Circle Book Finished

I had an idea for the circles book, necessary opposites, yin and yang. I printed paper using bubble wrap, sequin waste and a lot of stencils cut with my new toy.  My black/white colour scheme needed greys as intermediate printed layers.

When I cut and assembled the book I realised that the pages were too busy to take text well so I decided to let the book dictate the direction and this version is just patterned.

I used a red thread for the closure as a hint of colour and a reference to the Chinese influence on my original idea.

And more circles

I’m hooked on this construction. I’ve been playing with the loose edges of the cover.  With the centre piece wrapped round and tucked inside it holds them together

 If it is cut level with the other pieces it allows them to fan slightly.

I’m thinking that I could hide the unspoken thoughts that went alongside a conversation in the main body of the book in here 

I’ve been shaping the covers 

 And changing the shapes of the flaps

I like the asymmetry of the original idea but wondered what would happen if I repeated the interweaving on both sides. 

 It’s a whole new book.

The circles reminded me of the different hemispheres and the lines on the flaps (which are purely accidental, they are from old templates for panto stuff) look like contours.

I think I may have found my way back to the Wayfarers book

Circles

Fiona mentioned in her blog that she had been using a circle cutter which works without puncturing a hole in the centres. I didn’t know such a thing existed but having heard about it I wanted to try one out.

I started cutting up bits of old gelli print. The complete circles are great and I have an idea in mind for them but what caught my eye were the ones where the paper shifted and I’d abandoned the cut. I realised I’d made flaps.

 Which led to more playing on scrap white paper to look at structures and flaps.

 Which led to this..

 and this.

I liked the back where the pages interlock.

So I put a clear plastic cover on to protect it. Then made another with a shaped front. 

 Which led to shaping the flaps on the left side.

 I’m thinking about making a finished version of each. I’m not sure about content yet. The interlocking circles, which allow the viewer to see a tiny bit of the next circle, seem to be relating to each other.

While the version with the rectangle flaps, which hide all of what is behind, Has a different rhythm. It feels more stop/start.

 I'm looking forward to playing with it a bit more.