Yamazaki Yo ~ 山崎曜

A nice looking volume from Yamazaki Yo, Japanese bookbinder. 

Three Completed Books

The three books from the last entry were not A5. They were B6. The blue and red ones are novels. The yellow one is a lined journal. They are all about 180+ pages and all of them have book cloth made out of scraps. The yellow journal is made out of an old t-shirt, including the camouflaged eight.

Here are the endpapers. The blue one has heavy light blue washi (Japanese paper) while the red one has Japanese-y motif paper. And the yellow one has thick, brown washi. 

Three Books

Here are three books, with printing, that I hope to case in soon. The top two are novels and the bottom one is a lined journal of about 185 pages. I believe they are A5 in size. I'll have to check. 

The cloth I'm going to use as bookcloth is in the bottom picture. I'm recycling an old shirt (yellow), and using scraps I was given at a street arts-and-crafts fair last year. After buying some and showing the seller what I was going to do ~ bind books ~ they were happy to help and gave some scraps. Very helpful and I'm glad I'm finally make use of them.

Big Bookstore

A large bookstore not so close to my house.

Rhinorrhea w. Feet

I'm making a novel/experience. Or a novel experience. Here's the thing, I have created a book of fiction with a bunch of stories, not short stories, but stories nonetheless. There's the main story, which is about a man with aphasia and cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea  ~ his brains are leaking out his nose ~ and is in and out of a coma. And all the stories that weave in and out of his mind. Here's the first page of the book.

The title is Tuna Imagination. There's no relation to the title and the content. There's no tuna, no fish, no Joe Walsh LPs. There is however, imagination. Here is the book with endpapers attached and my feet. Plus the cover which is awaiting book cloth for the cover.

There are even doodles on the naked cover ~ dimensions for the cover.

Simple Up and UpCycling

This is Simple Up, a 200-page lined notebook with a unique feature. The front and back covers are made up of book boards. Four, as a matter of fact. 

I didn't have large enough book boards for this A5-size book so I glued and buttressed two pieces for the front and two pieces for the back.

Why? I kind of told myself that I should use the supplies I have before I buy more. Using smaller book board pieces for larger projects is part of this as is slapping that yellow strip of book cloth on the front; it may have looked like a scrap but it is being put to good use ~ to indicate the front. Also, the bottom part is leftover book cloth from this book:

This is Journal Kotoba, a B6-size lined journal with Japanese-English translations in the margins for those who want to learn a language one word at a time.

The rough paper is nice, the strings are added for effect, and the metal slip of a ring is added to contrast the softness of the cover paper. It's 187 pages, mas o menos. It's fun to hold and you can learn another language to boot. What fun, eh?

UnRavel Me

A book of art about books by Tahereh Mafi. In book art form. In other words, book art as book art.

Silent Video on Making a Book

Here we have a silent movie on making a book. You can learn and explore and be creative.

Bookbinding Basics

Sewing on a frame is nice if you have a frame. Otherwise, we need a flat surface like a table or we end up sewing the text block in our laps. (Picture from Jeff Peachy)

Parts of a book. Now, you can make your own.

The Skins of 160 Donkeys

I was thinking of making a book about Tuna and the Imagination so I googled those terms and got a bajillion photos of John Lennon and recipes with fish. Not what I was looking for so I dove deeper into the sea of books only to stumble happily upon the Codes Gigas (And for the best original title: Codes Gigas, meaning Giant Book.) A very large demonic book indeed. From everyone's favorite crib sheet, wikipedia:

• The codex is believed to have been created by Herman the Recluse in the Czech Republic. Records in the codex end in the year 1229. From 1477–1593 it was kept in the library of a monastery in Broumov until it was taken to Prague in 1594.
• At the end of the Thirty Year's War in  1648, the entire collection was taken as plunder by the Swedish army. From 1649 to 2007 the manuscript was kept in the Swedish Royal Library.
• In September, 2007, Codex Gigas returned to Prague on loan from Sweden until January 2008, and was on display at the Czech National Library.
  
  At 92 cm (36.2in.) tall, 50 cm (19.7in.) wide and 22 cm (8.6in.) thick it is the largest known medieval manuscript. Weighing 74.8 kg (165 pounds), Codex Gigas is composed of 310 leaves of vellum allegedly made from the skins of 160 donkeys.
  
  This tome has a whole bunch of books rolled up into one: new and old testaments, josephus' history of the jews, hippocrates' medical stuff and, of course, a couple of few pictures of the devil. Rumor has it it was made by Herman in one night, with the help of the devil. Quite an impressive output, if you ask me.

Video Number One: Codes Gigas en Espanol with creepy music. Please study Spanish and watch this cool video.

Video Numero Dos En Inglés. Por favor, estudiar español y luego ver este corto video.

While a super find and intriguing, it didn't help with my Tuna and Imagination project. Maybe I must dig even deeper.

Creating a Notebook (1)

I printed out two notebooks and my Epson only failed me once. Well, twice if you count its inability to print without all ink ports containing ink, even if you are printing only black but the yellow ink well has run dry. Okay, three times if you also include the nifty and unique way it left a very faint un-inked, non-colored streak down the middle of most pages.

The notebooks are lined, with page numbers (1 ~ 111), and B6 in size. Included here are three pictures showing before and after being sewn, including punching the holes. Eventually, and by that I hope to mean within the next week, these notebooks should be cased in with a soft cover with a design on the front cover - assuming Mr. Epson (didn't he invent the electric lightbulb?) cooperates with the printing...In color!

When the covers are being installed I will post the next installment of "Creating a Notebook" Stay tuned!?

More bookbinding, with audio, at http://tedorigawabookmakers.podbean.com

Making Books / Teaching Children Well

No need for lots of fancy-smancy equipment if you want to make a book. Here's a video showing you how to make a book with only paper, scissors, and a magic marker (optional).

And another one that requires a needle and thread plus paper. Both could probably be made easily in a quiet afternoon when the clouds are ominous and impending.

Hope you learned something enjoyable. Maybe even teach your children.

Frank 'n Dracula Plus

Jammed up three books today: one link-stitched lined journal and two plus novels. These were sewn on cords. One was burned over a gas stove - for authenticity - and ripped, wrinkled, and moisturized. Pictures are of the three and sample pages. The Plan is to case them in tomorrow and present one as a gift.

Novels: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; Dracula by Bram Stoker; The Vampyre by John Polidori. Mary's and John's were literally written on the same night in the same house.

Cool Houses for the ENTIRE family.

Hakka Houses in Fujian province, China. Small family homes for up to 500 people. Made of egg whites and rammed earth. Some of these dudes are over 300 years old.

http://swipelife.com/2009/10/15/chinas-hakka-houses/

Ritz Recycled

Good morning everyone. I have succeeded in pushing my personal envelope. Here are two pictures - front and back - of a 160-page lined journal. I have recycled a Ritz cracker box for the covers but that is not the envelope-pushing bit.

The enveloped that was pushed are the corners. I believe this is called quarter or half binding; related more to finely crafted leather bindings than to Ritz cracker boxes. However, it was my first and one that I'm going to use on other books as well. Especially lined or unlined notebooks because it gives the allusion of a school notebook and its image of hard work, doodling, and dozing off in class... Hold on.