Thompson - Playing with Books

GETTING STARTED:
FOLD, MUTILATE, STAPLE & SPINDLE

PROJECTS TO PLAY WITH:
NOVEL IDEAS FOR ARTISTS & BIBLIOPHILES

GALLERY:
REIMAGING THE BOOK

W ho among us doesnt love books? My lifelong interest began as a small child listening attentively to my mother reading bedtime stories by Dr. Seuss, Margaret Wise Brown, and Maurice Sendak. Books have been a part of my personal and professional life ever since: As a bookbinder, Im surrounded by them and consider myself better educated and more creative because of my love for books and bookish things.

I discovered bookbinding quite by accident. Twenty years ago, I met a Rhode Island School of Design graduate who learned book-binding firsthand while apprenticing in Assisi, Italy, in a small shop just off the main Piazza. She studied fine binding and constructed small blank journals to sell to tourists who happened upon the picturesque studio. On her return to New England, she taught me the craft, and I fell in love with the processand with her. Those initial bookbinding experiments, carried out in our small Providence, Rhode Island, apartment, are the only lessons Ive taken as a bookbinder, yet Ive run a successful bindery for twenty years. I acquired my book-binding skills through practice and curiosity. I share this to inspire anyone who has a dream but feels a lack of education is a barrier to success. If Ia high school drop outcan do it, so can you.

I consider books to be precious, and, more than I like to admit, I often appreciate them as beautiful objects, regardless of their content. In my office, I display a collection of books by the nineteenth-century polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen. When my daughter was six, she once asked how many of them I had read and was perplexed when I told her I had only read three. The answer, though truthful, was odd to me, too: several well-tended shelves of Nansen books, but I had only read three.

Books are meant to be read, of course, but for some of us who appreciate books for more than their printed content they exert a charm. They are objects to fetishize. This preciousness is what drives book collectors to acquire books they might never read. Favorite, well-read books, carefully organized bookshelves, the smell of a used-book store, endless aisles of library stacks: these are the components of the book-lovers world. But to fully understand the industry of publishing and bookmaking, we have to consider, too, the lowly computer manualindispensable one moment, in the garbage the nextas well as the myriad textbooks, self-help guides, recipe collections, political tomes, and contemporary novels, once timely, then forgotten. The publishing industry produced more than 3 billion books in 2008. With so many books competing for space annually on bookstore shelves, those that arent bestsellers, or even adequate sellers, are moved aside for new titles. The result of this overabundance of books is that many wind up in remainder bins and then eventually, if were honest, into the recycling bin and landfill.

Is there a purpose for some of these unwanted books? Answering this question leads us to artists, designers, and artisans who appreciate books in a uniquely different way. Although the fundamental parts of a book might consist of pages and covers, the artists eye sees something more: raw materials to create unique objects far removed from the book form. To these artists, books are resources to rearrange, recycle, and reimagine into functional and decorative objects.

I was hesitant the first time I ripped a book apart to extract its paper pages for a bookish project. It felt wrong to cannibalize the essence of a book for its elemental parts. But after playing with enough unwanted and forgotten books, this feeling eventually passed. There are a lot of books out theredont be afraid to exorcise their bookish essence for other creative ends.

The following pages feature work from artists who turn the book form on its head by using bookbinding, woodworking, paper crafting, origami, textile, and decorative arts techniques. They follow the process from pulp to paper to printing and binding and then beyond for an array of creative mutilations and dissections.

We cannot hope to save all the books from the landfillthis is a Sisyphean task. But we can be inspired by the creativity of these artists, who reinterpret both lowly and lofty books into something more.

I eventually married my bookbinding instructor; together, we run our family bindery and enjoy watching our young daughter play with old books, paper, and glue. The journey of book appreciation has certainly come full circle when we can, without reserve, both save our precious and important books and tear apart the unwanted ones.

JASON THOMPSON

Su Blackwell, The Woodcutters Hut/2008
Courtesy Su Blackwell and Long & Ryle Gallery

B efore you jump in and start tearing apart books for art projects, take a moment to consider the materials youll need. Here are a few basic descriptions of adhesives, cutting materials, and other bookbinding and paper-crafting tools, as well as a diagram showing the basic parts of a book.

PVA Glue

The first glue I always reach for is water-based PVA (polyvinyl acetate) white glue. Its available at most art stores and online in many sizes, from pint-sized (473 ml) containers to 5-gallon (19 liter) buckets. PVA is applicable to most paper and bookbinding projects. It dries clear and is archival and easy to work with. It can be mixed with water to extend its drying time and easily washes off brushes.

General Purpose White Glue

An alternative to PVA is white glue. Its non-archival and can be crunchy and inflexible when dry, so avoid using this glue for projects that are meant to be saved, need to be flexible, or in which strong adhesion is necessary. That said, you can find white glue just about everywhere. Dont be afraid to use it on temporary projects or for kids crafts.

Spray Mount

Spray mount is used as an alternative to other adhesives for projects in this book for two applications: to adhere materials that would otherwise warp with water-based glues and to laminate paper to clear plastic. You can create a faux fabric material (think reusable shopping bags) by laminating paper to clear plastic and sewing it as you would fabric. Spray mount tends to get everywhere, so, whenever possible, use it outdoors.