My
book is an ongoing project as I gradually add pages, edit more photos
and create sequences I want to remember. It's satisfying to blend an inspiring
trip such as this one, with a creative project I enjoy. I'm fascinated with
pop-ups and "altered" books and I'm experimenting with various
techniques of making this book come alive.
This
is an ongoing project, so future pages have yet to be developed.
It
began with paper-making: mixing paper pulp and screening a few sheets
that would hold the photos and text. I like textured surfaces, so added
some colored pulps, petals, seeds, and yes, a little glitter. These will
hopefully blend with the images.
*It
occurs to me that the processing pasta and paper are similar.
Wet dough or pulp is laid out, flattened, shaped, and left to dry. Like
putting a recipe together, various pulps and paper fibers are blended
into a whole. Wet papers are peeled off the screen onto a felt base. Here's
where other colors and textures can be added, embedded within the pulp:
yarns, cotton fibers, petals, seeds, spices for scent, and maybe feathers
for soft interest.
One sheet after another is screened from the tub and laid
out on a sheet of heavy felt. Smaller screens (the green hoop) help with
touchups.
When the sheets are ready to be dried, they're sandwiched between the
felts, stacked and pressed between plywood covers. This is tilted and
left to drain. Afterwards, the sandwich is peeled apart and individual
sheets are laid out to dry.
After
the papers were made or somewhat "designed", I started making
sequences of photos in a computer layout program. This also took some
"doing" since I needed to determine the contents of each double-page
spread and how some photos might be printed where the backsides of two
signatures come together. The book contains 24 double-page layouts so
far (iwth probably 10 to go.) All the photos for a complete signature
need planned out to determine the correct order for feeding pages into
the printer. Ie, each photo/layout needs planned out to establish how
it will line up with it's opposing page.
In
the process some pages lend themselves to pop-ups or cut-outs, so the
experiment continues. Some recent pages:
Ostia Antica was such an expansive place, with open courtyards,
terraces, etc. The wide views made perfect fold-outs.
These pages show a variety of papers and deckled edges.
The Pope's collage
with the Pieta is printed on glossy paper, highlighting the silkiness
of the marble.
At
right, when the signatures are all printed and folded, they are sewn to
a cloth binding. One by one, each sequential grouping of pages is added
to the book. Stitches must be tight to avoid loose gaps showing between
pages. Later the cloth is glued to pressed board (heavy cardboard) covers.
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Regarding
Printing:
I
had two purposes for the hand-made pages: to provide background interest
for the zillions of photos I took, and to be thin and uniform enough
to slide through my printer. That
remains to be seen....
After
"screening" a few sheets of paper, they were fitted to the
size of my printer and I printed a few photos. The rough surface gives
an interesting texture to the images.
Well ... as I worked through the process I found
that fitting heavy, hand-made paper into the printer took some "doing".
This required a "leader" edge of smoother paper. On the photo
above, you can see the green glitter and blue pulp that is embedded
into the paper when it was first made.
It turns out I will only be able to use the
heavy paper in limited places, such as a centerfold, or outside page
of each signature (a grouping of 8 folded pages.) So now, each signature
actually will hold a variety of papers: handmade-textured, smooth bond,
and glossy.They are not consistent, but then, I like a hodge-podge of
textures, photos, patterned backgrounds, and some text lifted from this
digital scrapbook.
Page
with deckled edge is hand-screened, showing photo of the floor meridian,
Santa Maria degli Angeles. Just brainstorming at this point to fit the
photos together.
Altered
Pages:
Cutting "windows" in the pages makes a pocket
to hold loose receipts & souvenirs.
Another cut window opens the view to the next page. This
open archway works perfectly.
A
pop-up of the Colosseum.
I've collected several photos of doors with fantastic designs. These
actually open. 
Some of the handmade pages have a warmer tint with many fibers embedded
within the paper. The pumpkin and little bouquets pop-out.
A "happy accident" (fortuitous mistake) leads to something
new. The Pantheon page didn't print completely, so a half-page was added
to fill in the missing section.
Binding
it all together. . . .
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The
Book 
