The Longest Post in History

It's been a super long time since I wrote last, but I have to say that this semester has probably been the craziest semester that I've had here at FSU.  Lots of final projects and such, from books to poetry to the spring BFA/MFA show.  So fair warning: this is going to be a REALLY long post.

At the beginning of the semester some of my work from last fall's print class was in a show.  My name was even on a poster!

I took a really awesome class this semester, probably my favorite ever: book-making.  We learned everything from pamphlets to flatbacks, and we had to do a final project that incorporated print-making, text and, images.  The first was a single pamphlet.  We only had to focus on covers and sewing for this one, no content:

 Next we did double pamphlets, one plain and one with content involving a list.  I did mine on a list of my ancestors and relatives, with an image of the youngest and the oldest.  I drew my nephew for the first image and imagined what I thought my oldest ancestor might look like for the other.

Next, we learned the link stitch, probably the hardest stitch of the semester for me.  It has an open spine, which means that you can see the stitching and the sections on the outside.  We did one plain and the other had to have content involving a cliche.  I did "mind your Ps and Qs."  I made strange phrases with the letters in them and then switched each P for a Q and vice versa.

Then came my favorite stitch of the semester: the long stitch.   It has a really unique look because you can see the stitching but not the sections.  This was also when I learned how to do a tab cover, which wraps around and secures the whole book with a tab an slot.  This time we didn;t have to do any content for the second book, but we had to decorate the cover.  I went with a Mori girl theme and even stitched fabric and a mini quilt top to the cover.  Thanks to my mom for her sewing machine and leftover fabric squares!

As a side project we learned how to do Japanese stab binding.  It wasn't graded so we only had to do one.

 Next came the bane of my existence: boxes.  I didn't understand this assignment at all because it was a book-making class, not a box-making class.  She said it was supposed to be practice for the next book form, but I think I could have done it regardless of ridiculous boxes.  Neither of mine would close all the way, despite correct measurements, and this was the case for most everyone in the class.  Once again, we had to make two, and the second had to be for a specific item.  I made mine for my lace collars.  I made it a little big in anticipation of more collars in the future.

The final form we learned was flatback binding.  This is what most people imagine when they think of a book.  It was the longest and most involved binding we've done, but it turned out so good.  We had to sew the text block together before casing it in with the cover.  We were also working on our final projects at the time, so we didn't have to have content for these books.

The last form we did was the accordion.  Once again two books and no content, but the second was only folded paper.  We also learned how to make covers without glue by only folding paper around the covers.  And then we made removable spines to allow for multiple ways to look at the book.

For our final projects we had to come up with a concept that incorporated one of the forms we learned this semester.  We also had to include images and text and use one method of printmaking.  The biggest thing was that we had to do an edition of three, meaning we had to make three of the same book, with the teacher keeping one. I decided to do a remake of my Grand Canyon trip journal and use linocut, my favorite printmaking technique.  I hand wrote all of the text and scanned it into the computer to reprint and I illustrated a memory from each day.  The cover, the pocket, and the map were all linocut, and I dyed the thread to a darker color.  The first three pictures are of the mock-up we had to do before we started.

And here are my plates for the printing part:

I also had a side project earlier this semester.  My boyfriend's birthday was in March so I painted an old guitar for him.

The one crazy class I took was Poetic Technique.  I'm not going to say anything bad about the teacher, but the class was hectic and the work load was a little much.  The end result was a website of poetry, basically an online portfolio.  I'm really proud of a lot of the poems I wrote, but I don't want to clutter up this post any more than it needs to be.  So if you want to check out the website, you can go here.

I also took Figure Drawing II, which was just as enjoyable as teh first class, especially because I had the same teacher.  I'm not going to put any naked people in this post, but if you want to look at some of the stuff I drew, you can click on the Figure Drawing link on the side panel of this page, or you can go here.  I will, however, show you a better version of the portrait I posted on Facebook a few months ago.

A few weeks ago, the event of the semester took place: the BFA/MFA show.  It wasn't as good as last year's unicorn party, but what could compare to that?   There were some really great pieces, though.  Caroline and I got there early, so we had lots of room to take pictures without people being in the way.

I didn't understand what these were all about, and I didn't like them very much.

This was one of my favorites.

Another of my favorites.  These are watercolors!

This guy was in my painting class last semester.

This one had a lot of different things going on.

I don't even know, but I had a printmaking class with him last semester.

This was part of a performance piece that was really strange and made no sense, so I didn't record it.  The artist basically ended up smashing all of the jars.

These were kind of boring.

This one was my absolute favorite in the show.  It's beautiful.

This guy cut out all of these tiny pieces by hand and glued them all together.

I didn't even bother with individual photos of the photography.  It was kind of blah, and I probably could have done it.

This guy was pretty cool.  I think his name was William.  And there I am in Lolita!

These looked like a few hours in photoshop.  We almost walked right by them.

On the top floor was the MFA show.  I'm not sure how I feel about this one.

Or this one.

This was kind of cool.

This one was pretty cool.

This one had something to do with voodoo and it was a little disturbing.  Behind the wall were some weird statues.

 There's Caroline taking my picture from the other side!

I don't even know what any of this futuristic stuff was about.  You had to scan bar codes with your phone to get any information, which I found a little rude since not everyone has a phone that can do that....you know, like me.

 This looked so squishy, but it was actually hard.

 Hey, there's Caroline!  She was a Mori Girl that night.

These guys were pretty cool, so much detail.  This person is being serious with their life.

 Isn't this one adorable?

It's been one crazy semester, but the results are worth it.  And guess what else?  I'm only three classes away from my BA!  I'm graduating in August!  The summer is going to be filled with lots of school, lots of job hunting, and lots of story-writing, book-making, and arting.  I'm excited!

But for now, I'll just sit here and nurse the holes where my wisdom teeth used to be and wait for my mom to get home with the ice-cream.