The illustrated journal cover series will no longer be available in the Five and a Half store. As a smallscale bookmaking and design studio, the amount of time and materials I have on hand is limited, so it’s not really practical for me to keep making the older illustrated style journals while large orders for the photo-cover journals are rolling in back-to-back. I’m sad to be discontinuing the illustrated line, it took so much time and effort to draw each of them, but then I remember, I’m on a quest to make better, sturdier, and more functional journals, so onward I must go! If you do want to purchase one of the illustrated journals, Greenwich Letterpress, the Trunkt store in Tribeca, and Relish at Home may still have a few left.

You can see a gallery of all my past Five and a Half journal series over at Flickr. I feel like a parent beaming at baby pictures, or something like that.

There is something so alluring about the thick white borders of polaroids. And there is something so pristinely simple and powerful about the way Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi frames her pictures in the white pages of her book Cui Cui.

With those things in mind, I came up with my designs for the new travel journals. Hidden beneath the clean and simple covers are the little conveniences ~ flaps and envelopes, a pen loop, and a little metal clasp closure that keeps the book securely shut. I’m going to keep one to write in myself.

It seems that a flock of festive birds has moved into the greenery near the back of our apartment. So the distant sounds of revving cars and sirens have been replaced by the very loud and tropical chatter of chirps, squawks and squeaks from our new neighbors. Summertime, in full swing.

I’ve been waiting all day for the sun to come streaming in through the windows. It’s usually so sunny in here that I need to have the curtains closed, but the one day I’d like it to be really bright (so that I can take product photos), it’s cool and shadowy in the studio. I’ve been waiting and waiting, and finally in the late afternoon, the sun peeked out for just a bit, so I was able to take pictures of these. Have a look!

We picked up the latest issue of Monocle magazine, which has some really great product features (plus some amazingly well-written and researched articles). Here are my favorites: Blanka’s limited-edition daily calendar journal, MUCU’s blank notebooks, and Bien’s leather pencil pouches.

I’ve been very quietly (and excitedly!) adding new journals and other printed matter to the store and I’ll be putting up a couple of other things in the following weeks. Thanks so much to all of you who’ve already started ordering the new designs! I’ll be making more of a ruckus about everything soon.

Now, time to stare at some plants for a poster to make next week.

Our stay in Taipei is drawing to a close and I’m filling my suitcase with things I’ve bought here that I’m bringing back to New York: Pilot pens, old school pencils, rolls of clear and double-sided tape (for some inexplicable reason, I prefer the Asian variety over the ones in the U.S.), design magazines (including zakka and ppaper), and a bunch of design books.

I’m really inspired and motivated by the stationery and accessory designs I’ve seen here. Almost every day, I’ve been scribbling sketches and taping together bits of paper to test out different ideas.  I’m excited to get back to my studio and materials ~ my new journal and notebook designs are almost ready, so if all goes according to schedule, they will be making their debut in mid-June!

Elsewhere: the mogu empire, the national stationery show through the eyes of design*sponge, and via Amy of Greenjeans, Craft In America: Memory, Landscape, Community, which I’m going to stay up and watch (I should be over jetlag by then).

We’re always traveling, be it a short walk to the grocery store around the corner or to a foreign city that takes a fifteen hour plane ride with two connections. As we travel, our eyes seek out interesting things ~ a furry dog, a bright green pair of pumps on a curiously dressed passerby, a crooked store sign lying on the side of the street. Much later, even if we’re not aware of it, the things we’ve seen and heard resurface in our thoughts, drawings and writings.

One of the things I’d like to do this spring is be a little better at recording the things around me in my journal. I won’t be overambitious and declare that I’m going to make an illustrated journal in the footsteps of Dan Price or Danny Gregory. Just some little notes and doodles a few times a week will do.

I’m working on a public art installation proposal for a non-profit organization so I’ve been scouring the internet reading about how art installations are set up, responded to, and documented. I’m remembering the life-size curiously painted plastic cows that showed up all over New York City and the orange gates in Central Park. So much paperwork and red-tape! It’s a lengthy but interesting process that I’m just starting to wade through though.

Some artists prefer to skip the paperwork ~ Jason Eppink is the guy behind Pixelator, transforming the flashing video billboard ads (that hover conspicuously and annoyingly over many of the subway entrances in New York City) into illuminated art pieces. I want to make one too! But I’d be too afraid of getting arrested to put it up.

Elsewhere, craft-related: a sneak peek of Faythe Levine’s handmade nation: a documentary about the rise of d.i.y., art,  craft, and design. And Greenjeans‘ Amy and Jae talk about what it’s really like to own and run their Brooklyn retail store which carries some gorgeous handmade goods (my latest purchase is a pair of little yellow baby booties and a matching hat for my friend’s soon-to-be-born baby).

And for the designy folks: the NY Design Meetup, with the first meeting scheduled for May!

I’ve been (and still am) on the asking end of the table, so it’s really neat to be on the other side sometimes and share some of the things I’ve learned. Here are some of the questions about bookbinding that I’m often asked, and my attempts at answering them:

Q. What are some good resources for bookbinding? I’m having trouble getting started, what should I do?

A. There are lots of different tutorials floating around on the internet. Here are a few that I started with. If you feel like it’ll be easier to be coached through the process, you could take a short bookbinding class/workshop. You can find a local one by googling (ahh, the wonders of the internet).

Making your first book shouldn’t turn into a spectacle where you prepare for days/months to gather materials. Go with one of the easier tutorials and use things you already have at home, like binder clips instead of pegs, a thumbtack in place of an awl, dental floss instead of waxed thread, a heavy book instead of a brick….

To get things rolling, you could set a goal for yourself that you’re going to make a handmade book to give to a friend for a special occasion. The fact that you have to get it done on a certain date for a specific person and that it must look a certain way will get you going. Another fun way to start is by having a bookmaking/crafting party. Invite a few friends over, set out some snacks and drinks, print out a couple of tutorials, and together, make some books!

Q. What glue do you recommend?

If you’re trying to assemble your first book, Elmer’s. But if you want to make nicer ones to use and give to friends, you’ll want to invest in bookbinding glue (which dries more flexible than regular white glue). There are no specific brands, they’ll all be great as long as they are PVA (polyvinyl acetate). Here’s one example and here’s another.  

Q. Where can I find reclaimed paper?

I get reclaimed paper from friends who work in art/education/architecture so they save boxfuls of their drafts and discarded papers for me. Ask your friends to keep a box for recycled papers at their home/office that you can pick up whenever it’s full. Propose a trade with some online crafty types (i.e. trade one of your handmade journals for a big stack of papers). And, if you’re willing to spend a couple of dollars, pay a visit to the 99cent and thrift stores.

Q. What paper cutter do you recommend? How do you cut paper?

I started off with a teeny Dahle rolling trimmer. I now use a Rotatrim professional trimmer. If you’re looking to chop huge stacks of paper, you’ll need a guillotine-style cutter (which I am utterly afraid of — not to mention they are a safety hazard if you have kids or pets in your home!). If you want to cut a gigantic stack of paper perfectly, befriend a printing press/book bindery and have them chop your papers for you with an electric guillotine. Or, forget about the paper cutter altogether and just tear your sheets of paper so they’re all approximately the same size ~ the imperfections add to the handmade quality of your book!

I’ll leave you for now with a great video from If’n Books bindery that will get you laughing. Enjoy!

{Update, April 2008: Hi everyone, thank you all for leaving such sweet messages and comments in response to the tutorial! 
Since I am unable to respond individually to your additional bookmaking questions,  I’d recommend googling your queries online and you’ll most likely unearth some great answers. Best of luck to each of you in all your bookmaking endeavors!}

If you’ve spent some time visiting the crafty side of the internet, you’ve probably already heard of Dawbis, the talented lady who makes intricate, whimsical pieces of collage art and is the mastermind behind the paper quilt project. I am so excited and grateful that Dawbis is sharing her “tools of the trade” with us. Read on to find out what new project she’s working on and what materials she uses to create her inspiring pieces of art.

“I am a housewife with an ambition to save the world! I am currently working on a little project called “Paper Scrap Slogans,” which involves sewing paper scraps together and then scribbling short messages on them that I hope will encourage awareness for the environment.”

“I work with paper, all sorts of paper. I don’t think I could live without paper, ever. I also use micron pens, but all they do is give me trouble. I go through more micron pens than brushes! Most of the paper I own has been kindly given to me by blog buddies from all over the world. The last time I bought paper was about 4 months ago and before that it had been 5 months.”

“I have a stash of paper that I don’t use that is always in sight. It is simply there for inspiration; I am in love with all the colors, patterns and textures. Almost every paper I have ever come across is in there and I plan to add to it as more papers come my way.”

“I collect and keep all of my paper scraps in order to reuse them for other projects. If I don’t use what I have, I share them with others by giving them away, or I recycle what I can. I try to recycle or reuse materials as often as I can.”

“If I could get my hands on a few power tools and some reclaimed wood, I would make myself a custom desk to fit everything I need into it. I don’t need a lot of space, but I do need a place to put all of my materials. The dining room table just isn’t cutting it. If I could build my dream desk, I would be the happiest lady on earth!”

My sketchbook is one big mess of rough-drafts, filled mostly with illegible notes and blobs. When I’m working on a new design, I start by going through my pages of scribbles and choosing a few that I like. Then, on pieces of looseleaf paper, I sketch out different versions of illustrations which I scan into the computer to add color and other effects (with the help of my more tech-saavy husband) to make a bunch of test prints.

Here’s a picture that shows the different stages of my Momofuku journal cover design, from the first scribbles to a detailed sketch, and then a printed draft. There was something off about that draft, and we worked at it for almost a week (wanting to completely drop that cover design) till we came up with the final version, which shows an image of only two bowls of noodle and very little additional color. We’d gotten so caught up in adding things to the design, when it was the simplest arrangement that looked good. That’s something I keep in mind these days when designing new things.

For a few more pictures of my sketchbook or those of some other designers, stop by the Trunkt blog for a spin!