Clamshell box #2 – measurement fail

clamshell box fail

I just finished making this clamshell box for my abecedarian pencil portfolio, “How To Be In The World”. Except that it’s about 1/16″ too shallow to fit all the pages! Simply checking the fit after I made the inner tray — the first of three components to be made — would have made all clear. But I didn’t.

So now I have a beautiful clamshell box that needs a content. And a stack of pages that still need a box. Ah, well, I had planned to make three clamshell boxes this week, to solidify what I learned in the online bookbinding class through the University of Utah. Looks like the second and third ones will be virtually identical!

Rachel envelope

It’s been that kind of day. I wrote a letter to my niece using sumi ink and a 1/2mm Brause dip pen. It looked quite nice, if I say it myself, except that I discovered a huge, wet splotch of sumi ink on the back of the letter when I began to fold it for mailing. I mailed it anyway. Sometimes you’ve just got to move on. (The scroll-point red marker on the envelope went a little better.)

My work in Letter Arts Review!

My ABC pencil portfolio in Letter Arts Review!

On Monday, I was thrilled to receive my copy of the current issue of Letter Arts Review. It’s always a good day when the LAR arrives, but especially so this time: my ABC pencil portfolio, How to Be In The World, was featured in it — all 28 pages! If you follow this blog, you’ve read about the portfolio several times here. The final product is definitely a ship of Theseus: every single page has been redone at least once.

Although I’m understandably infatuated with those particular pages, the entire issue is an excellent one. It includes an interview with the inimitable Julie Wildman, a book project by Louise Grunewald, Anna Pinto on pastels and pochoir, and more. Get your own copy here.

(In a few weeks, I may be letting up on the exclamation points. Maybe.)

Another page (unfinished) of the portfolio project

C – Connect. Unfinished page of the portfolio project, showing how weights have been added to monoline forms.

I’ve been so enamored of the pencil since Amity Parks’ workshop. I’m starting to think about moving back to the wet stuff. I still like drawing the letters, though; I may take that back to gouache and sumi ink.

Portfolio project

Remember this post? wherein I claimed to be making progress. Hahahahahaha.

I’ve scrapped those pages, and the minuscule progress I’ve made since then, to make it a pencil-only portfolio. Here are two completed pages. We will make portfolios for our projects in August, so I really do have to get cooking on these. 

Portfolio project – B is for Balance

Portfolio project – J is for Juxtapose