Norma Toraya, aka Crankbunny, makes great pop-up cards and sells them in her Etsy shop. She also makes paper puppets, and has a how-to book available here. (In case you’re wondering about the name, she says “a Crankbunny is a large magical medicinal fish with rabbit ears… so technically it’s part rabbit”)
Sometimes a subject keeps coming up over and over and I think maybe I should pay attention — recently it’s papermaking. First were the cast paper things I saw late last year at an exhibit of work by Louise Nevelson at the de Young Museum. (That’s one of her castings to the left — it’s called “Dawn’s Presence” — it’s 31×21 inches to give you an idea of the size. I’m not sure if that’s one I saw at the de Young but it’s got the same feel. Of course the gift shop didn’t have a postcard of the paper pieces so I bought one of something that seemed similar. It’s pinned up to my wall by my work table and every time I look at it I remember how much I liked the paper casting pieces.) Then Ginger Burrell has been writing a 3 article series for Ampersand on using handmade paper in artists’ books (she’s done 2 already, one more in the Spring issue). In her bibliography, Ginger recommends “any book by Helen Hiebert”… and late this summer Helen is giving a class at San Francisco Center for the Book called Paper Lamps, Lanterns & Sculpture (which I first noticed because it isn’t really about books or book art, but do take a look at her lamps — many of them weirdly wonderful.) And then last week I saw an announcement about the non-profit Handmade Papermaking‘s annual fundraising auction of papermaking related stuff, which caused me to spend a pleasant half hour looking at the auction and then for papermaking classes in the Bay Area… although I don’t have any concrete ideas yet on how to use paper I’ve made in a book — seems like that’s always the impetus I need to start learning a new technique. And I also keep looking at the pulp painted paper chapbook I got at Codex for inspiration (it too is prominently displayed on my work table).
Every spring the Donna Seager Gallery in San Rafael, CA has an “Art of the Book” exhibition. She also puts the books online so you don’t have to get to California to see them. The current exhibit is here, and last year’s exhibit is here. Below is a book for this year — The Apple Tree by Lorna Crozier, paper cut by Sarah Newman. (Sarah also does these wonderful cut letter illustrations…)
To celebrate National Poetry Month and Mathematics Awareness Month, this month’s giveaway is a copy of my artist’s book A Word on Statistics. In it, the Nobel-prize winning poet Wislawa Szymborska takes a playful look at numbers and human nature. You can read the entire poem here. The book is 5-1/2″ by 3-1/2″ with the text of the poem printed letterpress and the illustrations (the dot grids) printed offset.
To enter, post your favorite poem in a comment to this post by April 23th. The winner will be selected at random and announced on April 24th.
I mentioned this simple to make finishing press in my directions for the double-fan adhesive binding. But I think it merits a mention in a blog entry too. A ‘finishing press’ is used to hold the text block of a book vertically, spine facing up, while the book is out of its case and repair treatments are in progress. Normally the procedures performed while the text block is in the finishing press are the cleaning of the spine and the attachment of the new headbands, super, and spine liner. It acts as a vice, holding the book tightly, yet not damaging the text block. (The definition comes from Indiana University).
Directions for making the press are here. You can see photos of more substantial presses on Timothy More’s website.
It’s cold and very windy here today. I’m ready for winter to be over so I can get out for more bike rides. And finding these posters from Artcrank — a poster party showcasing bicycle-inspired original artwork — made me long to be outside even more. They had 2 parties earlier this month in Minneapolis and Denver. You can see the posters from Minneapolis and Denver, and Studio on Fire wrote about printing one of the posters letterpress.