An interesting article on books, real and ebooks, art books, simply for reading

The Cover is Not the Book

and have discovered when I am covering them that it is a good idea to keep the covers, front and back, flat and smooth … so they glide into their space on the shelf, or sit comfortably in a stack by the bed.

Cover art work is usually only seen if the book is on the top of a stack, or is part of a special display. Homes and libraries don’t have shelf space for displaying book covers, only spines of books.

However, the spine can be decorated with all sorts of trims, because the spine is what we see most of when a book is on the shelf, and it doesn’t have to sit in close proximity with other books, or anything else.

But,with any book, it is what is inside which counts.

Love the cover of the scrapbook above, but it is a pain to get onto the shelf!

Filed under: Other Stuff ]]> http://stuffups.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/the-cover-is-not-the-book/feed/ 0 Judy B 2009 Scrap Books 032 http://stuffups.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/altered-book/ http://stuffups.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/altered-book/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:38:36 +0000 Virtual Quilter http://stuffups.wordpress.com/?p=2667 ]]> In 2003 I started altering a book.

It started as a hardcover non-fiction which I found in a library sale, thinking that my Dad would like it. He returned it with the rest of the books I had found for him after he finished reading them … and I had some Christmas cards with Aussie and humour theme, and I started playing with the two. Just a collection of cards in a scrap book … with a difference.

Nothing fancy … just removed some pages, replaced the volume with Christmas cards. Toyed with the idea of colouring the pages, but don’t like the mess of painting and there were too many pages to colour them with pencils or crayon. Besides there  wasn’t much page left by the time I added the cards!

Forward to Jan 2012.

I had a heap of cards I thought would be suitable for the altered book … and miracle of miracles … I was looking at stuff to bin when I found the book itself!

Lots of cards binned (we have recycling bin as well as rubbish), lots af cards added to the book, others sorted into a shoe box for other projects.

The book is now a bit over half full … and it is back on the shelf where it used to be, so maybe I will be able to find it a little more regularly in the future. Project has taken ten years to reach half way … and counting down to the finish!

Note to self … take a photo!

Sticker Shock

The Page Turner

La Macchina Botanica at Venice Biennale

Now I know why I can never find my books!

They have a life of their own when I turn my back.

Organising the bookshelf

The Joy of books

There is a cupboard in my sewing room which has held boxes of left over bits and pieces, nicely sorted into different families of designs, while instructions, if there were any, were in the filing cabinet, sometimes even with the patterns.

Over the last few months, when I have been home, I have been sorting and trying to work out how to keep a record of each design for future reference, while getting rid of the bulk of materials, plus boxes, folders and scraps of paper.

In the years since I last made the dolls I have been playing about trying different ways of making books. I intended keeping the doll details in simple scrap books, but I wanted to include actual samples … less some of the stuffing! However, even without stuffing the sample pieces added a lot of bulk to the books.

Luckily I was using spiral bound books, so I have pulled the spirals out and am working on loose pages. I am adding a folded strip of card (cut 2 inches wide and folded lengthwise) from the now empty folders to add bulk to the spine edge of the pages. Now the pages are sitting much better!

Next step will be to make covers, then stitch them together. Once again I have turned a simple job into a crafty project … and having some fun along the way. It would be much easier to follow instructions sometimes, but it never seems to happen like that for me.

The photos on the page above were taken at a workshop held in Country Craft and Fabrics, Minlaton (now renamed and moved to Port Vincent) … the workshop notes and/or published patterns were stored separately to the patterns I used to make dolls for sale, so I had to search for them as well!

With the pages shown here I want to create a book in a box … which will also contain a complete doll sample, complete with all her stuffing! I have very little idea how this will work at this point in time. The pages are A3 size and I have some A3 boxes which will form the box … I just have to work out how it will open for the book part!

Any advice will be gratefully accepted!

There are still some pages to be filled with samples of the body and dress under construction, but here is the doll I want to store in the box part of the book I am trying to work out how to make!

PS

A diversion(?) last year (2011) has been clearing out my parents house, including a great pile of photo albums. We decided that the bulk would be reduced if the photos were removed from the albums and stored in boxes … and those in those horrible self stick albums really needed to be somewhere else. Which means a whole heap of empty book covers … just ready to be covered with fabric, and filled with new pages! (If only all the covers matched the sizes of the pages!)

My design made up by a friend, Marie.

Just an excuse to bring this link to you!

Does Anyone Look Good From This Angle?

The CQ Glee Club Holiday Tunes

“Do you,” she wanted to know, ….

Every difficulty is a challenge …. persevere long enough at you can do it!