I found dozens and dozens of sites that had instructions for making your own flip book.  One of my favorites was done by reguitar squiggle, a young man who posted on YouTube.  He uses post-it notes to make his.
Here are some other links
WikiHow: Just the bare facts in text form, followed by another video which shows how to create a flipbook from loose paper.
Make: Bennett showed how he made a flipbook from some video he shot.
Fliptomania: Another informational site, with products for sale, including a flipbook “kit”.

Flipbooks?  Those funny little cartoons that were a cross between a comic book and a movie?  Or sometimes the flip part was down in the corner of the book?  Well, Flipbook.Info has all the facts on flipbooks that you’ll need to restart your craving for these fun little treasures.

They were extremely popular in the early years of the 20th century, but there are some folks who are still producing them today.  In fact, they’re pretty easy to make if you’d be interested in giving it a try.  I’ll rustle up a couple of instruction links for tomorrow.
In the meantime, here’s …read more

Technique Tuesday!
For my page in the Altered Book group anniversary book, I decided to do a found poem.  I’ve got an old novel called My Lady of the Fog (Ralph H Barbour, 1908) and another Russian text called Selected Stories (Daniil Kharms, 1919).  Very different from each other in feel, I decided to use one of the illustrations from Kharms’s book and do a found poem using a page from Barbour’s.

Really, I couldn’t do it the other way around: I can’t read Russian!
Here’s the instructions that I wrote two years ago for using tissue paper as a guide when creating …read more

Altered Books have been around a lot longer than 10 years, but there’s a very special email group on Yahoo called the Alteredbooks group, which is having its 10th anniversary.  I’ve mentioned this group before as a wonderful resource and place of sharing for folks who are interested in this art form.
Well now my friend Corinne Stubson, who teaches book arts classes and has exhibited her books in art galleries, has decided to make a very special present for everyone in the group who wants to play.  We will each be creating a book page and sending it to Corinne.  …read more

Dark Roasted Blend has compiled some images and impressions of some truly cutting edge (NO pun intended) book artists.  These are the artists who outrage some others with their sacrilege…
Yeah, ok, just drive through the alley behind a bookstore sometime, and you’ll see the “sacrilege” of hundreds of books wasted in the dumpster.  Even though schools, libraries, and bookstores are getting better and better at recycling, why not have spare books be used for art instead?
I’ve always particularly liked Brian Dettmer’s work, which is included, and you’ll find Thomas Allen there too, one we’ve talked about here recently.

Image: Brian Dettmer

Thomas Allen combines book arts with photography to produce some stunning results.  He slices the figures from the covers to create a 3D effect, then alters and stages them for their photo shoot.   I love the gritty, often tongue in cheek results.  Many times his tableaux make visual reference to the title.  It helps a lot that he uses pulp fiction!
There is a large “gallery” of many of Thomas Allen’s pieces here.  I’m not sure that this is a sanctioned site since the post doesn’t even attribute them or link to him.

Jason and Faye, of Rag & Bone, posted about this gorgeous wall piece that they made from book pages.  Now that’s what I call creative recycling!  There’s always something wonderful being posted or discussed on the  Rag & Bone blog, and don’t miss their Bindery either!

Here is a darling idea that is fun, easy, and FAST to make (always a plus in the spring!).  Greeting Arts shares the instructions, along with lots of great photos.
She writes: “Using pads of sticky notes, scrapbook paper and a few other supplies, I made one of these books for each of Rebecca’s classmates to celebrate the last day of Kindergarten.  It didn’t take that long, and I thought some of you might like the idea. ”

Yes, yes, yes!  And thank you very much.  Just in time for end of the year gifts.

Artist: Miriam Schaer
Website: Miriam Schaer
As I became involved with books, I began to study their history and forms. I discovered an ancient structure called the girdle book: prayer books worn by medieval monks, lashed to their belts, their girdles, so their prayers would always be at hand. I had a different vision. My girdle books would contain new objects of devotion, new prayers, contemplations. Girdles are binders, like notebooks, places to hold and keep stories, house ideas in structures that are used to push and mold the female figure into idealized and often unreal shapes. Working with …read more

You’ve got to see this!  It reminds me of my favorite TV show of olde…Monty Python’s Flying Circus.  BubblyNumbers has created this amazing online treat, called the Book of Numbers!  Visit the site and click through all the animated pages with your morning cuppa