Saturday was all about making book structures – the pyramid book and the flag book – with Cindy and Sandy.  We worked on design within the structure, i.e. what works for each book structure, and what makes for an interesting, and exciting book.

We began by looking over our paste papers and choosing the papers we wanted for the pyramid book, which is a four-sided pyramid that has a clever little closing at the top, and then opens to reveal an inner space for additional design applications, text, drawings, etc.

The structure required a bit of measuring and careful gluing, as well as learning how to make hinges, but Cindy has created a template that makes the construction of the book so much easier.  A metal plate lies under the template and small magnets make it possible to hold the triangles in place while taping one triangle to each of the sides of the square base.

It’s always great fun to learn various tricks of the trade from the professionals, and to share these skills and tricks with others.

Our final pyramid books turned out beautifully, inspired by papers we made on Day One to create these unique books.

 

In the afternoon, we turned our attention to flag books, practicing how to make a perfect accordion fold, a la Hedi Kyle.  If you don’t know Hedi Kyle, and most people don’t, she has been a trailblazer in the artist book world.  Her most recent book, The Art of the Fold, is a wonderful book to add to your bookmaking library.

The 16-section accordion was our first step, followed by making the hard covers to hold our three levels of flags.  The flags are the final step, but truly, the most important step from a design point of view.  Flag books seem ingenious, but are actually cinematic in the way they unfold.  And they offer some wonderful ways to consider time, layering, narrative, and an enthusiastic embrace of materiality and artistry.  Take a look at some of the results!