☁

What I'm thinking about and working on today.  A little glimpse of the novel I'm writing about various generations of a family (some of them peach farmers) that live in the high desert of Western Colorado.

Harlan grew up studying both at the little school down the hill and along the shaded rows of the orchards.  During the summers he worked underneath the trees, picking and packing alongside everyone they knew.  His long body would be covered up in overalls and his tawny hair tucked underneath his broad cowboy hat as he tried to shield himself from the deadly desert sun.

      
Redhavens were the first ones to ripen, as early as mid-July.  They were plump, like rosy cheeks, and had vermillion rings around their pits.  Redglobes were the giants of the group—to an untrained eye they resembled apples, until you wrapped your palm around their velvety skin.  Suncrests were like little precious stones that grew on trees with their yellow undercoat and brushing of red fuzz.  Cresthavens came in towards September, right when the light would start to turn, and it often seemed to Harlan that their amber flesh was a harbinger of autumn’s fading golden days.   

photographs by J. Nordberg

☁

This little baby blue has a rounded spine.  And peep holes where you can see the sewing and linen tape. I really love the finished effect of this.  So simple, but elegant.  

☁

This book was supposed to have a kind of google zoom effect.  I used pochoir and guache to illustrate the idea of a local food movement in my own backyard.  I'm thinking about making a poster of these images, all together on one big sheet.  Maybe even selling it?

☁

So this is the long stitch binding, which basically means that you sew the book sections (pieces of folded paper nestled in fours or fives) into the case.  And by sew, I mean literally take a needle and thread and sew!  Before making books, I had no idea that people still did that.  This book is 12 sections -- so 48 pages.  And as you can see, I kind of wanted to have fun with the inside, so I used some paper that I made last spring.

☁

For those of you who don't know, the school I go to has an MFA program in Book Arts.  Even though I'm getting my MFA in writing, I'm still allowed to take these fabulous Book Arts classes, which I have to say is probably the biggest perk to my program.

This semester in my bookbinding class, we focused on traditional structures, as opposed to the contemporary structures that I made last year.  This is a coptic binding, which is one of the oldest ways to bind books in the world!  It originates from Egypt, and there are many variations of it.  This is probably the simplest one, but if you look closely, you can see the braids in the binding. 

I also made a clamshell box to house the book, mostly just for fun because I love making boxes.  It's all about the precision, and my closet perfectionist just adores being let out of the house from time to time.

Next Up: Long Stitch Binding

our garden

This is my favorite print for the book I'm working on.  (Finishing up the book today, one way or the other.)  I really like the way that this page turned out.  I'm thinking of making an extra print of this, framing it and hanging it over my kitchen sink.

UPDATE:  for the kitchen sink.

World War II Posters

  

  

Some things that I stumbled upon in doing research for my novel: posters from World War II Britain.  My manuscript takes place in 1940 London, and these images of wartime posters are really helping me set the mood.  Found at the Imperial War Museum's online shop.  Did you know that the famous "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster was never actually used during the war?  It was discovered later and has only recently risen to its current cult status.

my book, "the daydream."

it's a carousel book, made out of three layers of paper that get sown together with thread, on the front edges.  I wanted it to have a real handmade feel, since it is a personal story.  the images are all taken by me, or by someone in my family.  the text depicts a dream I used to have about my father building a flying car.  we'd float across the air and ocean, and be able to travel anywhere.  click on larger versions of the photographs if you want to read it.  it was a lot of work, as always, but worth it in the end!

3.4.10

This is paste paper that I made last week in my bookbinding class. And then I made a book out of it. When I get the book back from my professor I will post more pictures! P.S. - did I mention how much I love making books?!

Pic-A-Day

So I know it's been a while... what can I say? I'm a busy bee: grad school, working on a novel, busy designing and hand-binding books. The last thing I feel like doing at the end of the day looking at a computer screen since it's what I do all day long. But I've hit upon an idea. I have been taking a lot of photos recently, so I'm going to be doing a pic-a-day for a little while. We'll see how it goes. Hope you are all well out there!

Introducing: Love, Forever

Hey there, folks. by its own design now has a sister site: Love, Forever. It will be a fun place for all kinds of pictures and randomness that needs to be spontaneous in a way that only tumblr can support. I have the poster of the amazing photograph above of Yayoi Kusama, only my husband finds it a little too, how shall I put it, much. So I'm adopting it as my mascot for things feminine, free and wild. Check it out!

25 Random Things

I was tagged by the lovely and incredibly talented Alli of Bird Dog Press. (I'm a lucky duck: she made my wedding invitations!) So here goes:

1. I'm pretty sure that in my immediate past life I was a Led Zeppelin groupie. 2. I grew up in Hong Kong in the 1980s. 3. I really didn't like America when my family moved back in the 1990s and sometimes still don't. 4. I love love love sunshine. Like almost more than anything. 5. Since I am so dang fair, I can never be in the sun without completely covering up. 6. Elephants are my favorite animal (!) and in my next life I would like to work at an elephant orphanage. 7. If it were completely up to me I'd probably be living in Brazil. 8. I am absolutely petrified of being attacked by a mountain lion. 9. I secretly wish that I, or my husband, or really anyone in my family was Spanish. Preferably from Barcelona, but I would take anywhere. 10. When I lived in Paris in high school I would stop at a boulangerie on my way home from school everyday and get a chocolate eclair. 11. I knew that I was done for the first time my husband put his hand on my waist. 12. I am one of those people who needs to sleep 9-12 hours every night. 13. For that reason, I am freaked out about having children but will probably just go for it someday and subsequently turn into a zombie. 14. I have been a runner since I was 13 years old. 15. When I was 7 years old, I was hit by a car while I was riding my bike. 16. I hate biking. 17. I used to speak Chinese and as a child wrote stories in Mandarin that I can no longer read. 18. I will write a book at some point in my life. 19. I love watching movies, and love watching classic movies even more. 20. I also love reading but rarely read a book that was written after 1930. 21. I have a huge crush on Fernando Torres, the Liverpool striker and am really psyched that my little brother got me his jersey for Christmas. 22. I have played the role of every child: I was the youngest for seven years, I am the middle child, and when my older brother and sister went to boarding school I became the oldest child who was still living at home. 24. When I get nervous I talk talk talk and I seem like an extrovert but am a loner through and through. 24. I spend almost all my time alone and I love it. 25. A few summers ago my husband and I were hit by lighting while we were holding hands. Obviously, we survived.

you reap what you sew

My very first sewing project: placements inspired by La Maison d'Artiga.