As Deep Can Be

Last week I shared a new variation on my accordion book; The Road to Spring. Since then I have been working on an artist's book based on the variation. I used beautiful marbled paper from Crepaldi of Brazil and some sea green handmade paper from a local art store. I wanted some kind of subtle visual content so I carved rubber erasers into segments of a river. They can be turned and combined in a number of ways. I stamped them with VersaMark ink which is clear but leaves a watermark effect. To make the lines stand out a bit more, I used a white gel pen to highlight them. Below are pictures of the finished book.

San Diego Book Arts is holding their annual member show this fall at the James Allen Rose Gallery at Francis Parker School. Since the gallery space is set up for wall display,  we were asked to come up with book structures that can hang on the wall. I think this new book will do nicely.

Enjoy.

-Gina

Carved erasers and their stamped images.

As Deep Can Be by Gina Pisello 2016

Closeup showing stamped and inked lines.

Closed book.

Open in a spiral.

Artist Books in England

I am a member of two book arts organizations: San Diego Book Arts (SDBA) and Puget Sound Book Arts (PSBA). They are both very supportive groups that offer different experiences for their members. PSBA, in collaboration with the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England, in Bristol is holding an exhibit of PSBA artist's books this summer. I was honored to be asked to contribute to the show. You can see my books below and examples of all the other wonderful books here.

Enjoy.

-Gina

Small Migrations (2015)

Haikube (2015) -open

Haikube -closed

Spiral Atlases: playing with The Road to Spring book structure

I like to play with paper. I also like to invent new structures and then stretch, shrink, or change their folding patterns. Below are pictures showing two variations of my book The Road to Spring . The squares that form the base of the structure changed size from 4 inches down to 2 inches instead of staying the same size in the original version. I made a prototype on Wednesday with the squares centered and decreasing by 1/2 inch (see diagram 1). This made a very interesting model and got me thinking about other ways to have a graduated structure (see diagram 2). I hope you like the surprising results as much as I do. Here are my newest creations: Spiral Atlases (thanks Mom for the name).

Enjoy,

-Gina

Diagram of first variation.

Diagram of second variation.

Spiral Atlas #2 showing crease pattern. 

Note the notches cut where the squares meet.

#2 with creases collapsed.

#2 Side view.

Spiral Atlas #2 folded into Turkish map folds in each section.

#1 and #2 with finished Turkish map folded sections.

#1 with Hungarian map fold inserts. 

I used tracing paper hoping the marbling would still show.

#2 with gelatin printed paper inserts.

Spiral Atlas #2 finished.

Spiral Atlas #1 finished.

Oxford Blues: A Cut Paper Project

I have just finished a six week class with Bhavna Mehta called Cuts and Links. There are more ways to cut paper than I realized when I started. Bhavna challenged us to make a final project using the techniques we learned in the class. Here is mine. It is based on a map of Oxford England from 1758. I used elephant hide paper which cuts beautifully and folds well even when most of the paper is removed.
Enjoy.

-Gina

Oxford Blues, four views

Cut Paper Tiles

I am spending six Saturdays taking a paper cutting class with artist Bhavna Mehta. Last week we worked on cutting layers of colored paper to make tiles. We are also learning about negative and positive space as well as other paper cutting traditions like silhouettes. I am really enjoying stretching my experience and learning from a true paper master.

Enjoy.

-Gina

Silhouettes from week 2 class.

Template for my tile.

White layer is cut and grey layer is taped underneath.

White and grey are cut and black is taped under ready to be cut.

Finished tile with the cut black layer and a bottom white layer.

I saved the positive shapes when I was cutting the tile and glued them together to make this tile.

Crossroads

I have been playing around with the twist fold for a few days and came up with this paper sculpture in the process. I call it Crossroads. I hope you like it.

-Gina

Basic twist fold from square paper.

2 strips of vintage Japanese ledger paper are folded.

Stencils made from Japanese and western paper.

Crossroads

Artist's Book Mantra

I want to share my method for creating a new artist's book. I don't always do it this way, but often I do and maybe you do too...

Idea: What if I make a book using the twist fold, but connect four of them together on a single concertina folded sheet of paper?

Inspiration: For content, I remember Hedi Kyle showing us her insect stencils last weekend. I was expecting them to be clear plastic stencils with bugs cut out. On the contrary, they were pieces of blue paper that bugs had eaten into forming irregular and shifting shapes. I have some old Japanese books here in the studio that are riddled with insect trails. I grabbed one and used four

consecutive pages. The stencils change over the pages in interesting and random ways.

Mantra: Keep it simple!

Materials: Choosing materials usually comes down to what I have handy in the studio and today I chose a piece of hand made abaca paper (from Helen Hiebert) and some tracing paper that I colored with alcohol inks a while ago. I used soft wax crayons (by Tim Holtz) on the stencils and here are the results.

Enjoy,

Gina

Pages from old Japanese book with the insect trails I used in this piece.

Inked and stenciled pages before insertion. 

Note how the insect tracks change over the four pages.

Abaca paper with creases.

Starting to fold up the paper.

Twist folds complete.

Folds flattened.

Pages inserted.

Book backlit.