Remember, back in this post, how I said that in my book class this session we were making three editions of one design? And then I showed you how I had made the lino cuts and printed them on a press? Well, ta-da! they're done.
To create covers for the accordian-folded prints, we wrapped squares of book board in sheets of this beautiful book cloth, which is smooth on the back side, but slightly nubby and linen-textured on the front. Around the table on the days when we made covers, participants were working with bright lime, royal blue, and lovely hazelnut cloth. I chose this deep wine color because it seemed to best fit the mood I was going for with my prints. Getting a perfectly tight wrap is hard, as you can see from the couple of small bubbles in my cloth above, but it was a great learning experience.
I'm happy with how these turned out. I love the slight differences in how each one printed - some are more saturated with ink and some less, some have the three sections of the image lined up more perfectly than others. I love the color of the covers against the black-and-white of the print. And I love that they were finished on Valentine's Day, and dated as such. A labor of love...
One of this trio has already flown the coop, given as a wedding present to my dear friend, Mariza, and her new husband, Tim. For them, I wanted to add some kind of title to the front cover, both to mark the occasion and to underscore its bookiness. (Obviously this is not a traditional book with multiple pages. What makes it a book instead of just an image is the way it is read left to right, the folds, and especially the covers. Deliniating the front cover from the back really helps that along.) I didn't particularly want to add text, though, since I was pretty happy with "Start here" standing alone. In the end, I decided 2013 - both the year the book was made and the year their marriage was made, summed it all up more simply than any words could. So I painted 2013 on the front cover with white acrylic.
2013: Start here.
Indeed.
(As always, I welcome your thoughts and reactions in the comments! And for more of my (wildly dissimilar) endeavors in bookmaking, check out Dress, Rainbow Bright, Triple Spiral and My First Book.)
