Life is oft so like a dream

I have become more and more fascinated by bookmaking. Not so much the traditional way of making hand bound books but all the different fun methods used nowadays. Many of these are readily available online, either entirely for free on YouTube or in on line classes. However none of these methods are new. Whenever I find something I didn't know about on line I usually then also discover it in the one of the many bookbinding books I posses and which I have read. Somehow seeing it in action on the computer screen makes much more of an impression although for following step by step instructions I'm still one for the written word. All this to explain why I eagerly await Kiala Givehand's monthly Book-in-a-Day 2014 series of videos. In 2013 she made a book once a week (also in a day) and I'm still working my way through all those videos, but this year it is a much more manageable (for her too, I imagine!) monthly event.

I fell in love with the book for March instantly. It's a dainty looking model, ending up in a 3.5 x 3" book. I already had a load of painted pages so used a selection of them for the book. I love the binding method which traps thread (stranded cotton in my case) and then knots these to bind.

Kiala's book had no content but I wanted to add a poem made from sentences cut from a vintage book and for some reason I felt it necessary to make my task harder by producing a poem that could read from front to back of the book but also from back to front.

 Here it is from front to back:

life is oft so like a dream

having not beginning nor end of days

infinite in grand outline

the enigma of all things

live in love

life is a constant force

all things work in circles

I live and die

who shall grasp that thrilling thought

life is oft so like a dream

 And this is the back to front version:

life is oft so like a dream

who shall grasp that thrilling thought

I live and die

all things work in circles

life is a constant force

live in love

the enigma of all things

infinite in grand outline

having not beginning nor end of days

life is oft so like a dream

To accompany the text I used little stickers made from my own Instagram pictures. This is done by a company called Social Print Studio (based in the US),the same company that also produces the buttons I showed you in a previous blog post some time ago.

I love these little stickers as well as most of their other print products and regularly have them printed for me to use in all kinds of ways, including for The Documented Life Project planner this year. It's an excellent way to re-use your own art.