Along the way with this course I've made a number of different book types. In Module 3 I spent some time making rough books, and realised then that making the effort to make samples work is key to appreciating what a book type might offer further down the line. Certainly, approaching this part of chapter two I had preconceived ideas about what I thought might look good, but had to reassess those assumptions after I'd got underway with the work. It's always the case too that some books are simply more enjoyable to make than others regardless of whether you wish to pursue the design idea further.
In total I made 6 book samples for this activity: gate fold, pamphlet, tunnel, two types of accordion and a flag book. Each had their own merits for taking further. I'm open minded at this stage as to which, if any of these, I'll use in Chapter 10. All my samples were successfully free standing.
I used the same black thin card as a base for all of the books so they looked cohesive as a whole. I've listed the books in the order that I made them.
GATEFOLD BOOK
Starting out on this activity, this was the book idea that held out most opportunity to me. I had considered making a final book of elaborate doorways opening one after another, culminating in my own front door and concluding with a drawing of my hallway. I've not given up on that idea. I made rubbings from various old linocut plates as a base for this booklet.
PAMPHLET BOOK
I liked the idea of this kind of book and certainly the sample worked out very well. Although I only used once side of the pamphlet, using both sides would make for a really interesting free standing book. I used Keith Haring work for Module 5 to decorate this book
FLAG BOOK
Probably my least favourite sample and certainly to take this forward I'd need to consider working on both sides of the flags as well as the base the flags are attached to. On the whole I find the more complicated the design the less successful the outcome, but I can see a large panorama of a building would be exciting to present this way. I used some thick paper (300gsm) coloured with powdered watercolour pigment to get an intense colour base.
SIMPLE ACCORDION
This was an unexpected find, easy to make but a little different to other accordions. I really enjoyed making this little book and it would be great for displaying small details, maybe even added to a larger accordion. I used some old greek /coptic calligraphy I had done a few years ago for this.
TUNNEL BOOK
This was great fun to make, although I'm not sure this kind of free standing book will make a reappearance.
Definitely a very good option for the final chapter as the sewn insert pages would allow for additional drawings and notes. I used some test prints from a series of Aztec inspired playing cards (House of Spades, the fighters)
Getting stuff together
All of them together
Claire Gordon
20/02/21
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