I want to make a book for my final piece for my manifesto project and want to make it look like a personal diary. We had a week to work on whatever we wanted in a different without any distractions and with different materials and resources at hand to what we would normally have. When I first got into the space I just started to think about what I wanted to make and what resources I would need to make it and that evening went and bought everything I needed.
What I used/needed:
A4 white and brown card (for the pages and front and back cover)
PVA Glue
Scissors
Ruler
Paintbrushes
Invisible pen
Pencil
Tracing paper
How I made it:
I watched a few videos on Youtube before I made my book to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing because it looked really easy but I was wondering whether it would go as well for me. I at first didn't know whether I wanted to make the book in the simple way I had found using the glue or whether I wanted to stitch it but looking at the end results of both I thought the glue bound one would work better for the amount of pages I was creating.
I first of all had to half all my card so that they were all A5 in size and then line them all up evenly together. I then got the PVA glue out and starting gluing along where all the card was together. After about 5 or 6 coats of the glue I waited for it to dry to see if the glue had stuck all the pages together and thankfully it had! I ordered all of the prints I wanted online so that I could just go and pick them up saving a bit of time which in the end meant that I had more time to make the book. I ordered my prints in different sizes so that I could work out what size images I wanted and I wanted to try out two different layouts as well. The first images I tried out were 5x5 as I wanted to try rectangular and square images to see which ones I preferred more. Before I even got my images printed I had roughly drawn out the different sizes that I could fit on each page so that I didn't order any that were going to be too big.
I cut out tracing paper that was just a little bigger to the size of my image and placed it over the top gluing at one side so that I move the tracing paper back and see the image stuck underneath. I then wrote on top of the tracing paper with the invisible pen my memories of the place. I tried writing with the invisible pen straight onto the card to see which I preferred. I repeated this for each other picture and size and by the end I think I prefer the writing on the tracing paper.
What I like about the book:
I like that the book actually stuck and looks like a book. The style and original idea of the book came to life and worked and it's made me realise what I need to improve on for next time. The experience of making the book was a lot more enjoyable than what I thought and made me realise that it's not that hard to make a good book.
What I've learnt that needs improvement:
The glue that I used was very sticky and although it was good to stick the actual book together I think I need to find another way to stick the tracing paper and the images down because the PVA made the tracing paper and the images dry bumpy and not flat how I wanted which actually made it look a little untidy. I'm thinking about double sided tape for my next draft book.
I also need to make my book a lot more personal because at the moment it just looks like some images stuck on a few sheets of card. I'm thinking of collecting objects from the places I visit to stick in the book.
My completed draft book:
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