Category Archives: Book About A Book

Book Mock Up_The Scarlet Letter

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We decided on a 6×6 for practical reasons when using material. We will make the book with red cloth as shown in the picture (the book in the picture is just a prototype). The binding of the book will have somewhat of a sewed effect. Also, my group and I are creating the book reflecting the journey Hester Prynne went through. So, in such a case, we thought of the opening, in the front of the book, to be considered like a prison door. Inside the flap would have the letter “A” in wax for the “haptic experience” and also to symbolize who is in the prison. We also decided, since Hester Prynne was pregnant with Pearl in prison, to put white lace with pearls bordering the letter “A”.  In the beginning of Chapter one, the narrator describes of a rose bush next to every prison door, symbolizing something more hopeful compared to the actual prison door. So, in front of the flap, on the side, we have decided to put a small stamp of the rose bush.

Also, on each page, on the top-right hand corner, we will have the letter “A” in wax.

 

Contents:

  1. Forward: In the forward of our book, we will attempt to answer what makes a book considered a “great work” as well as why we choose to replicate the life of Hester Prynne? Why is it important in making our book valuable and worthy of being kept and maintained?
  2. Introduction: In the Introduction of our book, we will state how has Hester Prynne come about with such a life’s journey, through the history of the authors narration.
  3. The life of a Non-Sinner: Through the eyes of all around Hester, before the conviction of adultery, my group and I thought it was necessary to mention how the life of those who did not sin live and the expectations created within society. More specifically, who those people are?
  4. Hester Prynne_The Beginning of “A”: Here, we discuss the beginning of the sin Hester Prynne has committed, as well as those involved.
  5. Product of Sin (Pearl): Who is Pearl? What she represents in Hester’s life?
  6. Branding_The Shameful Experience: Here, we discuss the measures society takes to humiliate the one who has committed a crime, and also how ruthless they could be through Hester’s eyes.
  7. A Silent Death: How Hester have spent her years after? Who knew the truth, if anyone about who the father was?
  8. Creative Response to Hester Prynne’s Life: We decided to express a feeling of her journey through poem. Hopefully, the poem can create such a language that the readers begin to sympathize with Hester.. possibly empathize with her (The poem is in the process of being completed).

Some parts of our book we took from your suggestions: 

  • The forward as mentioned above
  • A protective sleeve to enhance value and preservation of our book
  • Cloth material to cover the book
  • Hints or teasers of Hester Prynne. For example, a flower in between the pages.

 

Mock- Up for Beloved

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The Full Set:

Book 1: About Beloved

  • Front cover  with title and hand drawn photo of Beloved’s tombstone
  • Table of Contents (blue/gray page to keep neutral)
  • History of the book (old looking/textured paper)
  • About the author (orange for Toni Morrison’s favorite color)
  • Why it’s great (light green to keep it positive)
  • Book’s reception/preservation over time (same pages as history of)
  • Bibliography (same blue/gray as table of contents)

Book 2: The Girls

  • Front cover with title and soon to be hand drawn photo of the girls  
  • Table of Contents (blue/gray page to keep neutral)
  • About Baby Suggs (orange pages, because it’s her favorite color)
  • About Sethe (red to represent strength)
  • About Beloved (green to represent guilt)
  • About Denver (blue to represent intelligence)
  • Bibliography (same blue/gray as table of contents)

Book 3: From Kentucky

  • Front cover with title and hand drawn photo of ink and pen, representing the ink well used by school teacher
  • Table of contents (blue/gray page to keep neutral)
  • Introduction of Sweet Home (brown for darkness)
  • Sethe’s life at Sweet Home (green for envy)
  • Her and the other slaves on Sweet Home (light green for lightness)
  • Her wedding with Halle (red for love)
  • The Garners wedding gift  (green for real)
  • School Teacher’s take over (red for danger)
  • Sethe’s experience in the barn (blue for sadness)
  • Sethe’s beating before escaping / how she got her “tree” (red for danger)
  • Sethe’s escape (yellow of liberation)
  • Bibliography (same blue/gray as table of contents)

Book 4: To Ohio

  • Front cover with title and soon to be hand drawn photo of Amy Denver
  • Table of contents (blue/gray page to keep neutral)
  • About Amy Denver (orange for her hair)
  • Sethe finally getting to Ohio / 124 (light green to keep it light / happy)
  • The moment school teacher comes to 124 and Sethe has to make a difficult decision (red for danger / blood)
  • Baby Suggs passing (orange for Baby Sugg’s favorite color)
  • The multiple hauntings in the house (red for danger)
  • Paul D comes to 124 (brown to represent healing and reliability)
  • About Paul D (brown to represent healing and reliability)
  • Paul D’s leaving and Sethe realizing whon Beloved is  (red to represent danger)
  • Bibliography (same blue/gray as table of contents)

Book 5: Our Take

  • Front cover with title and hand drawn photo of a person reading a book
  • Table of contents (blue/gray page to keep neutral)
  • Abby’s close reading analysis (blue for her favorite color)
  • Danay’s close reading analysis (yellow for her favorite color)
  • Mamady’s close reading analysis (green)
  • Jelandi’s close reading analysis (red for her favorite color)
  • Abby’s definition of a great work (blue)
  • Danay’s definition of a great work (yellow)
  • Mamady’s definition of a great work (green)
  • Jelandi’s definition of a great work (red)
  • Abby’s definition of a great work connected to Beloved
  • Danay’s definition of a great work connected to Beloved
  • Mamady’s definition of a great work connected to Beloved
  • Jelandi’s definition of a great work connected to Beloved
  • Bibliography (same blue/gray as table of contents)

Below are examples of the pages and colors:
Table of contents page:


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book 1, history pages:

Each page (with the exception of the table of contents and bibliography) will have a double set of pages like this:

On the left side we will have either a quote to describe the moment, a title page, or photo.

On the right side, we will have the information we’re trying to create. This can be created with images, stickers, text, etc.

We will be adding personalized items to each page to make it feel more like a scrapbook. Some examples of this will be:

“About Baby Suggs” will have items such as crosses and photos of church to help portray her identity of a preacher.

“About Paul D” will have roosters, since he is haunted by the memory of Mister the rooster

“The Girls” book all together will have red roses to represent family

Timeline:

On going: The four of us are going to be collection quotes that can be added to add imagery, for example “124 was spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom.” (Morrison 1) can be used to describe 124. Each member is working on their opinion of what is a great work and how they are going to compare it to Beloved.

Already done: 3 out of 5 hand drawn cover photos. Each color / page is in the books. Table of contents is decided for each book.

5/10: Have the “our take” done by having all members submit their close readings and opinions.

5/13: Have all the text and photographs that will be used in the scrapbook. Glue the texts and photographs in the correct places and add on any extra decorations to make the books look and feel more like scrapbooks.  

5/15: Have all the hand drawn cover pictures done and placed in the correct place. Add finishing touches to the scrapbook, such as add on stickers or text, reglue falling items, and make sure they are ready to turn in.

5/17: Have all 5 books in the set complete. Also, if needed we will make another set.

 

Notes from Underground Check-In Part 3: Book Mock Up

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We are very pleased to introduce you to our BAB group project, Notes from US, based on the Great Work we are reading throughout this semester, Notes from Underground.

 

 

Book Modeling Runway Show

Front:

Back:

Inner Cover Pages:

Pages:

Our body of work:

 

Detailed Outline

Content Materials
  • Introduction to our book, where you will gather all the information you need as a reader first get around to this decently sophisticated book. It will include intro part about the original book, Notes from Underground, the analysis that dissects Dostoyevsky’s ideology and his attitude towards prevailing philosophical theories in the eighteenth century, the themes lying in our book, and how we are going to expand out.
  • A few, extremely brief poems inspired by the Underground Man
  • Formulas, Drawings of the Underground Man and other scenes contained in the original book
  • Essay-like analyses, which include the nuances of the character’s thoughts that happened in a repetitive pattern, our interpretive conversations within ourselves answering questions like why is this NFU great, what makes NFU a great work. These analyses arrive as a result of the thinking process associated in the above sections.
Formal Details
  • We will hand write every single letter for the first sample of our book, then scan copy and print out pages for the rest of the 9 copies. The handwriting will mimic the style back in the eighteenth century.
  • We will glue the parchment-pattern paper and the oak tag paper together once we finish handwriting on the parchment-pattern paper as a way to make the parchment-pattern paper durable and amplify the old paper texture, which eventually helps elevate readers’ haptic experience during their interaction with our books.
  • We will bind the book by using the linen threads which will make our books come off as fuzzy, messy, and disorganized as if it visualizes the Underground Man’s personalities. The binding method will also create a sense of vintage through which our readers will be transferred back to the European society back in the eighteenth century.
  • Some hand drawings will also be added to our books as part of the content.
  • We will play with the order to make each book has a completely different layout but the same content. We treat each book as an individual and show our respect to each of them. The purpose of doing so is to make it lively and fun! More importantly, we want to show readers the order of content matters because those pick different books will harvest different reading experience. By doing so, we will also create a distinguishing persona for each book thus providing high-quality and phenomenal experience for readers.

 

Important Dates

5/9  Cover Decorations Done for 10 Copies

Finish glueing and making title decorations for each copy. Cut oak tag paper and ancient-looking paper to prepare for the next step.

5/10 Content and Drawing Draft

Mark will give us the black and white drawings he has worked on. Media will give us black paint he obtained from his super and also the draft introduction.

5/10 Meeting with Prof. Curseen for Feedback

If we can find a good time to meet that works for all of us, we can meet the professor for feedback on Wednesday.

5/12 Content and Drawing Finalization

Handwrite the words onto each ancient paper and photocopy these handwritten pages to be used for the other 9 copies.

5/12 Bookbinding

Finish binding all the layers of the book together.

5/17  Show Time!

 

ABC: Book Mock Up

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Below is the mock up and specific steps our group will take in order to create our book.

Step 1 – We have omitted the contents for now since our work involves using graphics through Adobe and other editing tools. However, a sample of the content is attached at the end.

Step 2

Step 2 (continued)

Step 3

Step 3 continued

Below is a sample page of what will be inside. I(Hnin) will create similar contents for the cover, content page, and so on. Samantha and Sarana will work on the graphics to add/retell the story for the creative assignment.  Caleb will help with printing the completed work. As a group, we will finalize the writings that covers the questions that Professor Curseen listed.

Sample content

To Do By the Dates Listed:

5/10: (1) Discuss with the group and show how to DIY stitch the books.  (2)  Talk to Professor Curseen about her opinion on our mock up.

5/12: Have final drafts of all written content complete (each written task is allocated among the group). Samantha and Sarana will produce graphics for the story. Hnin and Caleb will assist them.

5/15: Group will meet to make FINAL copies of the first two books for the book fair.

By the project deadline, each group member will make 2 books to complete the remaining 8 books.

The Little Prince: Book Mock Up

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These first two pictures show two pages that make up our book, along with post-its that describe some of the key features of the book itself.

The following images show the front and back cover of our book. The set up is so the book appears to be 2-in-1 in that from one side you open into a manual and from the other side you open into a pilot’s log. Our reasoning behind this idea is that the pilot would’ve had very little to work with after he crashed into the desert. Therefore, it is very possible that he would take whatever he had with him, in this case the manual for the plane, and use it to record his last days in whatever way possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next images show the first page from whichever end of the book you open up on. The first is from the manual side and the second from the log side. Using the backs of the pages of the manual allows for what appears to be a separate book, within an already existing one.

 

Finally, below are two examples of the drafts of what we will be including in the foreword. These types of notes will add to the explanation of the book itself as well as fulfill all of the project requirements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Do By the Dates Listed:

5/10: (1) Burn the edges of the pages of the prototype and have in class on Wednesday; (2) Bring in ribbon or rope material which we will experiment with during the in-class workshopping for the binding of the book; (3) Bring in scrap paper and watercolor/colored pencils to experiment with potential sketches we may want to include within the pilot’s logs; (4)  Talk to Professor Curseen about “file folder” which we will put the book inside

5/12: Have final drafts of all of the pilot’s logs and forward content complete 

5/15: Group will meet to make FINAL copies of the first two books for the book fair

By the project deadline, the remaining 8 books will be split up among group members to each finish 2. 

 

BAB Final Project Check In #3 Due 5/8/17 @ 10:00 pm

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For this next check-in, you should complete a mock up for your book.  You  should  upload a photograph of the mock-up to the site.   Depending on your book, you may  need to upload photos of more than one view/angle of the mock-up book.

You should also submit a detailed outline or summary describing any details about the book that are not evident in the mock-up.  These details may include both content material (i.e. narrative, pictures, facts that will be in the book) or formal details that are not present in the mock-up (i.e. you will paint the binding black or weave in more fabric somewhere).   Please indicate an estimated date/time for when you hope to complete these other tasks.

If  you prefer, you may consider placing your mock-up on a large sheet of paper, and then using lines and captions detail  on the paper some of the formal and content elements you will add to particular places.  This option means you can just upload pictures, as the text will be a part of the pictures (showing  up on the paper around the mock-up).

THE PURPOSE of this check in is to make sure that your project is feasible, and that you can realistically complete the project by the end of the course.  I ask you to submit a mock-up because, even the greatest outline and well thought-out logistical to-do list can’t foresee  everything. Often there’s no better way to find out whether something’s not working or not than to actually try it.

Please keep this above described purpose in mind  and do your best with this check in.  Every group’s check in will be at least slightly different.  HOWEVER every group, should be posting a picture of  prototype (or sample copy) of your book + a  detailed description of the content material and a “to do” (+dates) list.  

ABC: Check-In #2

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In response to your comments, Samantha is the most experienced using Adobe, but she will be giving me a crash-course workshop so I can aid in creating graphics. I am familiar with the programs but will be needing a helping hand to master the more difficult parts of illustrations. We are considering a mix of hand drawn and computer illustrated as a way to differentiate answering the questions posted specifically for the project. For obvious reasons our images will mimic Yang’s original work but will also have our own take on it. For example, for our presentation, Samantha cropped out the characters from the graphic novel to show how each character looks like. We will use a similar method to add/retell some part of the story. We have decided to focus on a particular scene to elaborate on but since we have not yet picked out of the options, we will omit from saying which scenes we’re considering. In regards to the aesthetic difference between the way we will produce the images and the way Yang produces them, we will be a disclaimer in the beginning explaining that we are using Yang’s characters but hopefully will be changing their tone of voice once we develop the particular scene.

As mentioned briefly before, we are trying to zero in on a specific scene to add on to. We believe that this would give us a little more creative freedom as we will be able to manipulate the story and the tone to make it ours. We have also been conducting some comic book-making research in effort to closely recreate a comic book. Having visited creative blogs and various livejournals, we found that saddle-stitch binding a book is what most comic book writers do. Therefore, we are going to saddle-stitch our final products. We are also going to stick with the book dimensions of American Born Chinese.

That being said, we plan on incorporating the characters to help answer the various aspects/information the assignment asks us to include within our book content. Samantha and I have been able to meet up and discuss ideas on how to creatively execute this but we are yet to make final decisions. We hope to come to a consensus by the middle of the week so that we can begin working on the creative as soon as possible. As a group, we have already began outlining and answering the questions and information that the assignment requires us to include. We have taken your suggestion of creating a forward/blurb to incorporate the information and we will be working on which would be a best fit for our graphic novel. If we were to do the blurb approach, we were thinking of doing something similar to the back of the novel. It has “ABC” with blurbs explaining what the book is about. We also will be incorporating the page block dividers when we see fit.

Samantha and I also visited Harper & Brothers to HarperCollins Publishers: A Bicentennial Exhibition at Columbia University, Kempner Gallery, Rare Book & Manuscript Library. We drew great inspiration from the books on display and have taken into consideration how important typefaces (commonly known as fonts) are to a book. We also will be using a different typeface for answering the basic requirements and when we add our specific scene. Aside from the block dividers this will be the best way to differentiate the parts.

Check-in Part 2: The Scarlet Letter

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Regarding the comment of what the contents will be about:

  • We have not come up with a solid page by page idea of what the contents will be but some ideas came up that it will include:
    • Problems in the marriage that made Hester go to Dimmesdale
    • Finding out she is pregnant with Pearl
    • Being shamed by the community
    • Feeling bad that Pearl has to also deal with the community
    • Husband and Dimmesdale’s death
    • This is not a confirmed idea, but we can include a page where Pearl had found the journal after Hester has died and her feelings after she had read all the journals from her mother
  • “Relatedly how do you plan to integrate the various aspects/information the assignment ask you to include within your book content (i.e. information about the history of the book and about the reception of the book over time)? See assignment page for all things that need to be included.” – Professor
    • We have decided to create a type of forward to talk about the history, why this book precedes to create a “great work”. This will book will be archived as an artifact to show its historical importance, and moreover implying that this story was, in fact, a “great work”.
      • To show that this journal/book was from the archives, we have decided to put it in some sort of sleeve or folder to preserve the work.
  • We have decided to use cardboard, finely designed, to show how old the book is and to bind the book together, the seams will  sewn in to put Hester’s expertise into the book itself.
    • “what kind of needle?” – Professor
      • Not sure, but a thick sewing needle would be fine.
    • “As a potential alternative to wood cover, have you considered a cloth cover?” – Professor
      • We might sew the cloth on top of cardboard to give a more clean look and the cardboard will help give sturdiness.
  • To divide the work:
    • two people will focus on creating the contents of the book
    • two people will focus on designing the book and putting the book together
      • However, everyone collectively will help with ideas and answer any question raised throughout the process.

Notes from Underground Check-In Part 2: Beginning the Labor

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This past Saturday, I (Shannon) met up with Jia at the arts and crafts store, Michael’s, to purchase felt, string, and scraps of crinkle and gift wrapping paper in assorted shades of brown and black to achieve an authentic, “Underground”-feel. We have five black copies of the book that are brimming with crinkle paper to signify messiness and the wooden boards of the floor the Underground Man lives under. Then, we also made five brown felt covered copies of the book, which are neat and beautiful, to represent the ideals that the Underground Man believes in and attempts to pursue. All of the copies will be bound by twine-like string to capture the sense that we, too, were struggling underground while making these books and could only tie together our manuscripts with bits of string that we scrounged up. As we get into the actual labor of making our ten copies of the Book About a Book project, we are getting into a position where we are more informed and better able to answer the professor’s questions and delve into details.

 Our work at the library

The audience of our book will be art critics, art enthusiasts, and consumers of culture. This broad category includes students of this class and the professor, but also the greater art community that appreciates punk zines and grungy garage band style music. After all, Dostoevsky’s novel was published near the turn of the century, at the end of the Victorian era for many Western countries, where traditions were beginning to be questioned and subverted. Our book’s chosen format and methodology is reflective of those historical implications. This particular aesthetic of embracing free will and the tendency toward messiness and chaos is very popular amongst purveyors of modern art and the pioneers of the modernist art movement.

More specifically, our book is made by artists who wish to pay homage to the influence of Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground by imitating the aesthetics of the period (as if our book is an artifact from the 1800’s that has only recently been unearthed) and the aesthetics of the ideals that the Underground Man is keen on pursuing. While paying tribute to Dostoevsky, we are at the same time analyzing the labors that his work involved and the discourse that he sparked on humankind’s free will and the pursuit of lofty ideals. We want our book to ask and answer several questions including why is Notes from Underground an influential and “great” text? Who said so? (To some extent, artistic community judged it to be so.)

As we finish up our book, we have made a series of changes and upgrades to our initial idea. We will order our copies of the book as one through ten. The second book and the fourth book will have a special connection (more details on this will be determined as we reach completion of the project) to reflect the prominence of the mathematical formula 2 x 2 = 4 in Dostoevsky’s novel. The order of the contents of our book will vary from copy to copy, thus giving each copy a distinct and unique feel. The reader will get a different experience and interpretation depending on which copy they read.

The text and graphic parts of our book will be photocopied and reproduced for each copy but each copy will come with its own unique short poem to give the copies its own bit of fresh content. The many poems will be reflective of the Underground Man’s garrulous tendencies and his ability to write on and on forever so much so that Dostoevsky, or the implied editor of the manuscript, had to cut him off at the end of the text. We really like the professor’s idea about making part of the text ask the reader to flip the book over and start reading in a different direction, but as we haven’t reached this step yet, we are unsure of if it would really look good and be effective upon execution.