It is hard, as a Grandma, to give gifts to teenagers, even those I know and love. Video games, music , and drumming are Jasper’s favorite things, and I know next to nothing about them.
So I’m making him a gift that is all about him. Literally.
I have culled and printed 60 photographs from his 14 years (so far) of life, put them in order, and written rhyming couplets to give the book some ‘bounce’. For the two page spreads, the parts of the couplet aren’t always visible at the same time. But here is one where they are.
I made the book with directions from several books and Ruthie Inman, and I am pleased with it.
It is about 60 pages long and has taken about two weeks to get this far, working pretty obsessively.
I know it is wonky and some cuts are slightly askew. If I worried about them, I would never be able to make it at all. So wonky it is.
I am very pleased with this project, wonk and all. I hope Jasper will keep it for a while, returning it to me every now and then so I can continue his life story.
The summer activities continue! Sunday was the Mt. Tabor Art walk. We covered a lot of ground, met some lovely people, and saw a lot of art!
We decided to take the bus to get around, and mapped it out ahead of time with Trimet’s online maps. Auntie Bridgett also marked up a paper map so we knew where we were going.
We took snacks and water to avoid hungry-grumpiness and caught the number 14 to get to our first artsy neighborhood.
First on our tour was Georgina Ottavarino, who does collage and hand-made books. Her work is so precise and colorful, and she was so good at explaining things, I got inspired to do some more of both!
Georgina’s little studio is set in her backyard garden. Everything about her yard was peaceful and inspirational. I never wanted to leave.
Our next stop was a house where three artists were sharing space, and I visited with Tami Katz, who does beautiful fused glass. We talked about doing art with friends over Zoom and Skype during the pandemic shutdown, like I do with Ruthie Inman. I guess we all found ways to stay happy.
Bridgett and I ate our peanut butter and jam sandwiches sitting on a curb in the sun, enjoying the tree-lined neighborhood and the conversation of folks going by.
Our next group of artist studios were about a mile north, so we walked a block and caught the number 71 and then the 15 up the hill, to save our leg muscles. We found jeweler and artist Jo Brody’s art displayed in the front porch, and her husband Mark’s mosaics around back.
Jo does wonderful work, but I was there for the mosaics!
Mark’s work was inspirational. Large and small, quirky or not, comic or poignant, he does it all.
Mark told me about his work in progress, a giant cement toy jack, currently in his basement. When it is finished, it will be moved (not an easy task) to Lake Oswego for their Gallery Without Walls this summer.
We walked up the street and found Pat Stevens, who makes prints. I love her work, and how she uses bits she doesn’t like as quilty pieces! We talked about getting together with grand daughters who live far away. Her Elena is in Montana, much closer than you are in Denmark!
When our eyes were full, it was nearly 3:00 and time for the second part of our day. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow!
Your book is finished!! Two solid days of being snowbound in Portland got me focused and brave enough to get it done.
After using a heavy grommet punch to put holes in the fabric covered spine, I clamped the pages, illustrations, and covers together. Ruthie Inman had sent me a whole book-sewing kit as part of her continuing role as “Judy Nudger”, getting me over being afraid of new things.
It must have worked, because here I am!
Using the awl from the kit, I pushed and twirled through all 70 pages, then started sewing! This is a technique called Stab Binding, and it was wonderful! I watched several YouTube lessons, then made up my own pattern.
I had been looking forward to this part, and it didn’t disappoint.
How satisfying to put the whole project together with my own hands!
Every time I think I’m nearly done with your story, I trip over the next step.
It took about five months to get the story itself written. Research on Denmark and its geography took a while, then making up how to get around and what should happen next, as well as how to create coded clues, kept me very busy and were lots of fun!
Once the adventure was written, I realized that it needed some illustrations. So there were a couple of months of noodling around with colored pencils, paints and collage. I looked at my favorite illustrators for inspiration. I studied Eric Carle, Margaret Wise Brown, and Dr. Seuss. I ended up with a combination of Henri Matisse and a clever third grader.
Since this is going to be a hand-made, hardcover book, I needed to come up with a design for the cover. It had to be like the inside illustrations but different enough to not give the story away.
Printing the pages took longer than I expected, as well.
Wrestling with Microsoft Word running on an Apple Mac was a test in checking every box and knowing when to walk away rather than smacking the equipment. I lost count of how many pages got printed too small, sideways, or just totally wrong. Let’s just say I have plenty of scratch paper for my next project. But it eventually worked out.
What’s next? Printing the illustrations, punching holes, and lacing the whole darn thing together!!
Dear Liza 