New Artist Book: The Librarian

I have a good friend on campus who is a librarian. Recently, our library was clearing out a bunch of old books, so, knowing I often destroy and recreate old books, she called me to come over and take a peek. What a bounty! So I made the first book out of this bounty for her.

Original 1951 book

This is what I started with. It's a collection of Shakespeare Surveys, 38 whopping volumes worth, written in 1951. I thumbed through them, and even for an English major, it was pretty boring stuff! Out came the text block.

Front cover

From there, I got out the spray paint and stencils and went to town creating the exterior cover and the signature covers. I used a basic pamphelt stitch to sew in three signatures. I used basic Utrecht drawing paper for the spray painting and then used Canson mixed media paper for the actual text blocks.

Inside front cover

Between first and second signatures

Between second and third signatures

Inside back cover

After gluing on the outside cover and folding it over into the inside, I covered the inside covers with old writing paper and added the pink washi tape for a little extra bit of Kelly bling.

 

Back cover

I didn't do this all in one session, mind you. With everything else happening in my little world, this was completed over the span of about three weeks.

 

Now that I have the pattern down, 37 more volumes to go! As I work through the rest of the stack, I'll probably vary the stitch pattern up a bit, adding in some long stitch or other variations on long stitch and pamphlet stitch. I definitely have more than enough to keep me busy!