448 artists' books: unique book.

our final in artists' books was pretty wide open — unique was the only criteria. i experimented with many ways to display a few of my poems. at first i wanted to use bubble wrap as the cover to a poem i called 'reaction.' i wrote it minutes after coming out of sedation. it's very sporadic and choppy and sort of insane, so i figured the bubble wrap kind of said institution walls... but it never came to fruition.

then i also explored a poem i wrote called 'come full circle.' i attempted to create it, but failed miserably. it's a little hard to explain, but basically i typed it out onto 8 sequential circles, each getting smaller as you got to the middle. i printed each on card stock with a rivet at the center point so that you can rotate each of the layers as you read it. well, the biggest problem was that i couldn't get the circles cut nice enough and then the laser toner started rubbing off on my hands and it all went sour. with more time and patience, i think it would be really cool...

so, lastly i opted for a fairly easy production, but i love the result: matchbook.




i designed the logo for this matchbook on a whim. i wanted a printmaking feel so i borrowed the 'woman' art from printmaker, colleen kinsella, and added some touches of my own to give it the feeling i wanted including the type. i printed it on watercolor paper for the soft feel and vintage edges. on the inside, i cut a thin slice of book board, dipped it into red candle wax and poof, you have matchbook.

during the last week, i went ahead and made a new cover for my narrative book too. this time i wanted the image on the cover to be more clear so that you could see my reflection in the photo to really capture that the book is titled 'Etta and I."

i also wanted to bind it with some thicker thread and introduce some metal (bolts) to finish it off. well, after that was all said and done, both my professor and my wife feel that the original green cover was better — more real and grungy as opposed to this blue one which was very clean and proper. i have to agree, since the inside is very weathered as well as the story, a grungier cover matches. so, i'll be putting the green cover back on, but this time with some leather bindery. here's the cleaner, blue version that will soon be changed back:





here's the original.