Drawmo 8: books again

o hai.

I always feel a bit sheepish after a blurt like that. Thanks to everyone thinking good thoughts my way; I walk around in a dream when I feel like that, until I get it out of my system. I can't remember how I used to get things out of my system before blogging. My diaries, of course, but they're such miserable reads when your audience is yourself. And I probably made life hell for any boyfriend of the time. Blogging is healthier. And so life-affirming.

Ahem.

Well, another busy thursday. Only one assessment, but a lovely one, by a student who made quiet, spare, powerful books about her grandparents, almost grieving for her loss before they even die. They have been giving away their things, keeping only the furniture and things that remind them of their younger days, and their house is taking on the slightly haunted feeling of a museum. She conveyed that beautifully.

I set the colophon for my book, which took all day because there is so much information and I was setting it in 8-point type, very bad for the eyes.

You don't know what a colophon is? Anyone who makes artist's books take note: the colophon is an essential ingredient of a non-production-line book. It's a bit like the copyright page at the front of a mainstream book. You give all the information the reader wants/needs to know.

Your name
The title
Who wrote the text (or designed the content)
Who made the images (if any)
What the book is made of (papers, type, printing process)
What the binding consists of (perfect bound, case bound, stab bound, etc, and by whom)
Where the book was made, what year, and in what edition (or if it's a unique state).

It doesn't have to be complicated; maker, year and edition can be the simplest form. Or if you care about who appreciates the work you've done, or if you need to acknowledge collaborators or funding bodies, the colophon is the place to do it.

It's usually the last page in the book, or sometimes the inside back cover. Or wherever the hell you want it to be, go nuts.

Ahem ahem. Sorry, that's the rant of a believer. I see so many good books made and left to fate with no indication of who did all the work. It's sad.

Then I went to book binding class. And again I'll use a working sketch for my Drawmo contribution.



I'm making a box to house the limp-bound book I finished last week. When I've done the whole lot I'll show it off.

So buggered. Sleepy bo-bos. Bai.