My vision of my assignment piece for TAFE is starting to come into focus. As mentioned in a previous post, we have to make a book, based ondrawings which the lecturer expects that we already have. Most of the students do, I’m sure, but I don’t, so I pretty much have to start from scratch.
After considering a cloth book of the kind babies have, either one made for babies or for adults, and a project book of embroidery designs, I’m now leaning towards a commonplace book.
Commonplace books were a little like journals, in that people wrote in them things they want to remember, but instead of dates, appointments etc., or what they did today, they would copy out parts of whatever they were currently reading and wanted to remember. Housewives might write down recipes, household tips etc., and scholars would put down whatever struck them about their current study. The idea goes back to the 15th century maybe, and I think is having a res-urgence with the practice of blogging. When I googled the term I came across this blog called commonplacebook.com, which is a perfect example. Another reason to be impressed by this blog is the fact that it has archives going back to 1998, there’s persistance and dedication for you.
I’ve an idea in my head for my book. Originally a commonplace book would have been just blank, for the user to write in, and since I’m supposed to be showcasing my drawing that isn’t going to work. So I’m going to divide it into sections, with an illustrated front page for ech section, probably with an illuminated capital letter at the start of the section heading, then a simple line drawing for each. There will be decoration on the front cover and the front and end papers of the book, and probably also a title page inside. I’m planning that the blank pages will have hand drawn lines on them for writing on, and also hand drawn numbers with maybe a little decorative motif on each. My head has been buzzing with ideas, at the moment I’m leaning towards Art Deco style, and I’ve been immersing myself in books from the library and images online of Art Deco themes. I’m particularly drawn to the fonts, and also decorated lettering for the front of the book and the title page. All of these will have to be hand drawn, but I’ll probably scan them and print them onto the pages of the book so they will be more permanent. This probably involves laser printing, or commercial photo printing, I have to research the possibilities.
My head has been so busy with this that I’ve probably been neglecting other things I should have been doing, such as writing. Writing group meets in 10 days, at the beginning of March, and I’ve only half written my article. I researched online, and found a magazine which I think might publish it, and since it was very reasonably priced I’ve subscribed, to get an idea of what sort of writing they publish. I haven’t received the first copy yet, but it’s too early to expect that really since it’s coming from the US. I’ve written most of the article, just need to fine tune, and possibly find some images. I really need to get it finished this week though. Plenty to do as always!