Sunday, January 27, 2013

Putting Frustration into Art - Making Mini Books

When life gives you . . . no, not lemons. I love lemons! When it gives you something that doesn't sit very well in your soul . . . make art.

For those of you who are my friends on Facebook, you know that "something" happened recently to make me take a break from the place. Thankfully I pretty much view every happening in my life as a learning opportunity, so rather than letting this event eat me up, I put myself into my art.

Other than writing a few poems, I have been playing around with book making. I wanted to re-use found products from around the house and I was so excited when I found the perfect item.

Every year at Christmas, I buy my sister a box of Botan rice candy for her stocking. This year, my husband wound up buying some for his family as well. I took one of the boxes and started envisioning what I could make from it. Yes, a book!

Since the cardboard is a little thin, I glued red cardstock to the inside of each cover. I decided to have the covers sitting in opposite directions, so when you flip the book over vertically, the opposite cover will be right side up (see the spine photo for clarification).




I made six signatures of five folded sheets, giving the book a total of 120 pages (fronts and backs).



After sewing the signatures together, I decided I did not want to stitch or glue the book to the cover; I tied it on instead. I'm very happy with the way the cord looks. I think it adds to the Asian style.  



Now I'm feeling inspired. What other trash can I use to make books out of?

Thanks for reading. I hope to be back to Facebook soon. In the meantime, have some lemonade and read a good book!


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21 comments:

  1. Lovely, lovely, lovely! That's a wonderful book and I love red in anything, maybe in a past life I was a red laquer maker or something. What will you fill the book with? I do that all the time...make books I mean. If this works, here's a link to one I made and posted about so you can see it: http://veronicaroth.com/?p=881 If not and you'd like to see it just search "1984" on the site because I did some found and erasure poetry from 1984. Oh, now you've done it, you've inspired me to make another one! Off to check out your link in a moment. I don't really know what happened Linda, but I hope you're ok. I had an attack from someone I thought was a WSS friend on FB and it really threw me (because I have no guard for those kinds of things). I was upset for days and so I hope you're ok.

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    1. Hi Veronica, I tried to find that link the other day and it kept coming up to a blank page, but I got there just now. I loved the post and commented on your page. Thank you for sharing the link!
      I am feeling better. It was a strange thing that happened out of the blue - and something I didn't see coming. Thank you for your nice words and I'm sorry that happened with you. People do "surprising" things sometimes. All we can do is keep marching on.
      Thank you for visiting - and again, thanks for the link to your post.
      xo

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  2. Nice work, Linda! I love rice candy...and it makes me hungry just looking at the covers. I like the way you wrapped the cords together, too. What a great idea for reusing items!

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    1. Thanks so much, Jennifer! That rice candy is kind of addicting. If only my boxes weren't empty. :-D

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  3. Love it, Linda! I thought I was the only one who liked Botan Rice Candy. It's nostalgic for me. I also love your mini book! Sorry for your frustrations. Glad you got to direct your energy creatively.

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    1. Hi Romelle, It seems there are a few of us rice candy fans here. Thanks for visiting and for your nice words!
      :-)

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  4. I've never heard of rice candy! The book looks great! You cool recycler, you!

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    1. Why, thank you, Mel! Yummy candy. You should try it!

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  5. I really like these! I am a big fan of packaging, and will often buy something in the grocery store based on package design alone. I love the idea of reusing it!

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    1. Thank you, Rebecca! Funny how cool packaging can make us want to buy something, huh?

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  6. As usual, your creativity astounds me! You can fill the book with your lovely poems! What a treasured gift it would make! I have to agree with Victoria, red it the perfect color!

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  7. Lovely work Linda! I too love lemons...love making books and am presently grateful to be able to use art to help me through some life challenges. Keep on creating!

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    1. Thanks so much, Kim! I love that we have so much in common. Thank you for stopping by and commenting!

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  8. That's fantastic, Linda! I love it.
    I'm going to have to do that for my toddlers.
    Thanks for the inspiration!!

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    1. Thanks, Becca! I would love to see what you guys come up with!

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  9. I love Botan rice and rice candy...but most of all I love repurposing materials to make something fresh and new. How wonderful.

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    1. Aaww .. another fellow rice candy lover. Thanks for stopping by, Lara! :-)

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  10. Hah, you did a wonderful thing with such ease :-) Amazing how human brain works in creative tracks.

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