Book Making with Steve Miller

I have always loved books, but making my own was a new experience.  The weekend of November 22nd-23rd, artist Steve Miller put on a workshop at Whitworth University for anyone interested in the art of book making.  Thanks to a McMillen grant administered by Katie and Amanda Clark, Miller came from the University of Alabama where he works as Professor of letter press printing and hand papermaking as well as collaborating with the MFA in Book Arts program.  The workshop consisted of a brief introduction to his work, including samples of student and collaborative projects, and then two all day sessions of learning the book binding basics.

My fascination was immediately sparked by Miller's introduction concerning one of the main projects he oversees in the MFA program: a partnership between University students and a print shop in La Habana, Cuba.  I visited Cuba last fall and have been obsessed ever since, so I was excited to hear about cooperative relationships being fostered through art.  I am also an English and Spanish major, so knowing that he has worked with some of Latin America's most prestigious contemporary poets is incredible to me.  He described the work they do in creating bilingual, cross-cultre limited edition works.  These usually involve prints made by both Cubans and grad students, and then selections of poetry, either from American writers with whom Miller has a relationship, or Latin American authors.

Steve Miller demonstrating how to fold the book cover, made from contrasting colored paper.  

Day one: we made three journal-like books out of quality papers with basic bookmaking tools we would later be able to keep.  I made minor mistakes, but so did everyone else.  We learned as much about the language of bookmaking - signature, jig, awl, head, folio, nip, etc. - as we did the materials and process.  One of two integral tools, a bone folder used for creasing the paper, Miller wore around his neck like a necklace - he had carved it from an elk thigh bone, he told us.  Apparently nearly every aspect of this process, from the papers to tools themselves, could be handmade.

Students made three books the first day using tools and materials all provided through the workshop.

Day two: As Miller liked to say, "the game was on."  Making hardcover books required more skill, more precision, and more focus than the simple paper ones we had made the day before.  Pages are sewn in "signatures," basically just smaller groupings of pages, and three signatures create the insides for a hardcover that is glued to a spine, wrapped in paper covering, and then all put together to be pressed until glue dries (mine are still sitting under a heavy book on my desk.)  Making a real life hardcover book felt like it shouldn't be possible, yet it was.

This was a two day experience packed with knowledge I am eager to put to good use right away.  I can only imagine the possibilities, especially as a writer and consistent journaler, for creating my own book to interact with the content which fills it.  This was also my first experience with an intensive workshop environment and I would love to do more.  

Something like book arts is especially unique because it confronts our role as consumers. We see books everywhere and take them for granted, never suspecting the craft and care that can be put into such a typical object.  Making a book from start to finish reminds you to be grateful for the content they contain and the elements that create the books themselves.  How do you feel like your relationship with things changes when you make them yourself? Have you ever made your own notebooks for school or for fun?