Book By Its Cover » Handmade

30 White Roosters

julia — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:58:54 +0000

I searched through my books for a Thanksgiving appropriate post today. And although I didn’t find a turkey book, I did find one of my favorites 30 White Roosters by BBIC writer Jess Rosenkranz. I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed this book here yet! It’s a teeny tiny book, the longer side just short of two inches. All completely handmade- handsewn, silkscreened cover and adorable endpages, and handpainted(!!!) on the interior. She made an edition of 175! Can you image painstakingly painting watercolor into each tiny illustration- that’s Jess! It’s a clever little tale about what happens when you order chicks in the mail and they grow up to be roosters. And sorry, but yes, there is an illustration of a delicious chicken dinner that I used on the homepage- obviously Jess’s quirky humor is apparent in this book. Hopefully Jess still has some of these incredible tiny books which you would be able to purchase from her site here (for only $14!).

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Blue Inks

julia — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:49:56 +0000

I’m always happy to see a new hand silkscreened book made by illustrator Andy Smith (see the last one I posted here). This time it’s a day in the life of the “Blue Inks”. Follow them as they eat eggs, drink coffee, kill flies, beat up some magentas and work at a factory. Printed in just a few colors in a limited edition of 200. Get yours here.

Thumb War

julia — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:08:03 +0000

1 2 3 4, I declare a thumb war. This book brought me back to my childhood days of car rides in the backseat with my sister. We played endless thumb war games that eventually led to one of us being hurt- usually me. The book takes you through one complete game from start to finish from the beginning bow to the different tricky techniques to a final victory. The drawings are only printed (on a Vanderhoogie press) in two colors but they are fairly transparent, so where they overlap creates a third brownish color. The artist, John Hersey played nicely with that overlapping, using it to show more detail in the hands. The cover is made wood and the title is laser cut out showing the bright colors underneath. This book like Rabbit Pox, is also part of the Small Plates series through the imprint of the SF Center for the Book. You can get your own right here.

Rabbitpox

julia — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:24:49 +0000

This just came in the mail and upon opening I had to hold my breath. This small entirely letterpressed(!!!) book, that comes in a little handmade box is part of the San Francisco Center for the Book’s Small Plates series. Besides being beautifully designed and illustrated it tells an informative true story about scary rabbitpox. A quote from the book: “American scientists have engineered an extra-deadly form of mousepox that kills all mice, even those that have been vaccinated, and much the same result has been accomplished with cowpox and rabbitpox.” Harper’s Magazine. The rest of the book pulls quotes from other places about this fatal disease and the more common smallpox for which nobody is vaccinated for anymore! The book is printed in two colors and the illustrations thoughtfully mimic info-graphics while still being adorable. You can learn more about Allison Weiner’s book, plus check out the rest of her fantastic portfolio, here.

Obsession

julia — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:19:00 +0000

Who doesn’t have obsessions? Mine are books, of course, but also glove molds and wedding cake grooms. I guess those are collections, obsessive collections. Anyway, this little zine is full of obsessions by different artists. For example, Gemma Correll illustrates her love for cats and Claire Lynch draws a series of old cameras titled “Snap Happy”. Lots of obsessive drawings about obsessions. Ok I’ll stop. With a cute silkscreened cover, this zine is available right here.

Le Dot

julia — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:00:27 +0000

I love the sense of humor in this little zine by Anthony Zinonos. On each page he has created a small tableau using a clipping from a photograph and one orange dot sticker. He has placed the dot sticker in a way that interacts with the photo and gives it a more comical meaning. Simply xeroxed and staple bound, it’s a fun one for your collection. You can get a copy for just 3 bucks here.

Nurturing Walls- Animal Art by Meena Women

julia — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:16:45 +0000

Between all the drama I am glad to post about such an exciting book. This new book from Tara Books explores the traditional artwork created by women of the Meena tribe. The tribe, located in the Aravalli Hills of India, live in mud homes with tiled roofs. They paint graphic decorative designs all over the walls and floors of their village in white paint. This is a tradition that gets passed from generation to generation between women- mothers teach their daughters. The drawings are mostly of animals, birds, farm life and festivals but the authors noticed that “nurture” seemed to be a reoccurring theme in their work. They decided to focus on that when creating this book. And you might wonder what happens to these drawings over time: “Through all this, the artists know that the images will not last, and that everyday use and wind and weather will fade away the most beautiful and laborious work. Yet the outpourings continue, and it is like an awareness of a full life in the face of mortality.” This book does an incredible job of documenting the artwork. It includes many images of the artwork covering surfaces of all kinds, both finished and in progress. But the best part is that between these pages there are brown craft paper pages where actual Meena designs have been silkscreened in white. I love how these give the reader the full effect of what these designs look like in person. You can get this gorgeous book here

It’s A Funny Place, Japan

julia — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:19:41 +0000

This long concertina book by illustrator Juliana Wang explores the idea of being a tourist in Japan. Based on her own experiences, through drawings and short text, Juliana tells about what she expected to find and what she did find on her trip. The images nicely connect from one scene to the next, matching the long format. Printed in just one color on very light pink paper, Juliana is able to get a range of emotion through her drawings which waver between tight lines and very loose brush strokes. Japan seems to be a popular place to inspire a travel journal. You can buy this book here and check out more from Juliana on her site.

22 Embraces

julia — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:58:47 +0000

This beautiful handmade book was created by artist Helen Hawley. It’s a long accordion hinged with linen tape that comes in a cloth covered embossed clam shell box (the box was made by Portfolio Box). Each page has a loose ink drawing of two people embracing. The facing page has one word that describes the type of embrace. Each page is tabbed showing the number of the embrace. Helen hand cut these with a razor. A friend brought this book over to share with me and I’m really glad I got the chance to look at in person. Besides being able to marvel about how perfectly crafted it is, it’s a pleasure to experience the opening of this big strong box to turn the delicate pages within. To get more info about this book you can contact Helen at hawley.helen[at]gmail.com

Varanasi

julia — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:19:42 +0000

Belgian artist Boris Servais sent over his latest creation, Varanasi, a handmade book he wrote and illustrated. It’s about the city Varanasi, in India, which he describes as “a huge maze of dirty lanes packed with streetdogs, cows, Indians on motorbikes and travelers in colourful clothes.” He illustrates his words in sketchy ink line drawings with some tiny little hatch marks for shading. I love his loose style. The book sewn together and the left over string is used to wrap around the book to keep it closed. You can buy a copy from his site right here.