Final update for Reflective Project

The whole process from initial ideas to final work has been fully documented in my journal so I have not included in the blog for shortage of time.  But in conclusion I am including two images, one the final outcome and two my favourite page created...

I enjoyed creating my pop up washing line and hanging little miniature books cut from the Housewife's Handy Book, I had the page numbers showing and these corresponded to the quantity of each genre of book I own.

The process of creating this has definitely given me plenty of ideas for my Final Major Project.

Sarah

All books arrived!

All my books arrived before xmas thankfully, I received:

                                 The Housewife's Book from 1938
                                 Housewife's Handy Book from 1920's
                                 The Happy Housewife from 1976
                                 Helping at Home from 1961
                                 The Housewife's Yearbook from 1937
                                 The Housewife's Almanac from 1938
                                 Sentenced to Everyday Life - Feminism and the Housewife from 2004
                                 Retro Housewife - A Salute to the Suburban Superwoman from 2004

All of these publications really helped with putting my project together in terms of research, idea generation.

The main source of inspiration came from Appointment with Sigmund Freud by Sophie Calle.  This gave me the confidence to juxtapose my collections into someone else's.

My favourite book was the Housewife's Book and this became my vessel for which I placed my work. It was full of great images and the writing was so lovely to read.  When I wrote explanations or any parts of additional script I stuck to this style of writing.

I feel that Sophie Calle has such an interesting take on life and her work is full of mischief and tongue-in-cheek words along with good dosings of humour and I strove to bring a small element of humour to my work although I was very careful not to over-do it.

For instance when discussing the storage of a shoe collection I wrote

                                           'Tidy storage is essential to using the collection fully
                                           and knowing what you are short of in terms of
                                           colour and form'

I enjoyed finding the small ways to amuse my audience (hopefully) I guess its funny to play with irony!

Busy finding books to use!

I've been scouring the internet for original books etc to use for my project and I have several coming from America.  I'm looking forward to receiving them and allowing the content to dictate how I alter/add to the book.  Here are some images of the books i've chosen.
  

   


I intend to use a variety of media's ie printmaking, typing, knitting etc all things that relate to my collections.

I've done loads of research on Sophie Calle and  specifically her book called Appointment with Sigmund Freud.  I love the way she juxtaposed her collections into his personal space and how she documented the process and the text that went along with the imagery.  The text comes after the imagery which makes for an interesting read.

New idea! HELP

Well having been to a tutorial and feeling like i'm back at the drawing board I know need to knuckle down and produce my hand-in for January.

So this is roughly my idea, i'd really appreciate some feedback as it feels like i'm going a little mad talking and writing to myself :)

I am considering finding a 2nd hand and very old recipe/housekeepng book,

Fill it with recipes on how to survive modern life not make food

Recipes to create the perfect day

Recipes to ensure you leave home on time

To get children up in time

To get children to bed

To get students to arrive on time, be productive and stay on a course

Recipe for a happy marriage

Recipe for how to survive difficult work colleagues

Receipes for creative survival in the 21^st century

How to put your collections to creative use

I could use a variety of print methods but everything would be printed into an existing book or even paper added in  ie; like the way women write notes and tips into their own recipe books for improvements or shortcuts or cuttings from mags etc.

What do you think?  I’d be creating my own collection based on personal experience, creating a survival guide with the intention of handing down through generations as a means of not forgetting, after all we all collect as a means of not forgetting.  

 So I'd love some feedback before I go steaming ahead in this direction, i have so little time left :-(

Off to PARIS...

I'm off to Paris on Thursday for 3 days with my students, hoping to visit the D'Orsay and the Pompideu along with lots of sights.  Will be taking my 35mm camera to shoot some black and white films as i've never shot Paris in Black and White before.  Will be visiting Off Print Paris which is linked into Paris Photo 2012.  It will be full of self publishers and small publishing houses.  Very bespoke and 99% photographic books but I go every year and each year it gets bigger and better so i'm looking forward to that.

About to start writing up the book fair as my work experience and i'm also going to include all my bookbinding teaching aids that I have created for my students as I feel it's all relevant work experience. I'm starting to put my final books together for the January hand-in for my reflective project.  This one is based on my love letters zine and i've been busy on my portable typewriters again!

 

I could happily play typewriters indefinitely but more books need to be made so i'm finishing compiling the images into a final book, it's hard to decide if less is more or the more the merrier because i've still got loads of word play left in me but I may err on the side of caution and go with the 'you can have too much of a good thing theory!'

Made the news!

No Handmade & Bound fair table :(

Just received confirmation that I did not manage to get a table for the Handmade & Bound fair in November, shame as I was looking forward to it.  They apparently had hundreds of applications and only 31 tables!  Below is a photo taken from the Reading Post website of me at the book fair on Sunday. Apparently it will be in the paper next week!?