Tag: Paper

Map formats

DemelzaB Leave a comment

I researched the physical formats for map making by looking at maps in the flesh.

I remembered the collection Ruth showed us in our bookbinding workshop about maps. I visited the collection in the Richard Hamilton Building this week and took a few photos of some interesting aspects.

I didn’t photograph one map where the designer included graffiti and dog poo on their map of an area. It is the designer’s choice what they include in the map and what they want to direct the reader to.

This map opens out lengthways and shows us 2 sides of a street. The centre of the map represents the road itself. They have used words to tell us information such as who lives in the building and events that have happened. The map was not in English, so I could not understand exactly what it was telling me, but even so, I could guess a lot from the way it is visually expressed. As the reader, it feels like you are walking down the road.

Another map that caught my attention is one made up purely of photos. The designer has taken a series of photos at one location and pieces the images together to create a picture of the place. This reminded me of David Hockney’s approach, but the photos here are made to look seamless. This technique means that we are given more information than could be captured in a single photo of a place.

Stephen Willats

Amongst the collection of maps, I found this booklet by Stephen Willats, whose work I have looked at previously. The Tower Mosaic Book maps together the residents of the building. Because of the boldness, the map is easy to read.

The quotes on the left page above, have distinctive voices, without needing to change the typeface.
He presents different objects from the building. As a viewer, I wonder about the choice of objects. I can see they are the people’s possessions because they are everyday objects.

Michael C. Nicholson

Nicholson maps his day in this booklet. The horizontal line represents the hours in the day and the silhouettes signify different activities. The way they are positioned remind me of a clock face and therefore the viewer sees a clock even before reading the text.

The horizontal line continues across the booklet. This helps the work to look cohesive and part of the same narrative.

‘Where You Are is a book of 16 maps created by writers, artists and thinkers.’ 

A Book of Experimental Maps Designed to Get You Lost | WIRED

‘We’re constantly mapping our lives, even if we don’t realize it. The emails we send, the restaurants we Google, the buses we take, the status updates we post —all of this is a way to track where we’ve been, what we’ve done and what’s important to us. ‘

‘(These maps) won’t actually get you anywhere—but they sure are fun to look at.’ 14 Fascinating Maps of Places Hiding In Plain Sight (gizmodo.com)

I looked at this collection and include some of the maps here:

Denis Wood

front cover

Tao Lin

front cover

Tao Lin maps outer space in answer to the question ‘Where are you?’

Leanne Shapton

front cover

Tablescapes is about the literal space around you in your day to day living. A desk is multi-functional. It’s a table you sometimes work at, sometimes eat at and use to store objects you may need to use in the near future.
The artist has interpreted her surroundings in the medium of paint. This key translates the shapes we see in her paintings, making it a map. Without this key, they would simply be paintings.

Peter Turchi

front cover

This designer thinks about different paths he could have taken in his life. The flow chart style reminds me of the quizzes found in magazines when I was a child.
He uses road signs that are recognisable to the viewer.

Geoff Dyer

This map folds out to show the designer’s home town. He has marked areas that have personal significance to him. I like the depth of detail in this map and the way it is possible to get lost amongst it.

Joe Dunthorne

Ghost Pots relates to his experience as a writer.

Here, the designer uses illustrations to draw a map of an imaginary place. ‘A literary landscape.’

Valeria Luiselli

Swings of Harlem marks the swings the author remembers from childhood.

The map folds into the front cover. Her map was unique in the way that she made a large folded map separate to the rest of the work. There is a booklet that comes with the map to add context to the images.

In the booklet, she shares her memories and thoughts about each swing. She includes photos from her personal collection. This gives the map an authentic feeling.

002 Intro to Bookbinding

DemelzaB Leave a comment

From the book: How to Use Images by Lindsay Marshall and Lester Meachem
Bookbinding instruments
Left to right:
1.       Cutting mat with grid
2.       Needle
3.       Awl
4.       Bone folder
5.       Carboard
6.       Metal ruler
7.       Bulldog clips
8.       Upholstery thread
9.       (not pictured) paper knife

Last year at college, I came across the art of zine making. I used mainly folding techniques and a stapler. Bookbinding has always been a mystery to me.

In week two at Brookes, we were introduced to bookbinding. This is what I got up to in the three-hour workshop…


We can feel the grain of paper by gently bending it and feeling the resistance.

First, we were introduced to the idea of paper grain, paper can be called short grain or long grain this refers to the direction in which the fibres run within a piece of paper.

Our lecturer Ruth gave the example of the way in which newspaper tears better one way than the other. This is because all the fibres are lying in one direction. If you try to tear the paper against the fibres, your torn edge might not be straight.

In a book, the grain should run panel parallel with the spine. Paperbacks usually have the grain going the other way, as his is a cheaper option for production. Paperbacks are not made to last, and therefore the function of the book is considered when making these decisions.

In book making, a section is where you fold a number of pages together in half. We began by using four sheets of paper to make a section. After making sure the pages are correctly aligned, I used a bone folder on the crease to create a tight fold. I found that the bone folder was a very useful tool, and I can imagine myself using it for my work generally.


To start the first book, I folded the sheets of paper into half.

I folded the section within a piece of paper to be used for the cover.

I measured quarter along the inside of the spine and made three marks one at the centre and to either side this. I used the awl to puncture holes into the fold, placing it on a piece of cardboard.

I threaded the needle, using a technique that was new to me. We used upholstery thread because it is stronger. I threaded the needle as I normally would, then used the needle to go back over myself and puncture the thread. When I pulled this through, it ensured that the thread would stay on.

I then threaded the paper together using the holes I had created. In bookmaking, the knot can be on the outside or the inside of the spine. It depends on the look you are trying to achieve. Sometimes it is nicer to have the knot on the inside of the book, so that you can’t see it when the book is being displayed. In this case I wanted the knot to be on the inside. Therefore, I began the stitching inside the book, running the needle through the middle hole first. Then I threaded the needle back through the right-hand hole, then over to the left hole, then back through the middle hole and was then able to pull it tight. I knotted the thread twice for strength, making sure that I was creating the knots around the threads that had been pulled through, as this makes it stronger.

When my book was laying on its side, it naturally wanted to open out.

I could flatten it by using the bone folder. Using the bone folder directly onto the cover of the book, would create some shine. As the paper is soft, the pressure of the bone folder would polish the book. I didn’t want this, therefore I placed a piece of paper onto my book first and used the bone folder over the paper to flatten the spine of my book.

The finished book

For my second book, I practiced making a hidden spine. The piece of paper I used for the cover needed to be longer than the paper I used for the cover of my standard stitching book.

For this method of bookmaking, I needed to make two folds for the cover.

These folds gave me a flat area where the spine of the book was going to be. I then needed to carefully bend this section in words to be able to create a crease at the centre.

This gave me a ‘W’ shape at the spine.

The most tricky part was then to add two sections.

I used 2 bulldog clips to hold the sections in place. I needed to repeat the stitching process that I used on my first book, but this time it was slightly more tricky because of having two sections to place around the inner fold.


The stitching is hidden!

I then needed to fold in the front and back cover. I marked where the fold would be and repeated the process for both covers. However, the two covers were not even. I had to correct this.

Ruth then taught us the best way to trim down the edge of the book. I use the metal ruler and my scalpel. Because of the layers of paper, it took a few attempts to cut all the way through the pages. The answer to this was using repetition and not force.

For the final book of the workshop, we made a style of book known as a Dos a Dos. (In French meaning ‘back to back’). I really liked this style of books, it’s fun and I can imagine making a zine in this style. This style of book has two covers and opens in two ways, it is almost like two books glued together. A zine could be based around this format and be used to display work of contrasting ideas.

We used a paper knife, also known as a clock knife. This kind of knife is used for many different crafts. Ruth showed us the correct way to use it for cutting paper. It would be tempting to drag the knife through the paper, but this could tear the paper. Instead we folded the paper, place the knife on the inside of the crease, and pulled the knife outwards at an angle. We repeated this technique to cut the paper in half.

For the cover I used a long piece of card. First, I folded it into a zigzag format. This book needed two sections, one for each spine. I attached the sections to each side of the spine, using the same stitching technique we had been practicing. This time I left the knots on the outside of the spine, just to see the difference aesthetically.



My three books together 1) standard stitching, one section 2) hidden stitching three) Dos a Dos

I really enjoyed this bookbinding session. The second book was the most difficult to make for me. Aligning the paper was also something I found tricky but I think this will improve with practice.