Collection 100- Book binding workshop

I had been really looking forward to the bookbinding workshop, as it's something I had never done before. It was a shame that I wasn't feeling that well but I still enjoyed it and learned a lot. I would like to spend more time in this area as I find the whole process really interesting and I know there is a lot more to learn. I have decided to use a Japanese bind for my book as I like the way that it is a visually interesting stitch as well as the fact that I only plan to print one sided due to the volume and content of my book, and this will work better for a book printed in this way. I will have to learn how to make a cover for a Japanese bind book and how to bind it with a cover. I understand it has to be bound with the thread loose initially and then pulled tight at the end which could prove slightly challenging!

collection 100- Content (texts)

I have been experimenting with how to layout and format the text messages. Initially I experimented with some text style fonts, and used my pretty weak Illustrator skills to try out different ways of presenting the texts. I think that this idea would work if I spent more time on the images, and if it were a book of texts only. I think that it slightly overcomplicates the idea and draws attentions away from its simplicity.

I have decided to hand write out some of the texts which could stand alone in a not nescasarilly text format, and try using a variety of fonts, including some text style fonts, to present the others. I also think that I could experiment with some less conventional layouts of the text.

I did consider using fonts that perhaps denote the tone of the message, or perhaps contradict the tone. Again, I feel that it is very easy to over complicate the tone of the collection so I'm not sure this will work.

collection 100- Content (Written messages)

I have managed to gather a number of written messages and also a few doodles which I think would work quite well in the book. The magority of the messsages were given to me by classmates, friends and my own, but there are a few such as this note from a tutor to a random girl which I found in a really old book. I think the ones that work best are he found messages and the ones that really require a context for them to be fully understood.

Examples of some of the written messages:

I have also decided to include a few printed messages such as this one:

I like the way that it is second hand, so although it carries a common message, it was given to someone specific.

Collection 100- Content

I am continuing to gather a large collection of printed and written messages from whomever and wherever I can, in order to allow myself to have a large variety of media to choose from when I come to selecting which messages I will print in my book. I sent a group text round to everyone I know asking for the most interesting/random/humourous/personal message in their inbox/outbox, to which I have received good feedback so far. I also decided to send an e-mail via facebook. I think that this will be a great way of getting peoples attention and time, as if they are on facebook they probably aren't working or busy with anything inparticular

Visual Language 23/12/09

Focussing on one idea: trying to capture images abstractly but with a hint of colour in each one

Collection 100- Themes of research

I have refined my collection of research to more specific themes and collected some more objects. My revised theme is generally non-verbal messaging,both physical and digital.

I am considering ideas like looking into the purpose of the message, the importance of the message, and the entertainment value.....

New additions to my collection:

Collection 100. Research- Scrapbooking

Opinions on the theme of “Scrapbooking”

Scrapbooks are a material manifestation of memory of the compilers and of the cultural moment in which they were created.

Scrapbooks are one of the most mysterious objects to be found in a family home.

Writing for therapy helps erase effects of trauma

The oldest and most widely practiced form of self-help through writing is that of keeping a personal journal (as distinct from a diary of weekly appointments) in which the writer records their most meaningful thoughts and feelings.

One individual benefit is that the act of writing puts a powerful brake on the torment of endlessly repeating troubled thoughts to which everyone is prone

Scrapbooking isn’t just for documenting the good times. It shares the good times and the bad times in our lives.

Ambrose Bierce defined "scrap-book" as "A book that is commonly edited by a fool.

What are Facebook and My-Space pages but the pursuit of scrapbooking by digital means?

"The scrapbook was the original open-source technology, a unique form of self-expression that celebrated visual sampling, culture mixing, and the appropriation and redistribution of existing media."

The idea of pasting pictures and other memories into a big book has become an art form among grown-ups

Scrapbooking has become a highly lucrative business.

Everyone remembers scrapbooks from when they were kids.

These days there's nothing remotely scrappy about scrapbooks, which have a designer look and may be elaborately adorned with fabrics, stenciling and all manner of trinkets.

It's about family history, recording all your memories, your feelings and emotions

"If you die, you take all these memories with you - this is about leaving them behind for others to enjoy."

The hobby appeals almost exclusively to women,

"It's changed the way I take photos - I take them just for the scrapbook now”

Anybody can do it, at whatever level.

Scrapbooking is a wonderful hobby and can be combined with many other interests including photography, graphic design, all sorts of paper crafts and even genealogy.

The value of journaling lies in the fact that it provides an account of family histories that may otherwise not be preserved.

Many consider journaling one of the most important elements of any scrapbook.

Peoples opinions in response to the question:

“Do you think that online scrapbooks, blogs, websites and other personalized social networking sites have more appeal than hand made scrapbooks?”

“I think that if you are of the mindset to want to keep a scrapbook then you would want it in its physical state, not just as computer files.”

“I think that online it's easier and some non-arty people may struggle with things such as scrap books. Also on the internet you it's harder to loose and you can't misplace it. Also it's excellent to keep in touch with friends from all corners of the world.”.

“Something which is material is completely first hand. Personally, the items in my "scrapbook" are the original items from the particular time I wish to remember. Because of this they almost hold the history/memory within themselves as opposed to a digital reproduction. Feel and texture are very important to me.”

“Friends can comment and debate ideas.”(Referring to the interactive nature of online scrapbooking).

“Its easier, people are impatient and therefore want to get their memories down as soon as possible and the internet supplies that.”

“Things on the internet are very manufactured and generic. Anything that is hand-made has a personal touch which creates much more sentimental value to the documentation.”

“While they are easier to use and potentially longer lasting, they dont have the same sentimental value.”

“It's tricky, hand made is cool but websites can't be damaged, lost etc.”

“Scrapbooks are more physically aesthetically pleasing.”

“Easier, more available, and instant community to publish ones work to.” (Referring to online scrapbooking).

“They are easier, but are also less personal and you have to be careful what you have on there.” (Online scrapbooking)

“Less hassle” (Online Scrapbooking)

“Anybody can facebook or whatever but it takes a little extra thought to make something in the real world.”

“A physical scrapbook will last forever”

“Firefox crashing wont fuck up your memories”

“Online versions of scrapbooks are less personal and not as interesting/individual to make.”

“Not as personal.”

“Scrapbooking works for some things, like blogging work or for purely sociable reasons, but in terms of getting over loved ones or moving on not so much.”

Peoples opinions on why one would keep a scrapbook:

“To vent feelings, remember things you did/have to do.”

“To keep memories or note down ideas.”

“To remember cool times and keep cool things. You can also be really creative and personal with it. Eg; my mum has a book of photo’s from nights out in the 80’s! Get to see her at my age and it’s really cool!”

“Memories of course. Each item brings back a certain memory in time. It is, to me, like a time machine in which I can jump.”

“As I am too lazy to record a diary a scrapbook is a very good second best”

“To visualize ideas and evaluate thoughts etc.”

“So you can see what your opinion or thoughts were at the time, rather than your memory of it which can change.”

“Keeping memories, sentimental things.”

“Because I have to for uni to put up work I do.”

“To save memories.”

“Just to remember things I have done, as I have a rubbish memory!”

“Collecting together things I like/am given/overhear/find...”

“To cry for attention and to pass my opinion on to others... Actually I guess thats the same reason for everyone.”

“Being a sissy.”

“Well if you call facebook a photo album then this applies. I keep it as a record of my youth. We will all be old at some point.”

“To collect private thoughts or thoughts of interest”

“Recording stuff that happens in our ridiculous lives.”

“To hold onto memories through words, photos, memorabilia.”

“So you can see what your opinion or thoughts were at the time, rather than your memory of it which can change.”

-”It may help at the time, but in the long run it can be difficult not to 'live in the memories' and look to the future. It is a good thing to look back on however, as a past memory not present.”

Opinions and comments in reference to alternative forms of personal and creative documentation:

“Rather than a scrapbook, I have a show box full of junk and stuff which I have collected over the past 3 years or so. Notice Boards are my favourite.”

“I keep a sketch book as an alternative to a scrapbook”

“I have more of a ‘scrap box’ than a scrap book”

“ I tried to keep a blog but never wrote anything on it, partly through apathy, partly through low self esteem.”

“I keep a song journal.”

Opinions and comments in reference to what appeals to people about a scrapbook:

“A scrapbook is just somewhere to keep and collect things.”

“People keep them in the hope that someone will find it one day 'accidentally' so one can show off their life and feelings that they might not have otherwise felt they could express to peers.”

“I think the 'tech-quake' of the 'naughties' has started to kill ways of storing things such as scrapbook. We are the digital generation and it has taken over and expanded vastly.”

Collection 100. Research- Scrapbooking

Facts on the theme of“scrapbooking”

Scrapbooking is a method for preserving personal and family history in the form of photographs, printed media, and memorabilia contained in decorated albums, or scrapbooks.

With the advent of affordable paper, precursors to modern scrapbooks became available to a wider array of people.

"Keeping a scrapbook" is a longstanding American tradition.

Commonplace books (or commonplaces) were a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information in scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: medical recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas.

Commonplaces were used by readers, writers, students, and humanists as an aid for remembering useful concepts or facts they had learned.

Friendship albums became popular in the 16th century.

Friendship albums were used much like modern day yearbooks, where friends or patrons would enter their names, titles and short texts or illustrations at the request of the album's owner.

Friendship albums and school yearbooks afforded girls in the 18th and 19th centuries an outlet through which to share their literary skills, and allowed girls an opportunity to document their own personalized historical record previously not readily available to them.

“Scrappers” is the slang name given for people who scrap book.

The practice of leaving pages to personalize at the end of books became known as “grangerizing”, encouraging people to illustrate and embelish these pages.

Old scrapbooks tended to have photos mounted with photomount corners and perhaps notations of who was in a photo or where and when it was taken.

Old scrapbooks often included bits of memorabilia like newspaper clippings, letters, etc.

The scrapbooking industry doubled in size between 2001 and 2004 to $2.5 billion

By 2003, over 1,600 companies were creating scrapbooking products.

In the US, this hobby has surpassed golf in popularity: one in five households has someone playing golf; one in four has someone involved in scrapbooking.

Modern scrapbooking is done largely on 12 inch (30 cm) square or A4 (210 by 297 mm)) pages

More recently, smaller albums have become popular. The most common new formats are 6, 7, or 8-inch (15, 17.5, or 20 cm) square. It is important to many scrappers to protect their pages with clear page protectors.

Basic materials include background papers (including printed and cardstock paper), photo corner mounts (or other means of mounting photos such as adhesive dots, photo mounting tape, or acid-free glue), scissors, a paper trimmer, art pens, archival pens for journaling, and mounting glues (like thermo-tac).

More elaborate scrapbooking designs require more specialized tools such as die cut templates, rubber stamps, craft punches, stencils, inking tools, eyelet setters, heat embossing tools and personal die cut machines.

“Embellishments” are scrapbooking accersories and decorations.

Embellishments are used to decorate scrapbook pages. Embellishments include stickers, rub-ons, stamps,eyelets, chipboard elements in various shapes, alphabet letters, lace, wire, fabric, beads, sequins, and ribbon.

The use of die cut machines in scrapbooking is becoming increasingly popular; in recent years a number of electronic die-cutting machines resembling a plotter with a drag knife have hit the market, enabling scrappers to use their computer to create die cuts out of any shape or font with the use of free or third party software.

Scrapbookers insist on acid-free, lignin-free papers, stamp ink, and embossing powder.

Scrapbookers also use pigment-based inks, which are fade resistant, colorfast, and often waterproof.

Many scrappers use buffered paper, which will protect photos from acid in memorabilia used in the scrapbook.

Older "magnetic" albums are not acid-free and thus cause damage to the photos and memorabilia included in them.

Scrappers often use gloves to protect photos from the oil on hands

Digital scrapbooking is scrapbooking in digital form, often online.

The advent of scanners, desktop publishing, page layout programs, and advanced printing options make it relatively easy to create professional-looking layouts in digital form.

The internet allows scrapbookers to self publish their work. Scrapbooks that exist completely in digital image form are referred to as "digital scrapbooks" or "computer scrapbooks."

Often, digital scrappers print their finished layouts to be stored in scrapbook albums.

Some digital scrappers have books professionally printed in hard bound books to be saved as keepsakes.

Many professional printing and binding services offer free software to create scrapbooks with professional layouts and individual layout capabilities.

Because of the integrated design and order workflow, real hardcover bound books can be produced more cost effectively.

Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history.

Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members.

Over 25 million people in the United States alone consider themselves to be scrapbookers.

Almost 30% of all U.S. households have at least one family member who scrapbooks.

Scrapbooking is the fastest growing sector of the craft and hobby industry and now considered to be the third most popular craft in the nation. From 2002 to 2004, sales of scrapbooking products increased by over 27% across the United States.

As of 2003, there were over 4,000 independent scrapbook stores in the United States. Most major craft stores such as Hobby Lobby and Michaels Crafts, also have extensive selections of scrapbooking supplies

“Scrapping” and “scrappin” are both terms used to refer to scrapbooking.

“ DigiScrappin” is a term used to refer to Digital Scrapbooking.

"Faithbooking” is the art of scrapbooking feelings, prayers, memories, and events related to one's faith.

“Cropping” is gathering together to scrapbook at a home, scrapbook store, or convention. Such an event is called a crop. A person brings their own materials to create pages while socializing with other scrapbookers. An equivalent to a modern day "quilting bee".

“Matting” is putting a border around your pictures. Simply lay your photograph on a piece of cardstock and trim around the photo. The size of the trim can be any size. Matting is an easy and efficient way to frame a photo.

“Memorabilia” refers to items that help recreate the memories. Examples might include programs, ticket stubs, postcards, invitations, awards, phamphlets, etc.

“Journaling” is writing a dialogue that runs alongside the images of your scrapbook

Journaling can take many forms: It can be reflective and story-like, take a reportive tone, or simply be a list of words.

Journaling may also include song lyrics, quotes, and poems.

Journaling is a personal choice and it can describe the event, the photographs, or relate feelings and emotions.

Handwritten journaling is considered best by some scrapbookers who see handwriting as valuable for posterity

Many people journal on the computer and print it onto a variety of surfaces including vellum, tape, ribbon, and paper.

“Media preservation” is the preservation of documents, pictures, recordings, digital content, etc.

Media preservation is a major aspect of achival science.

Common storage media are not permanent, and there are few reliable methods of preserving documents and pictures for the future.

Black and white photographic films using silver halide emulsions are the only film types that have proven to last for archival storage.

On August 2006 The Scrapbooking Industry commercially celebrated twenty-five years of existence

Marielen W. Christensen opened ‘Keeping Memories Alive’, the worlds first scrapbooking store, head quartered in Spanish Fork, Utah, USA, in 1981.

When you google "scrapbooking" and you get nearly 18 million results.

Past famous scrapbookers include Lillian Hellman, Zelda Fitzgerald, Saul Steinberg, and Anne Sexton,

Anne Sexton, not only included her first efforts at verse in her scrap book, but also the key from the motel room where she and her husband spent their wedding night.

"Scrapbook-making volunteers" put together memory books for military personnel serving overseas during both world wars.

Mark Twain despite the fact that he wasn't a scrapbooker himself, invented a "self-pasting" scrapbook, which earned him more than $50,000 in royalties.

‘Visual journalism’ is the practice of strategically combining words and images to convey information.

WH Smith's are trialing scrapbooking in six shops across the uk

Results from my first questionaire

When asked which of the following they kept:

9.1% of people said that they keep a Diary/Journal

18.2% of people said that they keep a Scrapbook

24.2% of people said that they keep a Photo album

27.3% of people said that they keep a Blog

9.1% of people said that they keep a Webpage

12.1% of people said that they keep something other than the above.

Almost 90% of people agreed when asked whether they think that it is fair to say that people feel the need to have a way of documenting their life.

2 in 3 people agreed that documenting your life in this way helps people to move forwards with their life; perhaps in terms of coping with loss of loved ones and other difficult times.

When asked what the main appeal of a scrapbook would be to them:

26.7% said it would be the way that it is a more visual alternative to a diary that appeals the most

26.7% said it would be because it acts as an aid to help you remember parts of your life that you might otherwise forget

20% said it was simply a more interesting and personal way to display your photographs

6.7% said it was the art and craft element that appealed the most

20% said it was another reason other than the options listed

2 in 3 people felt that hand made scrapbooks have more appeal than online scrapbooks, blogs, websites and other personalized social networking sites.

2 in 3 people said that they would keep a scrap book if they had more spare time.

Over 90% of people asked felt that scrapbooking is a hobby kept predominantly by women. (Interestingly the ratio of people taking the survey was 60% male 40% women.

collection 100. Research- Scrapbooking

100 Objects

My stamp collection from when I was younger:

My pin board in my room that contains a load of postcards, flyers, clippings, photographs tickets and other things, which I have collected for as long as I can remember:

Wherever I move I always put up as many as possible. Some of them I have been carrying round for years. I have never kept a scrapbook myself, but have always collected in this way. What interests me is that so many people seem to, and must collect these things in the same way that I do, and I want to look into different ways of catagorizing these objects.

Collection of 100 objects which I collected over the Christmas break. I went to Amsterdam to visit some family and documented the trip in the form of objects, mainly 2d media which I collected. I looked for things which I felt would be collected for the purpose of 'scrapbooking'.

Close ups of my collection: