Monday, December 28

Hobyah! Hobyah! Hobyah!

When my sister and I were younger, my parents would read us this story almost every night (The Hobyahs, by Simon Stern). We both knew every word, and the book became a sort of family 'joke' over the years. So, for Christmas this year, I recreated the story exactly as it is in the book (word for word, and the illustrations are exactly the same setup), but I replaced the characters with each of my family members. I'm the little girl, my father is the Old Man, my mother is the Old Woman, and my sister is the face of the horrible, mean monsters, the Hobyahs. This is another book that I completely underestimated the time I would have to put into it... I designed the characters and each of the 32 pages, then printed and bound it all. I made a copy for my parents and for my sister. This was by far the most satisfying gift i have ever had the pleasure of giving.










It's a planner, Charlie Brown!

I made this Charlie Brown planner as a Christmas gift for my best friend. She LOVES Charlie Brown, and she always gets excited to get a new planner at the beginning of each year. So I figured what better gift than a Charlie Brown planner! I completely underestimated the amount of time this would take to make. I worked on it a bit everyday for a while, and then spent 4 days straight only working on this. I'd say I logged over 150 man hours working on this. Everything inside (except for the actual comic strip panels on every other page) is hand-drawn, scanned, and printed on each page. So basically, it took FOREVER, but it was well worth it. She loved it and truly appreciated the hard work (I think?), so I'm happy!













Monday, December 7

Sushi

This makes 4 books in 2 days...

Our final assignment was to take a book and rework/remake it. I took a Japanese book and turned it into sushi! The plate is made from davey board covered by the book's cover, and everything else (except the chopsticks, those are real) is made from the pages of the book. I (tediously) cut the "rice" by hand, and painted some pages with watercolors to give them color.






Surprise ******* !

Just a little somethin' somethin' for a good friend. It's a surprise, hence why there are no images of the inside of the book. It would give away who it's for, and that's just no fun.






16 by 16 : Revisited

Part two of three of the 16 by 16 book project process...

Everyone mass produces stereoscopic images with handmade 3D glasses and envelopes these days, right?








Merry Christmas!

Some lucky person in my life is getting a handmade 152 page book for Christmas! And if they don't like it, they will die. Pressure's on!

Tuesday, December 1

16 by 16

As a group project, my bookworks class is making a book entitled "16 by 16". We're each contributing a page based on the idea '16', and then we'll each get a copy of everyone's pages and individually bind them however we'd like. As my contribution, I've taken photos of birthday candles and turned them into a stereoscopic image. I've also handmade 3D glasses, which fit in the envelope attached on the right side of the page.









Check back soon to see my completed book with everyone's pages!

Dive

"DIVE" is a gatefold book, with photos of myself skydiving on one side and underwater photos I took in the Great Barrier Reef on the other side. The common theme diving ties the two ideas together figuratively. Literally, the two fit together like a puzzle; the edge of the bottom signature creates the illusion of a wave, while it's inverse creates the image of clouds as the edge of the top signature.










Saturday, November 21

Stab Book

This is a stab book I made a few weeks ago. The pages inside are transparencies, each one with a layer of this image (from a spot I worked on last year). You can see through each of the pages, so when you first open up the front cover you're able to see the completed image.




Friday, November 20

Business Card Carrier

As promised, the matching business card holder...





This, along with a few other new books, will be for sale in my Etsy shop soon! In the mean time, if you're interested in a custom book like this (or any book for that matter) feel free to contact me on Etsy or shoot me an email at aBRIEcd@gmail.com

Portfolio

Made this one a while back, but I really like it. I use it to carry my resume around. I also made a matching business card holder... pictures of that coming in the next post!









I am SO in love with that paper. I get giddy whenever I open this and see it!

Friday, November 13

Check out my Etsy shop!

Custom made books: http://www.etsy.com/shop/aBRIEcd

Please Do Not Bend

My most recent book, entitled Please Do Not Bend. I've unleashed the nerd inside of me (it gets out more often than I'd like to admit) for this one. I was reading some medical literature and looking at pictures of weird medical anomalies when I was struck with a (self-proclaimed) stroke of genius: why not make a book of my own medical problems? All those years of tests and doctor visits were really just preparation for this book. Oh god, I'm so dedicated to my art! So, two days, several paper cuts, and countless hours comparing my brain to those of some of the most messed up people to have ever lived later, I'm finally ready to show the world the inside of my head!











Matchbook

Blogging always leaves me with some odd (and rather unwarranted) sense of satisfaction, like I've really accomplished something. Bookmaking leaves me with the same feeling, but I think that one is a bit more deserved. So, I figure it's about time to start showing the world my work from my little corner of the internet. BLOGGING about my BOOKS? I'm going to be one very happy girl.

I made this book a few days ago... get it? It's a matchbook (horrible, witty humor is another one of those things that I've got a soft spot for). And apparently, nobody sells matchboxes anymore. Finding one was a lot harder than you'd think.