Precious Little Birdy: Book Art Object

Now that the call out for the 3rd Project of Book Art Object has gone out and we are getting started I just wanted to write a little bit about my experience.

I can't remember how I found Sara Bowen's post on Here. I think I got lost on the internet one day and found it :-) I felt cautious about committing myself. I work full-time and barely had time to do my own work let alone commit to something like this. I think I was also a little bit scared and intimidated. I had done quite a few bookbinding courses at UWE, Bristol and made a lot of books, but had never made an edition. I suppose in my mind I was 'dabbling' and didn't really have the courage to call myself a Book Artist.

Well to anyone who is teetering on the brink and has similar concerns I say jump in! If you have never made a full edition of books and are scared like I was it is a great experience for many reasons. Making a one off book can be difficult enough and the thought of making 9 or 14 more of the same is very daunting, but it really improves your skills and for me this was a great way of putting into practice what I had learned. It does become less scary as you go along and by book 9 of the edition the fear is nearly gone ;-)

The best part for me (apart from getting an edition of the most beautiful books through the post!) is connecting with other like minded people. I love to see the work in progress posts on the blog and hear about the processes people go through, failed experiments, rejected ideas, sometimes despair (!) and then the final elation when the book is complete. The most fascinating part is when we are all working from the same piece of text and the responses and approaches we come up with are so different. I really love this bit, I don't know why but it still amazes me the way someone will come up with something which wouldn't have occurred to me in a million years.

I am really glad we have chosen Sarah Bodman's great book to work from. The possibilities are so endless, the minute Sara posted it on the blog I was excited! If you are worrying about deadlines I believe that we are aiming to submit for the Libris Awards in Australia. You would need to have at least one book of the edition completed ready to post to Sara Bowen by June 2012 so there is no big pressure to have the full edition completed by a certain date. You can double check with Sara on these timings if you are interested in joining up. Last and by no means least (its hard to say this without sounding like a creep!) its a lovely, friendly, relaxed, and talented bunch of people and I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone. So as I said if you are wavering or teetering, give it a go :-)

Book Art Object - My Experience