Book Lovers and Librarians, SHUDDER! [Archive]

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Solaris

12-06-2007, 09:18 AM

Go to this page:

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/pac_ctnt_988_leader/text/0,,DIY_26336_64732,00.html

and click on the Christmas Crafts video "Gifts that Keep Giving."

I couldn't watch the darned thing without wincing.

Infra-Man

12-06-2007, 09:23 AM

Only good altered book I can think of:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515S485WH2L._SS500_.jpg

Stressfactor

12-06-2007, 09:38 AM

Solaris

12-06-2007, 09:49 AM

Glah!!! Make it stop!!

Oh, and by the way... wood is NOT a good idea for a book cover. Wood is highly acidic and those acids migrate to the paper. In less than two years the pages actually toughing the wood will probably be yellowing and rather nasty looking.

About the only thing I would consider would be taking one of those cheap, blank journals like they sell at Borders with the boring cover and then doing some of that decorating to the cover of one of those. Anything else.... ACK!

And about the only other thing I can think to add to that would be very old, outdated college/school textbooks... the ones that are so far behind on where the knowledge is now that they're practically useless. But even then, sometimes those things can be useful (as in, seeing where the "cutting edge of thought" was during the time it was printed), so even that idea makes me wince a bit.

Agree 100% on the wood thing... unless they first coat it with some kind of clear sealant that'd stop acid leakage.

EDIT: And when I was watching it, I couldn't help thinking that it would serve that woman right if one of the books she's so treated turned out to be a valuable antique---and there she is, looking at all that glue, and seeing dollars go down the drain. :D

Agent Helix

12-06-2007, 10:48 AM

I could see doing this to something like the Dark Tower books, or the Da Vinci Code.

At least then there's no chance of losing anything of value.

DaeJi

12-06-2007, 11:26 AM

Oh yeah, the Da Vinci Code is going down! And yeah, using wood as a book cover is stupid.

Chris Hansbrough

12-06-2007, 11:40 AM

Hulk Smash Puny Book Lady For Being Dumb

Black Atom

12-06-2007, 12:08 PM

I think someone's dropping hints for birthday gifts...!

MartinRedmond

12-06-2007, 02:43 PM

I'm gonna print out the entire forum into a book and glue it.

MartinRedmond

12-06-2007, 02:46 PM

http://www.kelleradv.it/blog/klog/kaspen%20prague%20anagram%20two.jpg

Infra-Man

12-06-2007, 02:50 PM

Whoa, Martin, that book art is awesome.

Shisho

12-06-2007, 03:16 PM

*Crumples on the floor and gives a Luke Skywalker cry of pain*

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

*Twitch*

You know, I wouldn't mind it so much if the final result wasn't so damn ugly. I've actually torn a book apart for decorative purposes myself, but I bought it for that specific purpose and it was in no way valuable. What that woman was doing is just plain wrong. *Shudder*

Grazzt

12-06-2007, 03:19 PM

While I disagree with doing this in general, Martin's was really, really cool. Who did that, Martin?

MartinRedmond

12-06-2007, 04:36 PM

I don't know. I wasn't even searching for that carving.

Her ideas are good and she is creative. It's just her crafts look dodgy cause she isn't really critical of her own stuff.

PatrickG

12-06-2007, 05:45 PM

Watching that video practically gave me a seizure.

That seems like a GREAT Christmas gift idea... if you're a serial killer.

Maybe you should highlight and glitter "relevant passages" to "show off your creativity" while you're busy screwing books into wooden frames draped in leather and wire.

What's next? Dip your baby in plaster of paris to create a mold of your unchanging, cherished memories?

It's beyond creepy.

I'm going to invoke Godwin's law:

Imagine if the Nazis had this woman! "We're not out to *destroy* books. We're simply taking offending works and stamping them with our heritage and values to forge creative and decorative keepsakes for future generations to appreciate!"

You might actually be making a "high art" statement if you did this with "banned books" and had a companion (ironic) guide on how to avoid the clutter of unseemly ideas and moral ambiguity in the home...

"I find that the Satanic Verses makes for awkward dinner conversation when entertaining Arab American friends but the book is just thick enough that when dipped in a hard plastic resin and carved out with a hobby knife that it makes a quaint and far less upsetting ashtray..."

Corrina

12-06-2007, 06:30 PM

I have a friend who publishes Quilting Arts magazine. She also does altered books, the idea being to find a visual representation for the book's story.

I've seen a couple of hers and they are gorgeous. And the authors of said books agreed.

So it might depend on the degree of skill.

hellokittykat

12-06-2007, 06:34 PM

That's barbaric!:eek:

*runs away crying*

Darediva

12-06-2007, 08:43 PM

Please don't hate me!

I have to say that altered books are something I've gotten into lately. I would NEVER destroy a decent book, however, some of the ones you can find on the dollar clearance table at B&N are very much fair game. Another place I hunt for junk books is the Friends of the Library store, where they have cast-off books from the library, and from some of the patrons. That way, I'm supporting the library when I'm getting some new art material.

I'm with Martin when he states that some of her ideas are ok, she just lacks a good bit of talent to go along with that. That sculptured book was awesome.

I really prefer to alter the covers of journals, and that way people can make their own art inside, either in sketches or words.

Dazzler

12-06-2007, 09:02 PM

Eh.
Pretty much all my sketch books and books as art pieces are made from old books that i've altered.
None of them look anywhere as tacky as that lady's though.
My favorite is a hand illustrated book of fairy tales I wrote in a book called "Economic Almanac of Asia".

I'd have to see which books that woman was pasting before I fainted.

--Dazz

Solaris

12-06-2007, 10:02 PM

See, now I have a moral dilemma: my appreciation of the medium as an artist and crafter is at war with my bibliophile's horror over destroying a book to make art. I am a House Divided; hear me whimper.

;)

Joking aside, I really am divided over the idea. I can see using really crappy books for something like this (after all, they're already neatly bound, etc., which takes a lot of the work out of the project and makes it easier)... but I was raised with the idea "Holy, thy name is Book; no Book shall be desecrated by ripping, tearing, dirt, water damage... and in particular, NO BURNING!"

It's kind of like how a religious Christian might see tearing out pages of the bible and gluing them to a piece of rubber, to make an interesting door mat that's oh so chic! ;)

My mother, my teachers, my librarians---all instilled in me the idea that books are Treasures... so it's hard to watch someone do something like this to a book, even if it's a really crappy one. On the other hand... my artist side is thinking about all those old college textbooks I have in a box somewhere, sitting and taking up space. I never read or refer to them, the information in some of them is *very* outdated (especially the science ones---even in a used book store they'd just gather dust), some of them are large hardbacks that would work nicely for a coffee table or shelf ornament, and they might make nice gifts.

ARRRGH! The pain! The pain!

It's almost as bad as when I worked at Waldenbooks, and they'd throw some of the old stock into the DUMPSTER---AFTER we had ripped off the front covers (I think this is required so that no dumpster-divers can re-sell the book, thus protecting the copyright, publisher, author, etc., from theft. I never understood this, either---if Walden's has the book, it's been paid for, right? They bought it from the publisher---so how is the publisher not making money on it, when they've already MADE the money on it?)

Anyway, having to tear the cover off of a brand new book and then throw it in the trash... was one of the absolute WORST parts of that job. The booklover in me was thinking "No NO NO! Why aren't these books being DONATED someplace? Why are they going in the trash?"

Sigh. There are some aspects of Corporate America that I will never understand... and that's one of them.

the4thpip

12-07-2007, 04:43 AM

I guess putting glue on the pages is one way to produce a book you can't put down.

CutterMike

12-07-2007, 07:34 AM

It's almost as bad as when I worked at Waldenbooks, and they'd throw some of the old stock into the DUMPSTER---AFTER we had ripped off the front covers (I think this is required so that no dumpster-divers can re-sell the book, thus protecting the copyright, publisher, author, etc., from theft. I never understood this, either---if Walden's has the book, it's been paid for, right? They bought it from the publisher---so how is the publisher not making money on it, when they've already MADE the money on it?)

Anyway, having to tear the cover off of a brand new book and then throw it in the trash... was one of the absolute WORST parts of that job. The booklover in me was thinking "No NO NO! Why aren't these books being DONATED someplace? Why are they going in the trash?"

Sigh. There are some aspects of Corporate America that I will never understand... and that's one of them.

The store gets their money back from the publisher for unsold and returned stock. However, rather than having to pay shipping costs on boxes of returns, and THEN pay to store them or have them hauled away, the publishers will accept the return of the covers with a certification that the rest of the books have been destroyed.

I agree that it would be nice if the store could get the same credit for donating the books to some non-profit organization, but what is your local Senior Center going to do with the seventeen copies of "Teach Yourself HTML 1.0" that the bookstore staff buried at the bottom of the box?

MartinRedmond

12-07-2007, 10:05 AM

Oh, so it's okay when YOU find the book crappy!? YOUG UYS MAKE ME SICK WHO MADE YOU JUDGE AND JURY OF GOOD TASTE!SDSAKLdassads BOOK BURNERS!!!!.>:(

MartinRedmond

12-07-2007, 10:07 AM

I agree that it would be nice if the store could get the same credit for donating the books to some non-profit organization, but what is your local Senior Center going to do with the seventeen copies of "Teach Yourself HTML 1.0" that the bookstore staff buried at the bottom of the box?

Yeah, that's why it doesn't really bother me. It's not like it's done out of censorship hand crafting the entire print run shut.

Stressfactor

12-07-2007, 12:44 PM

The thing is, if you create one of those glued books all painted over what are you left with? Another knick knack to sit on someone's shelf and have to be dusted. Come on, are ANY of us that hard up for decorative items to sit around?

I mean sure, okay, if its a really, really, REALLY useless, out of date book, I suppose you can do something like this with it but in essence you're destroying a book -- something that was once used to impart knowledge -- to create an item that has no use beyond to look (perhaps) attractive.

At least with the decorate or create a journal/sketchbook you're giving someone something that can be USED not just sit around and look pretty.

This has become one of my things in recent years whenever I buy gifts for friends and family I ask myself "will they USE it?" "will they WEAR it?" In other words, is this an item that will have a function and a purpose. Do they already have enough ornamental clap-trap around their house? Then I don't give them any more.

Corrina

12-07-2007, 01:40 PM

The idea behind the altered books that I've seen is to create a visual intepretation of the story. So, yes, it's a knick knack, but it's supposed to create the mood of the work from which it came. Like the one with the ship, if it came from a book about sailing.

But, somehow, I don't think that's what this craft lady was talking about.

Stressfactor

12-07-2007, 01:52 PM

If it's high art (even amature high art) -- such as your friend creates and the image Martin posted -- I'm a bit more amenable. But just glueing random buttons and fake jewels, and bits of greeting cards on something is more like a grade school art project... Not that there's anything wrong with a grade school art project* -- but you treasure those for different reasons.

*I proudly display artistic gifts from my nephew on my refridgerator art gallery.

The Xenos

12-07-2007, 01:54 PM

Well, it figures some Martha Stewart type telling women to stay at home and do crafts encourages using books as decoration.

Though I wouldn't mind gluing a couple certain books shut myself. Take that John Knowles' A Separate Peace!

CutterMike

12-07-2007, 07:24 PM

(...)
I mean sure, okay, if its a really, really, REALLY useless, out of date book, I suppose you can do something like this with it but in essence you're destroying a book -- something that was once used to impart knowledge -- to create an item that has no use beyond to look (perhaps) attractive.
(...)

Well... It MIGHT have been a Harlequin romance... thy don't impart MUCH knowledge...

(Try the Spam, eggs, bacon, and Spam... It hasn't got MUCH Spam in it...!)

Corrina

12-07-2007, 08:02 PM

Do I have to go into my romance rant again?

Let's just say people who read mainstream superhero books shouldn't be throwing stones, and leave it at that.

I enjoy both, don't get me wrong, and I see the flaws in both but also the value in both.

It's the backhanded insults that bug me, from those who think either form of entertainment is well, weird and trashy.

Darediva

12-07-2007, 08:23 PM

For a look at something I daresay is really cool: Book Autopsies. (http://centripetalnotion.com/2007/09/13/13:26:26/) Brian Dettmer (http://packergallery.com/dettmer/dettmer.html) does some strange, wonderful stuff.

Oh, and Corrina, I've read a romance novel or two myself. I seriously see little difference entertainment-wise in them and comics. They both make me laugh some, cry some, and waste my time some. Nothing wrong there.

Infra-Man

12-07-2007, 08:23 PM

Though I wouldn't mind gluing a couple certain books shut myself. Take that John Knowles' A Separate Peace!

My "glue-it-shut" book would be My Little Blue Dress by Bruno Maddox. Cutesy, self-indulgent, Pomo nonsense; reads like Dave Eggers but without the intelligence or craftsmanship.

Infra-Man

12-07-2007, 08:42 PM

For a look at something I daresay is really cool: Book Autopsies. (http://centripetalnotion.com/2007/09/13/13:26:26/)

Those are wicked awesome.

Mentioned the A Humument by Tom Phillips earlier in the thread. Phillips took a copy of the 1892 novel A Human Document by William Hurrell Mallock and began messing with it. Unlike the other book artists mentioned, Phillips changed each page of Mallock's original novel in order to create a new book consisting of illuminated texts and poetry with a brand new (and pretty disjointed) narrative.

Sample below:
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8862/humumentsy2.jpg

I want to buy the three previous editions of A Humument to see all of the tweaks made over the years. Definitely a fun book and a keen conversation starter.

EDIT:
More sample pages
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/7858/humument1cq9.jpg
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/386/humument7lq9.jpg

CutterMike

12-07-2007, 10:14 PM