~A Bookbinding of Comic Proportions~

This book has 30 folios, so about 120 usable pages.

The two Mica covers shown here are connected by three strips of Teflon paper (which are hidden by the kettle stitches).

The Mica covers create a vintage feel, over the comic strip.

I can't believe you're getting married in That!

• Why?
•  'Cause honey, white is NOT your color!
• .......
• Oh, come on! You knew that already, right??
• .......

• I didn't think I was that harsh. I believe in honesty...
• And how's that working for you?
• I'm surrounded by idiots...

Shown is here is the book open to my hand-chosen endpaper.

The first page.

Close-up of the french link and kettle stitch binding.

             I made this artist book as an assignment introduced by my lovely and talented book arts tutor, Marisol Ardon. This particular book is bound with the french link and kettle stitch. I feel so connected to the past just knowing that this used to be how all books are made. There are many different bookbinding stitches to be learned, and this one, so far, is my absolute favorite. I love that when this book is complete, the stitches are not so taut that it is hard to maneuver the book, but not so loose that the book falls apart. 

            I'm really happy with this book because I really put a lot of time into making the cover art. At first I was just going to use old family pictures that I have, but then I decided that I want a theme. The theme is using only pictures of my close female relatives, taken when they were 20 years old. Not 21, not 25, but 20 years old. The searching process for pictures with this theme was difficult in itself. When I had found maybe ten photos, I decided they would look more interesting if the women were interacting. So the comic strip was born!

                The few people who have already seen the comic think it is quite funny, even if they don't know the people in it. Even funnier, though, when they do. What I find funny about my comic, is that the women are my mom, my aunt, my grandmother, and myself. But we all act as if we are sisters here, and that's okay, because we're the same age. The comic doesn't quite show through the hard mica covers without direct sunlight, but I already knew that would happen. I just love this book that I've made so much because I know all the effort that went into it, plus now I have a personalized journal!