Making a Mini-book: Part IV (making a 2 signature pamphlet)

Single signature that won’t closeThis is the fourth post on my experiment comparing making a print-on-demand mini book with making a similar book by hand.
In previous installments, I’ve written about my experience using print-on-demand services to make a small book. I’m comparing those resulting books with ones I make myself. Today I’m writing about one of the books I made myself, printed on double-sided coated paper specifically for ink jet printers (Epson Double-sided Matte Paper).
My original plan was to fold the pages into a single signature or section and sew it with a pamphlet stitch (by punching 3 holes in the middle of the spine and using a needle and thread — there’s instructions for doing this here). But the paper is too thick, resulting in a book that won’t close (see the photo above). Then I remembered a trick I’d learned for making a 2 signature book. I can’t find this trick anywhere on the web, so here it is in short form. I’ve got pictures and more explanation here.

      1. Fold the 2 signatures, A and B.
      2. Reverse the fold in B.
      3. Put A inside of B.
      4. Punch holes and sew as if it’s a single signature book.
      5. Fold the front pages of B toward the back of the book.
      6. Bone down the book and you’re done.

I like to write small…

Linnea Lundquist

One of the pieces my friend Sharon & I enjoyed and talked about most at the Friends of Calligraphy exhibition the other day was “The Rules of Courtly Love” by Linnea Lundquist (The rules are from the 12th century, by Andreas Capellanus — see them here). The writing is very tiny — the whole thing fits in a 10-inch frame — and it’s ingeniously arranged in what she calls a “labyrinth” pattern. It’s quite beautiful.
When I got home, I tried to find more images of Lundquist’s work (the photo above is from Cari Ferraro’s blog). I didn’t. But I discovered that I’ve met her several times at PCBA book fairs, where she and her husband, Ward Durham, sell pens and sealing wax (through their company Atelier Gargoyle).

Making a Mini-book: Part III

iphoto picture book samplesThis is the third post on my experiment comparing making a print-on-demand mini book with making a similar book by hand.
In my last installment, I tried making a little book on Lulu but found the experience pretty frustrating. Despite misgivings, I’ve ordered the Lulu book but won’t enter it in their contest until I see the real thing.
In the meantime I’ve also made the same book using iPhoto. From the samples shown on their website (see images to the right), these books meet my requirement of a full bleed and appear to lie flat when open. They are 3.5 x 2.6 inches, 20 pages, $3.99 each (but must be bought in 3-packs for $11.97 + shipping).
Since I had all the images for my book already made, this task was dead simple. In 30 minutes I had put the book together, made a movie to look at the pages (unnecessary but fun none-the-less), and ordered the book. Below is a screen snap of the iPhoto window, with the spreads at the top and the spread I am working on in the larger window. I like the larger spread display, as I really get the feeling I’m looking at a book…
While I’m waiting for the books to arrive, I’ll be working on making the handmade versions. More in a couple days about that…

iPhoto picture book layout

Making a Mini-book: Part II

Lulu mini book spreadThis is the second post on my experiment comparing making a print-on-demand mini book with making a similar book by hand.
My first task was to reformat the original book and condense it a bit — it was 22 pages and needed to be 20. I’d read some comparisons of print-on-demand services, and Lulu, the service I’m trying, allows you to upload a PDF of the book pages, so you can use your own fonts and page layout software. All of the others require you to use their software and limited set of fonts to layout your book. I particularly wanted a full bleed and a book that opened flat, and the example photos of mini-books on Lulu’s website (picture above) indicated they would do that. So I laid out my book in InDesign and made a PDF….
Once I got to Lulu, though, I quickly discovered that my information was wrong — to make mini books (or any of Lulu’s “photo books”), you have to use their software (a flash program called Lulu Studio). So I went back to my PDF, read it into Photoshop and exported the pages as JPGs to import into Lulu Studio.
Uploading and arranging my JPGs into a book was easy. But the preview had me stumped. In one window, you see a large double-page spread you are working on while along the bottom there’s a scrolling window with small versions of the spreads. Here is the large double spread…

Lulu preview of a spread

Lulu preview of a spreadWhat is that dotted lined rectangle and gray area around my images — does that indicate the trim or something else? I made the JPGs over-sized (1/16″ larger on all sides than the book to ensure the pink bled off the left pages), so why didn’t the images fill the preview? The second smaller preview looked more like what I thought I should see (that’s it to the right).
I popped over to the Lulu forums to see if there was an answer (no). I’ve emailed Lulu support (but several days later I’ve not gotten a reply).
Annoyed, I hunted around to see if other print-on-demand sites made similar small books. I quickly discovered that iPhoto, the Mac program, also lets you make photo books — they have one that is roughly the same size as the Lulu mini book (3-1/2″ x 2-5/8″ and also 20 pages). So for the moment I’ve shelved Lulu and am off to make an iPhoto book….
One more small annoyance about Lulu’s layout program: you can reorder the pages, but the display is so small, it’s useless (see screen snap below). I ended up starting over when the pages were in the wrong order — I couldn’t figure out which pages to swap because I couldn’t read the type…

Reordering pages on Lulu mini books

The Shape of the Alphabet


The most intriguing piece at the Friends of Calligraphy show I saw recently was this one by Susan Skarsgard — unfortunately my photo didn’t turn out, this is only a partial image and it’s from Cari Ferraro’s blog (thank you very much Cari!). It’s 26 rectangles, arranged in 7 rows, and the signage says this is part of “26 of 26: An Edition of Twenty-six Alphabets.” My interest piqued, I scoured the web and found 2 more images plus an article about an exhibition that included the 26 prints.

Susan Skarsgard alphabetFrom the article by John Carlos Cantu:

In her gallery statement, Skarsgard says that the exhibit “is a kind of meditation on the alphabet as an object, much the same way that a musician/composer might invent a series of compositions based on a theme.”

“The familiar shapes of the alphabet,” she continues, “taken down to their elemental form and stripped of their meaning, have always been intriguing to me. Kind of like arranging the DNA of language and looking at it purely as shape and form.’

Susan Skarsgard alphabet