Bookbinding 101

On October 31, 2011 I submitted the final projects in the CBBAG 'Introduction to Bookbinding' course I've enjoyed over the past year.  Though I will never be a fine press bookbinder or a conservator I have learned to appreciate the book and its parts in a new way.  It was a bit of a marathon near the end as I finished off the final two books for submission after many protoypes over several months.  Here is much of the work in progress:

Doesn't yet look like much of a book but with the addition of the covers there is a distinct turning point:

From this point the text blocks are pasted into the covers and put into a press to dry:

Et Voila:

At the same time I was working on a grant.  Who knew that was so much work!?  Well, I guess I've learned after several attempts so far this year but the process continues to overwhelm.  The goal is to have a grant package in place (ideally a successful one) that I can merely tweak to make it up-to-date and ready to go.  A workshop presented by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts along with the Canada Council was extremely helpful but came close to the deadline so I was an editting fool for a few days. 

And I continue to carve like an obsessive compulsive maniac.  I was channelling my inner teenager when I made this:

This was for an event at SNAP before Hallowe'en called Monster Madness.  Several of us carved a head, torso and feet that could be mixed and matched to fun effect as below:

I had doodled my way through junior high and high school and was likely told that was a waste of my time. 

The pieces of the artistic puzzle are in place.  I have my images, printmaking, bookbinding, and early November my new, large, infinitely sexy home studio will be complete - just in time for the long, lovely winter.  You might think I planned it all this way but sometimes you simply have to roll with the universe to see how things might work out.  It's been years of learning and doing preparatory work rather than artwork.  The fun begins now.