Lark Books has recently come out with a new book called Eco Books: Inventive Projects from the Recycling Bin put together by Terry Taylor. It’s totally great, simple as that. Each project is by a different book artist, many of which are local to Western North Carolina (I happen to be one of them, but I prooooomise I’m not saying any of this because I’m biased in any way). You’ll find projects made of everything from egg cartons to cassette tapes.
Here are a few images of the book I made for Eco Books:
I took two hand embroidered pieces I had found in a thrift store (I had to peel them away from the backing that held them in their tacky wooden frames) and hand-stitched with black thread around the bunches of lemons and oranges to make the images “pop” more. Then I made book board for my covers by laminating layers of recycled cereal boxes that I then encased with my altered, vintage fabrics.
I decided to make the book a dos-a-dos (two books that share the same back cover) because I had two fabric pieces. I used 100% recycled Classic Laid text paper, stained the edges with walnut dye I made myself and bound the book with multi-needle Coptic Binding.
I made twine (with two contrasting colors so that it would look striped) to be wrapped around a vintage button each to create closures for the front and back of the book.
Check it out at your local independent bookstore (that would be good ol’ Malaprops here in Asheville).