Joys of Monthly Book Exchanges

Valentine Card Exchange

Our guild provides many activities that encourage our members to become more involved and creative book artists. One such activity is our voluntary monthly book exchange. During a recent workshop members were asked what they liked about the exchanges. Here are their very interesting responses, regrouped and synthesized:

• They are always inspiring. One: for new ideas. Two: It's always nice to have a deadline. (Editor: All three were mentioned more than once!)
• I usually need some time to come up with an idea for a book. Knowing ahead what the monthly themes are allows me this 'thinking time'.
• The books I receive are great to show friends who wonder what an artist book is. 
• I love seeing the different interpretations of a theme.
• The exchange pushes me to think, plan, do art work and calligraphy for the theme. The theme sometimes pushes me to learn about a subject I may not have explored during my life. 
• The exchange helps me to 'turn on' my creativity.
• Making books help me to remain sane. The exchange is very motivating. It's sometimes horrifying and sometimes a huge guilt producing machine but worth every minute!
• Once a decision is made as to what you will have as a theme, the ideas of what to do with it explode.
• Self confidence grows as each project is completed.
• (I get) a new book for my collection. 
• Making a books is one thing. Decorating it is another thing entirely. I love seeing how creative the group is and actually getting to take something home from someone else is so inspiring. 
• I sometimes worry about my skill level, but it's fun.
• I enjoy making Holiday cards.
• I always learn something new that inspires me to try another structure, use a new product or tool, or complete a project that I was stuck on. 
• The subject matter of some exchange books I've received have inspired me to visit a new place, read a certain book, or try a new recipe. 
• When artists describe the creation of their book, I enjoy hearing about their problem solving process. 
• Making a book based on a theme I didn't choose sometimes helps me to break through artist's block.

Pat describing her exchange book during a meeting.

The particulars of the exchange are highlighted on our website. This is a great opportunity for our distant members to be involved in the guild's activities. Participants are encouraged to work with the designated theme but it is not required. You do not need to sign up in advance, just bring your book and colophon at the start of the monthly meeting. You can choose not to have pictures of your book posted on our Flickr site or in the newsletter. If you live out-of-town you can mail your book and colophon to ( mail your book so that it arrives in plenty of time prior to the meeting, which is the second Saturday of each month):

NORBAG

PO BOX 225

CUTTEN, CA 95534

For more encouragement to participate in exchanges, read this!

"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."

 From Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

So, another item on the list of the benefits of an exchange might be:

• We may go beyond our comfort zone, explore with wild abandon, and then present our books to an appreciative and supportive group of like-minded artists. Yeah.
  

June Workshop--House of Cards

The house we will build is considerably sturdier than the usual house of cards (or the economy for that matter). We will use a double wall construction technique for this workshop but there are many variations possible depending on the size of cards and the stability requirements. The larger the construction the more foundation is required so we will start small with a finished house that measures ~ 2 1/8 x 2 1/8 x 4" all made from one piece of 12 x 12" stiff paper (double sided scrapbooking paper works well) or 25 standard size business cards.

What to bring:
-One piece of 12" square stiff paper cut into   
  twenty-four 2 x 3" pieces or 24 standard-
  size business cards (bring more if you sense   
  potential trouble)
-Bone folder
-Scissors
-Craft knife
-Cutting pad
-Double stick tape
-Ruler or other straight edge
-Agile fingers


Handy but not a total necessity:
-Scoring tool (the official kind or a paper clip or knitting needle will do just fine)
-Small spatula type tool for jamming flaps into small inconvenient slots
-Tweezers
-Patience
If you have questions, contact Vicki V. Her contact details are in the newsletter, as well as in every newsletter on the page 2 sidebar.

Book Exchange Reminder: The theme for the book exchange at our next meeting is "materials from the hardware store." Keep in mind, plenty more comes from hardware stores than just hammers and nails. They are satisfying places to browse for ideas. This should be a lot of fun.