for week 27 i transformed a canvas index card carrier into a little photo book to house pics that don't fit into my other photo albums or deserve their own photo book. like my mom's pics of the trip she took with friends to London in the late '60s. you can tell those girls had a BALL. i decided these gems will probably mean a lot to her travel buddy and best friend, Alaina.
i started this book with a piece of poster board first folded in half, lengthwise, then folded in an accordion with 6 panels, and then cut along the long seam up to the last panel. my grad school teacher Kendra Kopelke taught me this fold. i covered the poster board with deco paper trimmed in velvet ribbon. the trim is thicker than the paper, so the pics don't lie totally flat on each panel, but it's still a nice effect. i especially love the pop-out 4th and 5th panels of this fold, which you can see in the pic below.
altogether, there are 16 panels in this book. the finished, folded size is 4" x 4", just right for old school pics. i want to create another photo album like this one but with a thinner trim around the edges. that velvet ribbon is nice but hard to work with.
because i love the look and feel and spirit of the 60s, i added a couple of odd-out pics that capture the middle class black party scene of those times. Alaina will appreciate that along with what is probably the last pic she took with mom at her retirement party. she'll cry when she sees that one.
anyone out there still have vinyl from back in the day? i really must figure out what to do with all these crates of albums i've been lugging around since the early '70s, when i first moved from home to the dorms at good old St. Mary's College of Maryland. the crates have multiplied over the years.
now, every time we have to do anything in the home that requires moving those crates and other furniture/stuff (to paint, spring clean, etc.) my husband gives me that silent what-the-f*** look. i keep telling him that as soon as we manifest my dream studio-office, i'm going to make floor-to-ceiling wall collages of all the album covers AND buy CDs to replace the albums AND a new turntable to play those albums that can't be replaced by CDs.
PAUSE--I just realized while typing that last sentence why he keeps giving me that look.
anyway, while pillaging through one of my art bags last week for ideas for a new book, i came across a colony of 45s. you see what happened.
the first challenge was to create a strong binding seam to hold each record in place. although i used regular tape this time, i think i'll go with duck tape for future editions. covering the tape with paper was equally challenging, since the paper needs to have some elasticity to it, to stretch when the book opens.
when it opens, each record is a page in the book--or rather a chapter in the book. the music can serve as virtual pages. wouldn't it be nice to listen to the music from each record in this book? similar to those greeting cards with sound chips?
what an enticing challenge--to make another 45s book with sound chips! and pretty round covers, before/after the first/last records. i can hear my inner art critic already: "Good luck with that one, hon."
meantime, i'm off to complete a new book for week 29.
there are three things i love about this challenge to make a new book for each week of 2015:
- sharing my work with the world
- receiving feedback on the books
- combing my home and boxes of stuff for ideas
i've had this little canvas index card carrier for a while now but never used it; it just didn't work for me. still, i kept it because it's so unique and well made. i pulled it out again the other day, for the umpteenth time, to see what else it could be or do, and realized that by simply turning the thing on its side (with the silver clasp hook and elastic band on the right) it could be a book!
with a little cloth paper and framed picture embellishments on the outside covers and inside flap, it now has new life. reframe an object and transform its purpose.
as for the signatures, instead of putting index cards in those slots, i decided to use this book to keep old photos that don't fit into any of my other photo albums.
for almost 5 years i have labored to organize hundreds of pictures inherited from my mother along with my own boxes of pictures and photo albums. with the help of my aunt, Lorain, i have now found categories for all those pics and am creating new photo and story albums.
i've also release my attachment to many family pics--give it up, hon--and have started making special gift photo albums for folks who will appreciate original pics. this week's book supports that intention.
for week 27 i transformed a canvas index card carrier into a little photo book to house pics that don't fit into my other photo albums or deserve their own photo book. like my mom's pics of the trip she took with friends to London in the late '60s. you can tell those girls had a BALL. i decided these gems will probably mean a lot to her travel buddy and best friend, Alaina. 
