Bookmaking ... ready in a jiff?

The title of this story might also be "Don't try to do it all in one project."

After finishing my Solitaire book, I wanted to try another using a poem I'd written about cooking with a friend. The collage of the Jiffy box was created when I wrote the poem, so I figured I was halfway there.

Not quite.

Like the first book, there were unexpected hurdles and so many decisions to make.

Though I do a lot of handmade collage work, most of my design work has been computer generated. As a graphic designer I've created posters, magazines ... and books ... on the computer. Books that are printed and bound in a print shop.

Not by me, not by hand.

Building a handmade book is new to me and it's been challenging.

Another problem was making the project more complicated than it needed to be ... like trying to hand letter the text or create pen and ink drawings to illustrate the book. It was all too overwhelming.

My lettering wasn't good enough (in my eye) and the illustrations looked, well, too primitive.

Collage is where I'm comfortable, so for now and for this book, I decided to stick with what I know.

One learning curve at a time.

The next problem was thinking it all had to be perfect. I ripped out, tore apart, and recreated many, many pages to get things "just right."

Well, it's impossible, especially when so much is so new.

Now that the book is done, I know the cover material is too thin. It's warping.

The endpapers on the inside of the front and back covers don't line up exactly as they should.

And the stitching that holds the book together is not quite right. It should extend further up and further down along the spine.

Some problems I recognized before the book was complete, but there had been so many delays and changes, I just had to let some be, and push forward.

In the end, it's not perfect, but I'm pleased with the book, and here's why:

When I decided to make the book, I hadn't read the story in a while.

What a treat it's been to be taken back to that day in the kitchen.

April is National Poetry Month. Both stories in my books came from short poems. Narrative poems. No rhyming, no formal structure.

Are you interested in writing your stories? Try a narrative poem. Use a story you started in a letter, expand on a story you wrote in a journal, or one you mentioned in a diary. 

Explore a story that stays with you.

It can be as short or long as it needs to be.

Whether its making books by hand or writing stories, the most important thing is to start ... and keep stirring.

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