My starry starry night

I enjoyed making this book although at times it was hard.  There were time pressures - never enough. Days without power when we were just trying to keep going not really doing or making things. And then just the usual creative challenges! I am also happy with how it finished up.

I thought about binding the small pages as a book; I thought about popping them in to an accordion book with a fold so you could pull them in and out and move them around;  I thought about placing them on white paper; and I thought about a really tall standing book.

In the end I attached them to black paper, and made a fairly short concertina book.  I love those multiple explorations! So here it is...

I often like to make a wrap for my books. This one uses the cut-outs from the cover over a soft grey paper.

The book can be viewed in different ways. I like this opening where the cover and pages are overlapped, and imagery hinted at.

Then it can be opened page by page, a spread at a time. The images dance up and down across the pages ever so slightly.

The thread tying the book together is a line of calligraphy, which simply reads "starry starry night" over and over again. The writing is compressed and elongated along the lines of some of the work I did with Massimo Pollelo recently. I wanted to put some of that into practice; and also wanted to link this book to that point in time. I will always remember the workshop and this book happening around the same time now.

In between each concertina page where the artwork is presented, I did an extra couple of folds. This was initially to provide strength for the book when standing, but it also offered me the opportunity to introduce two more design elements.  I brought in the cut-out triangles that I used on a few pages of Susan's book and they create a lovely sense of starriness, and here below echo the marks she made on one page as well.

The extra folds also let me do something I had hoped to be able to do - make a star book!

I love how the book has an architectural feel to it as it stands as well.

And a reminder of where it all began...

It is one of the pleasures of this collaboration for me, that each book I make with Susan is better than a book I would have made by myself. As part of the partnership I strive to make a really good book, and with the gentle nudges and pushes she gives me, I respond in new ways and I think I make better work as a result.  I keep pinching myself at how lucky we are to be nearby and so in tune, so willing to trust and share and stretch each other.