Mar 29, 2011

Crouching Binder, Hidden Dragon

Another week spent at college procrastinating. Oh dear. On a lighter note, more books have been created while procrastinating. Take this little book, for example. Japanese stab bound book. It was so damn fiddly. But so damn cute, eh? The Pound coin is placed here to compare sizes. Oh, I also gave the book to my boyfriend. He likes little cute things. haha Bless.

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Now. Regarding the strange title. You may think it's something associated with something Chinese. (Me?) Or perhaps the film. (Well, yes. The title is a bad pun on the film title. But That's not the point.) Check this out:

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And a black one too:
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I created the green one first when I went to the local haberdashery and went through the scrap discount bin. I found a strip of the green nylon silk stuff and brought it for 40 pence. Positioned the dragon so it'd lie on the front cover. Thought it came out well and brought more fabric. Yaaay!

Unfortunately I no longer have either of them but I have made a duplicate of the black one but it's just not the same. I've given my green one to my boyfriend's mum as she's so supportive of my bookbinding and she's just plain awesome. I've also sent the black one off to London for my friend's birthday.

Going back to the title. You now know what the Dragon part is about. and the "Crouching binder?" Mum stole my chair from my bedroom desk so I'm just about kneeling as I type this. Just wonderful.

This is my current collection A7-sized bound books (Minus the dragon book.) It's gotten bigger. Image and video hosting by TinyPic

I feel rather proud. <--- I have now sinned. Pride. haha..

Mar 17, 2011

Books, Glorious Books

Okie dokie! Another post on books... now, where to begin..?
Well, Since my last post, I've tidied my room and set up a book binding studio. In effect, it's just a clean desk with a cutting mat. Not as impressive as it sounds, really.
Here we go! Remember the book I've sent off? Well, I've made it into a kind of a series.

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Yeah, the black on black, stripy motif. The portrait one has a little tag coming from the spine and the landscape one (Made for my boyfriend (Yes, I'm sad enough to make our books match.)) was rather confusing since I am so used to make portrait books.

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Here is the portrait one up close. Note the woven stripes. (They were a bitch to stick down.) I personally think this is my best one yet.

I've also made a replica (If not, then slightly better) version of my very first book.
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I've used the same cover material. The blue paper covered in a mesh netting type of material with red swirls. The mesh was difficult to stick down so I'm glad it's done now. But yeah! This is what my very first book looked a bit like.

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Oh right, and I am sad enough to make mini book stands for the books I've not given away. Weighted down with 4 rooks from my glass chess set. In theory, I could've just used bottles of alcohol as book stands but where's the fun in that?
By the way. the book on the end is bound with fabric. It was the first successful one but it took the longest since I have to cover a piece of paper in glue, press down the fabric, leave it to dry overnight, then bound it and leave it to dry overnight again. Normally I'd only use one "overnight."

Mar 12, 2011

Overdue Spring clean

The sound of bird song, sun rising earlier, bright yellow daffodils and a trashed room. Yup! It's Spring all right!
For as long as I can remember, I've always had a messy room. Plastic bags, water bottles and piles of paper. It looks like a thrift store has vomited into my room.
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Yes, That is a wastepaper basket. And yes, that is my penguin PJs.
Always had to tip toe my way to bed in the dark. Sometimes even diving (and missing.) One day, I thought "I want to bind books at home. But there's no room!" Solution? Tidy mine.
As every young persons will know, tidying room is almost an impossible task. Ask

靜靜. (Click to check out her blog, by the way. It's awesome! (And yes, my font's changed..can't change it back..)

Anyway, Motivation helps. My motivation? To set up a book binding studio in my room. That'll do!


It only took me 4 hours..


Mar 10, 2011

Handmade Booky Wooks

These days, I tend to spend most of my college days binding little books. "Hmm.. My graphics work needs doing.. but I need a mini sketchbook!" I procrastinate waaay too much.

I guess I started making books two years ago when I was being too cheap to buy sketchbooks so I'd bind them instead. So then began the endless research, Youtube tutorials, taking books apart (Got a little heart broken.) And then my first little book was created; An iddy biddy little A7 doodle book. Made from computer printing paper, stitched with white sewing thread, the spine was PVA'ed with scrap curtain, the boards were scrap plastic and covered with blue paper and some pretty mesh material. I was really proud of it.It looked like a flimsy notebook. Unfortunately I no longer have it. It's probably lost in my room somewhere. *sad face*

When I showed my tutor at college one of my books, he directed me to my graphics teacher. A pro binder! He showed me his handmade collection and they really were lovely! Thus I refined my techniques and here I am now. Still stuck to some of my primitive techniques though. (Pressing fresh books under my pet rock as opposed to keeping them in a clamp. (The graphics teacher would punch me to the ground if he were to find out about my improper techniques.))

A while ago, I've mentioned meeting a guy after my Kingston interview, right? Well, he said he liked my books after seeing them in my portfolio. So he gave me his address and I made a book and sent it to him. He says he likes it. Woo! It was an A6 hard-bound, black covered in darker stripes with inlay paper consisting of old road maps, the stock paper being cartridge paper. May we meet again, little book!

And here it is! Pretty neat, huh?

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Oh, and the thing the book is on is another book. It's my Japanese stab bound sketchbook. A paperback.

Here are some tiny, tiny, little books I've made, based on Alice in Wonderland. Y'know, when she shrinks? The smallest one is just under an inch. I've drawn in it, illustrated Alice in Wonderland with a Pilot G-TEC-C4 pen. (Yeah, Had to get a little technical there. Haha)

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Book binding. A marriage between literature and art form.

"[Your manservant] puts in your hand a tale like this; you mourn the superstition of book sellers, which still inflicts uncut leaves upon humanity, though tailors do not send home coats with the sleeves stitched up..."
~Bob Roberts~

Mar 1, 2011

From interview to pub.

Hello my neglected blog!
Yesterday I went to Kingston for a portfolio interview at the university. Got lost at Euston station since the Northern line splits into 4 branches. Finally got to Waterloo and legged it onto the first available train (Accidentally whacking a few people in the leg with my portfolio on the way.) Luckily it goes to Surbiton.
Met my friend Lewis for lunch at Byron's where the burgers are amazing! Everything is cooked from fresh and they even rear their own beef! How awesome is that!? After lunch, hugged my friend goodbye and went back to work. I decided to head to the uni.

Wondered around Kingston and got lost again. (Not very good at directions, am I?) Finally found the main campus and had to ask the nice-lady-at-the-reception where the foosh the art campus was. She drew me a map and I got on my merry way. Eventually found the place with minutes to spare. Woo!

Was given a tour of the place and it was pretty good. Then came the interview part! Unlike any interviews before, this was a group interview. It was a first for me. They've already looked through our portfolios while we were given the tour. We sat around the table with fellow interviewees and were all asked random questions. "What superpower would you have?" We were all like "Eh?!" They asked me "What makes you angry?" I smiled "Euston underground station."

After the strange interview, we all gathered our stuff and began to leave, went outside and chatted about the interview and stuff. It was odd. In my experiences of interviews, we just take our interviews and leave without another word. It was really nice to chat about our experiences, college and art.

Eventually we moved on to a random pub and discussed thing further, showed each other our portfolios over a pint. I guess this was a bit of a rare opportunity for me to see someone else's work who wasn't a famous artist, yet have the same point of view. Speaking to these people, I realised that my view of the subject has increased. We all agreed we were all in the same boat but in our own separate bubbles. We all had similarities; education, love of art, interviews and UCAS. But most of all, We each always carry a sketchbook and stationary with us. I thought I was the only one! Looking through everyone else's was like peeking into their minds, these sketchbooks are our doodlings, our styles and our thoughts.

Before we left to go back to our respected parts of the country, we've concluded that illustration is an elusive art, we want to bring back penmanship not just concept, and we want to keep art alive.

To keep art alive..