Erinzam News

My husband and I left the beautiful Kansas sky for the beautiful California weather. After the long hiatus caused by moving, I am so happy to be back in a studio space.

One of the first projects I began was to convert a stash of matchbooks (that I found while moving) into mini books. I decided to convert them all. I had plenty of interesting paper scraps saved up from past projects and they made perfect little pages in these matchbook books. I like to think of these as books in disguise. That way, if you ever need to take secret notes while on a detective mission, for example, this is the perfect place to do it. I already began to post some of them individually and also as sets on Etsy.

Back in July I was fortunate to participate in the Paper Quilt Project. This project, involving a variety of fantastic artists, was organized by Dawbis, an artist and environmentalist. This is how the project works: each month 12 artists contribute a collage panel toward that month’s quilt. Over the course of this year, there will be 12 quilts built, one representing each month. Once all of the panels are created and collected, they will be auctioned off or donated to a charitable cause.

Dawbis sent me a little packet of paper scraps and directions, so that my collage would be the right size, etc. What fun! I took an evening to collage the scraps together… it isn’t my best work, but it was enjoyable to make. I sent it back to Dawbis, and she posted it with the others on the Paper Quilt Project site. I love the way the different panels look together in the online gallery.

I have a collection of antique matchbooks that have resided in storage, waiting for a new purpose. At my mom’s suggestion to turn them into mini books, I pulled them out and began the transformation (thanks Mom!). What a great way to lose the flammability and keep the nostalgia! If you’d like to try this yourself, here’s a quick how-to.

1. Choose a paper or papers to use as pages.

2. Using an awl or similar tool, gently pry open the back prongs of the staple holding the matchbook together.

3. Remove the matches, leaving the staple in the front portion of the matchbook (be careful not to tear through the cover with the staple).

4. Cut your paper to the size of the matches and make a stack of pages about the same thickness as the chipboard portion of the matches. Using the matches as a guide, punch two holes in the base of your stack of pages.

5. Place the stack of pages within the cover by guiding the staple through the holes at the base of the pages.

6. Thread the staple back through the back cover of the matchbook and use a bone folder or similar tool to press the prongs back into place.

Voilá! You now have a new little book to write secret notes in or other things of similar importance.

I recently hit the found object jackpot. After discovering the potential that cassette tapes hold as book covers, a whole world of possibility opened up. I started out using a cassette as the front cover of a book and its matching lyric insert for the back cover. A few of these are pictured here: Indigo Girls, Lionel Richie and Bruce Springsteen (I can’t help but laugh at Bruce’s butt on the back cover). Recently, I paired some unusual cassettes with old book covers. I love the uniqueness of these. Now that garage sale season has started… I may be unstoppable!

Instant lettering had its heydey before I began design school. In a way, I think that I missed out. Although kerning type with a computer is about 1000 times easier than with rub-off lettering, there is something extremely satisfying about using the stuff. Thankfully, there are piles of it just waiting to be found and used. I have used rub-off lettering in my paintings for several years, but just recently became interested in introducing it into bookbinding projects. I particularly like how it lends itself to treating typography as images, rather than just symbols or characters to be read and understood.

The folks at Coudal Partners have been posting some fantastic stuff as part of their Swap Meat. Both Ben Schlitter and I did our best to represent Hays, KS with the projects that we sent in. Ben’s GEO + INFO postcards made it to the Swap Meat page as did my calendar tags. I ended up creating a new edition of 50 calendars specifically for the occasion. I might also mention that Ben has a great website dedicated to his geography + information project that’s worth checking out.

A friend of mine, who will soon graduate from law school, requested two unique guest books to commemorate the celebration of her graduation. She sent me some old law books that she was eager to rid herself of and as I worked with them, I discovered a new process.

I found that reusing book cloth from hardbound books is fairly easy. After removing the covers from the inside pages, I carefully peeled the book cloth away from the existing book board. I removed the paper fibers stuck to the back of the cloth with a dish scrubber and water. Once the cloth was clean and dry, it was ready for reuse.

I created much smaller versions of the law books, using pages of data from the old books for the end sheets and filling the books with blank paper.

This project began several years ago, when I was enrolled in Graphic Design 2 at Fort Hays State University. I always tried to do my assignments as far ahead of time as possible, but being extremely picky about the concept and design never left me much, if any, extra time before critiques. This began as one of those “work on something for two weeks and get a much better idea the night before it is due” kind of projects. I ruminated over the meaning of a calendar for two weeks and realized that it’s just a way to put a tag on time. That thought provided me with a unique format.

I recently revisited this old project to redesign it. I drew inspiration from antique tags used to label industrial materials. This provided me with the idea of filling in the dates with a pencil, so that the tags can be reused from year to year. In my research, I also discovered a wealth of patterns and typefaces from this time period that lent themselves well to the project.

For the first edition, I created 60 sets of calendars. I purchased the tags from a local office supply store and used a Print Gocco (a handy dandy screen printing tool) to print them as well as the packaging. I sold most of these via Etsy at the beginning of the year. I am currently printing a second edition of 50 for Coudal Partners Swap Meat, with a few changes here and there to differentiate from the first edition.

Etsyjournal is a collaborative art project for the Etsy community, organized by artists Lauren (StellaLoElla) and Heather (DecadenceDesigns). The project centers around a blank handmade book which is passed from one Etsy artist to the next. Each artist has the opportunity to fill one spread of the book before sending it on. Once the journal is filled, it will reside in the library at the Etsylabs in Brooklyn. The project is doing fantastic, with four books already in circulation and a second round on the way.

I had the great opportunity to create etsyjournal number 6. Although the book needed to fit within certain guidelines to function for the project, the cover and title page were a blank canvas. For the cover, I stitched together pieces of vintage wall maps (found in a dumpster!). Not only do I love the vibrant colors of these maps, but they lend themselves perfectly to the concept of the etsyjournal project. The project brings together people from very different locations and backgrounds in a unique way.

In another tale of trash as treasure, I discovered an entire set of index tab dividers in an old file cabinet purchased from a yard sale. The sturdy metal tabs and office green cardstock showed blemishes and character from years of use. Once an important office accessory, these dividers were now (to my excitement) in line to become book covers.

For reinforcement, I adhered each divider to book board and lined the inside of the covers with a paper related to the tab’s letter. I filled the inside with recycled drawing paper and bound each book using a coptic stitch. A few of the books that made their way into a retail shop included an informational label which wrapped around the front cover.