Wrap-up of the Hard Sided Wrapper

Hard sided wrapper, made in Andrew Huot class

The last enclosure we made in the Preservation Enclosures class was a hard sided wrapper. So it has the wrapper body,  but with a book board case. It looks great on the shelf and whatever you put inside is well protected. And it's not particularly hard to make.

Hard sided wrapper open

Right now I'm finishing up my next class - Clamshell boxes, also with Andrew Huot. There will be a post about that soon. I highly recommend him as a teacher, he's very good at demo-ing and explaining. He does sometimes teach at FOBA. And his classes will be offered again next year at Book Paper Thread.

More box making with Andrew Huot

Left: tray to store small bits of collage papers, based on corrugated clamshell box. Right: one tray in place.

I am almost done with the Preservation Enclosures class with Andrew Huot. This class has been more useful than I expected. From the title I thought some enclosures would be good for librarians, and hopefully I would get some ideas for artist's book enclosures. I had seen some enclosures friends made in a class of Andrews, so I had faith it would be a good investment. Most of what we have done has turned out to be potentially very useful. In the last post about this class I mentioned that I could adapt the corrugated clamshell box to make trays for storing collage parts. I have made nine trays so far and am very pleased. In the image above on the right you can see my old funky make-shift system with one new, lovely, perfectly fitting tray in place. (click on all images to enlarge)

Insert in cigar box. I wanted to save time and try the insert without making the box.

We also made two inserts that I think will have a lot of applications. I made the first one, above, in a cigar box to save a little time. But wouldn't it be a nice way to present a small book? A nicely made box would have a lot of presence displayed in a show, and would make a good enclosure for storage. Or of course if you have a box appropriate for the book subject, an insert like this would be perfect. Small books often disappear in a show in a large room. Maybe the book could stand up on the open box somehow? 

Insert in corrugated clamshell box.

This second insert also has potential. It occurs to me that you could present an interesting object in the insert area, place it higher in the box, and leave a space below to house an artist's book. It's also faster to make, so a good choice if you want to find a safe way to store something.

Soft sided slip case - holding a set of paper sample booklets.

We also made a soft-sided slip-case. It was pretty quick and good for holding a set of paper sample books. I have stacks of them and they tend to be in a messy pile. Mine is a little funky, but you get the idea.

Next week we will make a wrapper with a hard case. I know this will be useful. Then the class is done, but in the meantime I am starting the Clamshell Box class with Andrew. I know this one will be harder, but undeniably useful.

Box making class with Andrew Huot

I over committed this month. I am doing Inktober, and also taking an online class, Preservation Enclosures, with Andrew Huot through Book Paper Thread. The website says the class will be offered again in 2021. I'm half way through the class. To start we did two kinds of wrappers and a soft sided slip case. Below is one of the wrappers and the slipcase.

Self-closing wrapper and soft sided slipcase, from Andrew Huot's class, Preservation Enclosures

Then we did a corrugated clamshell box. This was much easier than I expected. These are mainly intended as preservation enclosures, as the class title says. But there are other applications. I can easily modify the clamshell box to be a tray for storage of collage parts. The materials are already ordered.

Corrugated clamshell box, from Andrew Huot's class, Preservation Enclosures

Andrew is a good teacher. He is clear and explains what he's doing plus there are handouts. I learn so much better when I can watch someone go through the process. I have not taken any formal book arts classes. I did do one intense workshop years ago with Shereen LaPlantz which was good. And of course I watch videos online. But everyone has different ways of working and I don't absorb everything the first time around. This time I have learned stuff about gluing and measuring, aside from the box techniques. Being able to go back and watch the video multiple times is helpful. The one good thing about Covid is that there is so much online now. Andrew has taught at FOBA, and I had planned to go out there next time he was teaching. But this is much better for me. I don't travel well and it's exhausting and stressful. 

These are hard times for everyone. I often feel stressed and anxious about the future. Having something to do that takes my mind off all that for awhile has been helpful. I hope you are finding this break from normal life productive, or at least not too stressful. I know some people are busier than ever, and others are at loose ends. Which ever it is, I send you my best wishes.