Book Arts and Paper in Japan

I recently took a trip to Japan, a paper lover's paradise. My husband and I spent a week in Kyoto visiting gardens, temples, shrines and other local sites. We also took a shinkansen or bullet train to Hiroshima to visit the Atomic Dome and Peace Park. I left one of my crane books, shown below at the Sadako memorial. Visiting Hiroshima was an incredibly moving experience.

Of course, the trip included visiting lots of paper shops. I went to Morita as well as Kira Karacho. Both are institutions in the Kyoto area where paper making has a very long history. Kira Karacho is a store founded by the a family of karakami makers that began in 1624. They produce traditional fusuma sliding doors and wallpaper, but Kira began this stationary store in 2004 as a way to reach new audiences. Antique wood blocks are used to print on washi paper.

It was while we were visiting the store for the second time that we noticed the small shopping arcade has a gallery on the third floor. It  showcases artwork by students at Kyoto Seika University. We stopped in and noticed some handmade books in a side area. At first, I thought they were for sale, but as I looked around I realized it was a book arts exhibit. My husband quipped that only I could stumble upon a book arts exhibit 6000 miles from home. It was small, but lovely with a good

variety of books. Please enjoy the images and this brief description of an indescribably wonderful trip to Japan.

-Gina

Crane book I made and left at the Peace Park memorial.

Sadako statue at the Hiroshima Peace Park.

The eternal flame with the Atomic Dome in the background, Hiroshima Peace Park.

Fusuma sliding doors in our Ryokan.

Examples of books at the b. only book 10 exhibit.

Information about the book artists (I assume).

Cube Book Workshop

I got to spend last Sunday afternoon with five talented women in my Cube Book Workshop. It was offered through San Diego Book Arts. We played a word game called The Exquisite Corpse to generate content for our books, colored our paper using Distress Inks and folded our way to finished cube shaped books. The books have 4 pages that are folded inserts and everyone used different colors and techniques to make their books unique. I hope seeing these pictures will inspire you to try this structure.

The red triangular book was made by my mom, Faye after I taught her the cube book structure. I am including the pictures so you get an idea of one of the many variations you can do with this folded work.

Enjoy!

-Gina

Faye's 3 tiered triangle book.

Nancy K's colored pages.

Linnea, Janis, and Jade use dye inks to color their paper.

Nancy K. and Nancy W.  are hard at work coloring their paper.

Linnea folds up her book.

Nancy W. inserts pages into her colorful book.

Janis works on folding her last page.

Nancy W.'s finished book.

Janis' finished book open.

Jade's finished book with the pages removed.

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.