Lunar Eclipse

I love eclipses, especially lunar ones as you can watch them without any special equipment. The eclipse on Sunday was one of the best. The moon rose almost fully eclipsed and I was able to take a few pictures before it got too dark and my basic camera reached the limits of its capabilities.

Enjoy.

-Gina

Not sure what happened in this one, but I kind of like it. 

Cover to Cover Workshop

Seth Apter came to town this week to teach two workshops for San Diego Book Arts. I had the pleasure of taking "Cover to Cover" in which we used old book covers as pages for a mixed media book. I haven't done much mixed media in my art life, although I adore it. Seth made it both accessible and fun by breaking down the process into its component parts. We made many layers of color and texture that managed to form a cohesive whole when we were finished. Seth kept reminding us that an ugly page was just one layer away from beauty and if we didn't like something keep adding to it until we did. Good advice and a good mantra for life as well. Thanks Seth for a wonderful experience!

Enjoy the pictures.

-Gina

Variations on a Theme

My recent post The Road to Spring was pretty popular and I have been working on some variations on this book and structure ever since. The newest one is a story about my dad and his love of the night sky. I have also played with the bottom of the structure adding a sink fold so that the book can stand upright. Other variations include making smaller books and making it with 4 or 6 pages. I hope you like the pictures below and enjoy Companion Star. The first line of the story is: "Dad, like Plato, thought that every soul had a companion star to which it returned after death..."

I hope you enjoy these variations on a theme and create your own version as well.

-Gina

Companion Star , by Gina Pisello.

Companion Star has 4 pages instead of the 5 in The Road to Spring.

Bottom of the book.

Companion Star with the star pages removed to reveal the story.

Closeup of the text pages.

Top of 4 page variation.

Side view of 4 page variation showing flat base.

Bottom of 4 page variation showing sink folds. The inner blue pages have corresponding sink folds too.

New Accordion Book

I was playing around with a straw paper one day while waiting for my burger to arrive and I folded this structure. When I got home I cut some paper (2.25 x 23 inches) and recreated the same pattern with a couple of twists. It made the 2 page square "book" you see in the pictures below. There was a nice interaction between the front and back side of the paper so I colored or decorated each differently to accentuate the contrast. In the first example, I wrote two versions of a Haiku one on each page and then wrote the story of the origin of the poems in white pen around the folded structure as shown. When the book is folded up into the 2 page version there is a nice interplay between the black poem text and the white story text. When the book is unfolded parts of each side appear and the text is randomized.

The second example was made using a stencil and stamps from Seth Apter's new line. I used the stamps in red on one side and the stencil in blue on the other to give contrast when it is folded. I like the randomness of where the graphic elements appear in the folded version. You could plan out placement, but I like the surprises that arise this way.

If you can think of a name for this structure please tell me in the comments section. I am stumped.

Enjoy,

Gina

Finished book folded to show two pages and Haiku.

Back of folded book.

Book unfolded showing triangle accordion folds.

How the book wasvfolded when I wrote white text (front and back).

Second example showing book closed.

Book open, but folded.

Front and back of unfolded book.

University of South Dakota Altered Book Show: Bound & Unbound III

Today's post is all about altered books. I love making and seeing altered books. It's a way to recycle old books that no one reads anymore and it is amazing to see how many ways people can alter a book. I hope you check out the Bound & Unbound digital exhibit. Be prepared to be inspired.

Here are my two entries in the show.

-Gina

Alternative : Topographic carving in an old German book. The beach rock matches the marbled endpapers perfectly and adds some weight to the piece.

Stone Mountain, GA : Topographic carving of Stone Mountain, GA showing both positive and negative elevations. The sedimentary rock happened to be almost the same shape as the base of the mountian.