Tiny Book Necklaces II

In a previous post I showed you several tiny book necklaces that I made last year before attending FOBA (Focus on Book Arts). I recently made a Hedi Kyle inspired one for my class with her and yesterday I got truly nuts and made one based on my latest structure; the Spiral Atlas. They both required some creative folding (using tools when my fingers were too large) and patience. Below are pictures of both and step outs of the spiral atlas.
Enjoy!

-Gina

Hedi Kyle inspired diagonal pocket folder. 

Made from 1 5/8 x 2.5 inch paper. (3/4 x 1/2 inches closed).

Folder open showing diagonal pockets and golden lining.

Spiral Atlas book necklace. 

The largest section is 1 inch and the smallest is 1/2 inch.

When folded they are half that size!

Spiral atlas: I used tracing paper colored with alcohol ink. It measures 1 x 3 3/4 with each section scored and folded in half. Scores are at 1, 7/8, 3/4, 5/8, and 1/2 inch.

Trim off 1/8 inch from each square from left to right, skipping the 1 inch square.

Diagonal fold each square to form an X.

Cut a notch at the fold between squares equal to 1/4 their length at the top and bottom. This makes it possible to fold in the points after the next step.

Collapse each square into a water bomb base along the X folds and center folds. The structure should look like the one below.

Fold in the points on left and right. Unfold and inside reverse fold them to make the shape below.

The book when folded measures less than 2 inches.

Cut squares the same sizes as above (1, 7/8, 3/4, 5/8, and 1/2 inch). Fold them into Hungarian map folds so they nest inside the base structure.

Carefully place inserts in each section and fold down the center points to "lock" them in place. Use a thin scoring tool to help move paper where it needs to go. To form the spiral shape seen in the necklace, glue together the first and last sections by forming a circle. I attached a wire hook using glue, put on a jump ring and threaded a chain through it.

As Deep Can Be

Last week I shared a new variation on my accordion book; The Road to Spring. Since then I have been working on an artist's book based on the variation. I used beautiful marbled paper from Crepaldi of Brazil and some sea green handmade paper from a local art store. I wanted some kind of subtle visual content so I carved rubber erasers into segments of a river. They can be turned and combined in a number of ways. I stamped them with VersaMark ink which is clear but leaves a watermark effect. To make the lines stand out a bit more, I used a white gel pen to highlight them. Below are pictures of the finished book.

San Diego Book Arts is holding their annual member show this fall at the James Allen Rose Gallery at Francis Parker School. Since the gallery space is set up for wall display,  we were asked to come up with book structures that can hang on the wall. I think this new book will do nicely.

Enjoy.

-Gina

Carved erasers and their stamped images.

As Deep Can Be by Gina Pisello 2016

Closeup showing stamped and inked lines.

Closed book.

Open in a spiral.

Artist Books in England

I am a member of two book arts organizations: San Diego Book Arts (SDBA) and Puget Sound Book Arts (PSBA). They are both very supportive groups that offer different experiences for their members. PSBA, in collaboration with the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England, in Bristol is holding an exhibit of PSBA artist's books this summer. I was honored to be asked to contribute to the show. You can see my books below and examples of all the other wonderful books here.

Enjoy.

-Gina

Small Migrations (2015)

Haikube (2015) -open

Haikube -closed

Spiral Atlases: playing with The Road to Spring book structure

I like to play with paper. I also like to invent new structures and then stretch, shrink, or change their folding patterns. Below are pictures showing two variations of my book

The Road to Spring

. The squares that form the base of the structure changed size from 4 inches down to 2 inches instead of staying the same size in the original version. I made a prototype on Wednesday with the squares centered and decreasing by 1/2 inch (see diagram 1). This made a very interesting model and got me thinking about other ways to have a graduated structure (see diagram 2). I hope you like the surprising results as much as I do. Here are my newest creations: Spiral Atlases (thanks Mom for the name).

Enjoy,

-Gina

Diagram of first variation.

Diagram of second variation.

Spiral Atlas #2 showing crease pattern. 

Note the notches cut where the squares meet.

#2 with creases collapsed.

#2 Side view.

Spiral Atlas #2 folded into Turkish map folds in each section.

#1 and #2 with finished Turkish map folded sections.

#1 with Hungarian map fold inserts. 

I used tracing paper hoping the marbling would still show.

#2 with gelatin printed paper inserts.

Spiral Atlas #2 finished.

Spiral Atlas #1 finished.

Oxford Blues: A Cut Paper Project

I have just finished a six week class with Bhavna Mehta called Cuts and Links. There are more ways to cut paper than I realized when I started. Bhavna challenged us to make a final project using the techniques we learned in the class. Here is mine. It is based on a map of Oxford England from 1758. I used elephant hide paper which cuts beautifully and folds well even when most of the paper is removed.
Enjoy.

-Gina

Oxford Blues, four views

Cut Paper Tiles

I am spending six Saturdays taking a paper cutting class with artist Bhavna Mehta. Last week we worked on cutting layers of colored paper to make tiles. We are also learning about negative and positive space as well as other paper cutting traditions like silhouettes. I am really enjoying stretching my experience and learning from a true paper master.

Enjoy.

-Gina

Silhouettes from week 2 class.

Template for my tile.

White layer is cut and grey layer is taped underneath.

White and grey are cut and black is taped under ready to be cut.

Finished tile with the cut black layer and a bottom white layer.

I saved the positive shapes when I was cutting the tile and glued them together to make this tile.

Crossroads

I have been playing around with the twist fold for a few days and came up with this paper sculpture in the process. I call it Crossroads. I hope you like it.

-Gina

Basic twist fold from square paper.

2 strips of vintage Japanese ledger paper are folded.

Stencils made from Japanese and western paper.

Crossroads

Artist's Book Mantra

I want to share my method for creating a new artist's book. I don't always do it this way, but often I do and maybe you do too...

Idea: What if I make a book using the twist fold, but connect four of them together on a single concertina folded sheet of paper?

Inspiration: For content, I remember Hedi Kyle showing us her insect stencils last weekend. I was expecting them to be clear plastic stencils with bugs cut out. On the contrary, they were pieces of blue paper that bugs had eaten into forming irregular and shifting shapes. I have some old Japanese books here in the studio that are riddled with insect trails. I grabbed one and used four

consecutive pages. The stencils change over the pages in interesting and random ways.

Mantra: Keep it simple!

Materials: Choosing materials usually comes down to what I have handy in the studio and today I chose a piece of hand made abaca paper (from Helen Hiebert) and some tracing paper that I colored with alcohol inks a while ago. I used soft wax crayons (by Tim Holtz) on the stencils and here are the results.

Enjoy,

Gina

Pages from old Japanese book with the insect trails I used in this piece.

Inked and stenciled pages before insertion. 

Note how the insect tracks change over the four pages.

Abaca paper with creases.

Starting to fold up the paper.

Twist folds complete.

Folds flattened.

Pages inserted.

Book backlit.

Hedi Kyle Workshop at SF Center for the Book

I spent a magical weekend in San Francisco at the Center for the Book making folded structures with Hedi Kyle, 15 students and 4 SFCB instructors who were Hedi's assistants. We created a dozen or so structures and added content to several. Hedi was engaging and patient; pacing the class so that everyone could successfully make each book, folder or flexagon. Here are some pictures of my pieces.

Enjoy,

Gina

Stenciled Flexagon

Belt fold around slat book and other books beneath.

Pink book was passed around class and everyone decorated a page.

Fishbone fold inside diagonal pocket folder. Blue book is a needle book. 

Sling Fold book open, with stenciled ovals and text.

Lots of letter folds and the needle case on the left.

Teaching in Tacoma

I was privileged to teach The Road to Spring to nine Puget Sound Book Artists last weekend in Tacoma, WA. We spent 3 hours together creating folded map books from Strathmore charcoal paper. I really enjoyed sharing this structure I invented from the Turkish map fold and the Hungarian map fold. Pictured below are the participants (with the exception of MalPina) and their work.

Enjoy,

Gina

Deb, Don, Kathy and Mary

Carole, Michelle, Lynn and Kathy

Playing with Paper/A Valentine's Day Treat

In 2008 I took a workshop that changed my life and my approach to making artist's books. It was taught by

Joan Michaels Paque

and she was a paper engineer and weaver extraordinaire. After the class I was playing around with folding paper and created a small book with the crease pattern you see below. The book was put into a drawer for years until last week when I decided to clean out my cluttered office and found it again. I always thought of this folded structure as a book and only looked at it linearly, but now I make structures that fold around in a circle. When I twisted this one into a circle it created a structure that is flexible and interesting in many orientations.

I have been thinking about ways to modify this structure and came up with two variations. One is inspired by Valentine's Day and the other is the answer to the question: What happens if I make a smaller version and nest it inside the bigger one? I hope you like the results and try folding one yourself.

Enjoy.

-Gina

Crease Pattern

Stages of folding the structure.

Two orientations of the round structure. There are more below.

I cut out hearts from paper folded into the water bomb base.

Variation 1: Insert hearts cut from 4 x 4 inch paper into the slots to make a unique Valentine.

Variation 2: Fold a second structure from 3 x 18 inch paper and nest it inside the 4 x 24 structure.

Three ways to twist the structure.

Sometimes I'm Jagged on the Inside

I have a new accordion folded sculpture to share with you today. A few days ago I was wondering what the

Turkish Map Fold

would look like if I used rectangular paper instead of square paper to fold it. Then I got to thinking about the fold for the insert I used in

The Road to Spring

 and

Companion Star

. Could it also be folded with rectangular paper? The answer is yes, and it makes a very interesting asymmetrical shape. Next I wondered if there was a way to fold this new shape from an accordion folded sheet of paper so that the parts would be connected to each other. This was tricky and took some fiddling, but in the end I was able to create the sculpture you see below. Later in the day a name came to me and it is the title of this blog post.

Here are some pictures showing the folding process. Enjoy!

-Gina

Finished piece.

Single folded unit.

I taped together several single units to figure out where I needed to cut the accordion and make a continuous folded sculpture.

Step 1: accordion fold then fold diagonals. Then cut the paper as shown.

Step 2: Collapse the paper along the diagonals.

Step 3: Fold in the triangle sides. Notice how one side has a small triangle and the other side is larger, but they don't overlap. This creates the asymmetrical look.

Step 4: All the triangle sides are creased. Now just inside reverse fold all of them to create the final shape.

'Tis the Season

I try to make holiday cards each year for friends and family, but I must be a dying breed as I seem to get fewer and fewer cards each year. I thought I would share some pictures of past cards and this year's as well. Enjoy.

-Gina

2008 Star Book Ornament/Card.

Cards from 2011-2014.

A selection of this year's cards. 

CAP Book

It's December and I have been so busy that this is the first time I am sitting down to blog in a month. I have been a member of San Diego Book Arts for 14 years and next year is our 20th anniversary as an art organization. To commemorate this achievement a group of 40 members got together several times this year to create a collaborative art project (CAP). Each person created a piece based on member Diane Gage's moon haiku. The art was photographed and reproduced on 9 x 12 paper to be bound into books for an exhibit celebrating the anniversary. I did not create an art work for the book, but was asked to bind a book as a fundraiser for the project. Below are images of my book in progress. I based the structure on Elizabeth Steiner's Moeraki Boulders, which is bound through the middle of the pages. I created binding strips from a second set of prints of the book so that there is interplay between the works and their companions. I hope you like the results as much as I do.

Enjoy.
-Gina

Pages with slits cut for the binding strips.

Sample binding strip.

Paper in Japan Part 2

Last week I shared my paper adventures in Kyoto. This week I want to introduce you to Tokyo's Origami Kaikan (Origami Center) which is a six floor building dedicated to all things origami. After perusing the lobby showroom of classes offered, I climbed the stairs to the second floor gallery where there was a wonderful display of armored cavalrymen. Then it was up to the third floor to soak up all of the papers. There were packaged origami squares in all colors and sizes as well as racks and flat files of large sheets of chiyogami paper. I spent quite a bit of time looking through them and only seeing one or two that I can get here in the States. As I was paying for my purchases the clerk informed me that the director, Kazuo Kobayashi would be down to do some demonstrations soon and would I like to stay. Of course I stayed and was entertained (despite not knowing any Japanese) for the better part of an hour while Sensei Kobayashi folded and cut many samples for the Year of the Monkey. He was a revelation to me as he didn't fold anything precisely nor did he look at what he was folding often. It was astonishing to see him create such beautiful results in such an imprecise manner. He kindly gave me the rose and leaf pictured below which took him about a minute to make, all the while chatting to the gathered crowd.

I eventually tore myself away from the demonstration and wandered up to the fourth floor where you can watch them paint paper and hang it to dry. The fifth and sixth floors are reserved for classes and as I wasn't signed up for any I skipped them. I left full of ideas and a renewed passion for origami.

I hope you enjoy the images below from this lovely paper destination in Tokyo.

-Gina

First floor display.

Displays on the way up to the gallery. The above "plant" is made entirely of folded cranes.

Calvary of folded paper in the second floor gallery.

Men dying paper mustard yellow and red on the fourth floor.

Monkey fold the Master taught us.

Rose and leaf Sensei Kobayashi gave me.

Book Arts and Paper in Japan

I recently took a trip to Japan, a paper lover's paradise. My husband and I spent a week in Kyoto visiting gardens, temples, shrines and other local sites. We also took a shinkansen or bullet train to Hiroshima to visit the Atomic Dome and Peace Park. I left one of my crane books, shown below at the Sadako memorial. Visiting Hiroshima was an incredibly moving experience.

Of course, the trip included visiting lots of paper shops. I went to Morita as well as Kira Karacho. Both are institutions in the Kyoto area where paper making has a very long history. Kira Karacho is a store founded by the a family of karakami makers that began in 1624. They produce traditional fusuma sliding doors and wallpaper, but Kira began this stationary store in 2004 as a way to reach new audiences. Antique wood blocks are used to print on washi paper.

It was while we were visiting the store for the second time that we noticed the small shopping arcade has a gallery on the third floor. It  showcases artwork by students at Kyoto Seika University. We stopped in and noticed some handmade books in a side area. At first, I thought they were for sale, but as I looked around I realized it was a book arts exhibit. My husband quipped that only I could stumble upon a book arts exhibit 6000 miles from home. It was small, but lovely with a good

variety of books. Please enjoy the images and this brief description of an indescribably wonderful trip to Japan.

-Gina

Crane book I made and left at the Peace Park memorial.

Sadako statue at the Hiroshima Peace Park.

The eternal flame with the Atomic Dome in the background, Hiroshima Peace Park.

Fusuma sliding doors in our Ryokan.

Examples of books at the b. only book 10 exhibit.

Information about the book artists (I assume).

Cube Book Workshop

I got to spend last Sunday afternoon with five talented women in my Cube Book Workshop. It was offered through San Diego Book Arts. We played a word game called The Exquisite Corpse to generate content for our books, colored our paper using Distress Inks and folded our way to finished cube shaped books. The books have 4 pages that are folded inserts and everyone used different colors and techniques to make their books unique. I hope seeing these pictures will inspire you to try this structure.

The red triangular book was made by my mom, Faye after I taught her the cube book structure. I am including the pictures so you get an idea of one of the many variations you can do with this folded work.

Enjoy!

-Gina

Faye's 3 tiered triangle book.

Nancy K's colored pages.

Linnea, Janis, and Jade use dye inks to color their paper.

Nancy K. and Nancy W.  are hard at work coloring their paper.

Linnea folds up her book.

Nancy W. inserts pages into her colorful book.

Janis works on folding her last page.

Nancy W.'s finished book.

Janis' finished book open.

Jade's finished book with the pages removed.

Cover to Cover Workshop

Seth Apter came to town this week to teach two workshops for San Diego Book Arts. I had the pleasure of taking "Cover to Cover" in which we used old book covers as pages for a mixed media book. I haven't done much mixed media in my art life, although I adore it. Seth made it both accessible and fun by breaking down the process into its component parts. We made many layers of color and texture that managed to form a cohesive whole when we were finished. Seth kept reminding us that an ugly page was just one layer away from beauty and if we didn't like something keep adding to it until we did. Good advice and a good mantra for life as well. Thanks Seth for a wonderful experience!

Enjoy the pictures.

-Gina

Variations on a Theme

My recent post The Road to Spring was pretty popular and I have been working on some variations on this book and structure ever since. The newest one is a story about my dad and his love of the night sky. I have also played with the bottom of the structure adding a sink fold so that the book can stand upright. Other variations include making smaller books and making it with 4 or 6 pages. I hope you like the pictures below and enjoy Companion Star. The first line of the story is: "Dad, like Plato, thought that every soul had a companion star to which it returned after death..."

I hope you enjoy these variations on a theme and create your own version as well.

-Gina

Companion Star , by Gina Pisello.

Companion Star has 4 pages instead of the 5 in The Road to Spring.

Bottom of the book.

Companion Star with the star pages removed to reveal the story.

Closeup of the text pages.

Top of 4 page variation.

Side view of 4 page variation showing flat base.

Bottom of 4 page variation showing sink folds. The inner blue pages have corresponding sink folds too.

New Accordion Book

I was playing around with a straw paper one day while waiting for my burger to arrive and I folded this structure. When I got home I cut some paper (2.25 x 23 inches) and recreated the same pattern with a couple of twists. It made the 2 page square "book" you see in the pictures below. There was a nice interaction between the front and back side of the paper so I colored or decorated each differently to accentuate the contrast. In the first example, I wrote two versions of a Haiku one on each page and then wrote the story of the origin of the poems in white pen around the folded structure as shown. When the book is folded up into the 2 page version there is a nice interplay between the black poem text and the white story text. When the book is unfolded parts of each side appear and the text is randomized.

The second example was made using a stencil and stamps from Seth Apter's new line. I used the stamps in red on one side and the stencil in blue on the other to give contrast when it is folded. I like the randomness of where the graphic elements appear in the folded version. You could plan out placement, but I like the surprises that arise this way.

If you can think of a name for this structure please tell me in the comments section. I am stumped.

Enjoy,

Gina

Finished book folded to show two pages and Haiku.

Back of folded book.

Book unfolded showing triangle accordion folds.

How the book wasvfolded when I wrote white text (front and back).

Second example showing book closed.

Book open, but folded.

Front and back of unfolded book.