Piano Hinge Books

 "Not every act of art creates something special, but it creates something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

I like the reversed piano hinge binding very much. I have been experimenting with different weights of paper for the accordion folded hinge. Stiffer paper cracks along the fold. For this book, I used decorated tape to cover the mountain fold sides of the accordion strip. I think the tape makes a nice-looking spine.  I cut some circles and stripes on the inner hinge and made the signature lock with leftover cover paper.

This little book was quick and easy.

Enveloping the Word: 2023 Christmas Cards

"Not every act of art creates something special, but it creates something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman 

It has been a long time since I have posted anything on this blog. I will attempt again to keep something going. I have decided to concentrate on decorated envelopes [Enveloping the Word], ATCs/postcards [Big Art-Little Spaces], and handmade books/art journals [Book Art Mania]. I am going to refrain from commenting on criminal political antics, disgusting current events, and the mindless morass of social media in the third decade of the 21st Century. I shall leave any observations I may have on those disasters for other venues, and here concern myself with acts of art.

So, for this first post of 2024, I want to present the decorated envelopes I made for my 2023 Christmas cards. I wanted to have a stylized wreath surrounding the address. After several experiments, I settled on the following pattern. I first drew a circle on the envelope followed by two interlacing, serpentine lines to represent foliage.

I added a few circles for decoration.

I used Tombow ABT Water-Based pens to color the wreath. The greens are numbers 173 and 245. These are two of my favorite greens that I often use together. The gold is number 993, and the red is 845.

I sent out 87 decorated Christmas cards in 2023. I posted photos of them on Mailart365 where I finished my fifth year making 365 envelopes a year.

Here are two of my experiments before I settled on the final wreath design above. I sent these experiments out as well because no envelope gets wasted.

Here are some cards from previous Christmases.