Ep. 300: Barf Bag Book

Bookbinding

I took a plane flight the other month. As soon as I saw the vomit bag (waterproof disposal bag, according to the airline) I thought: Book Cover! As one does when one makes books. On the same flight, I was given three pieces of paper to prove my existence on the flight: a yellow flimsy paper with my flight gate, seat, destination, etc; a formal boarding pass with the same info; and a pink paper with, yet again, the same information. And I, of course, again, immediately, thought: Book Cover!

 

 

So, I made a Barf Bag Book.

This barf bag is technically called, judging by the inside front title pages: Airplane “Bag” Art Sketchbook and Waterproof Disposable Bag Art. It is a 100-page A6 blank notebook Coptically bound so the artist/user can access all the pages.

The cover is made of the barf bag but bits and pieces of the paper are glued to both the front and back; more are pasted on the front than the back so users can tell which is which. 

One difficulty with the barf bag book is that the interior of a waterproof disposable bag is waterproof; i.e. resistant to liquid substances, including glue. It took a bit of maneuvering to glue the bag to the book board but eventually, I succeeded. 

By the way, the book board for the particular book was a thick envelope used by the Japanese post office to transport documents worldwide. Not quite so thick but thick enough to support this book. And a reasonable repurposing of a source that would otherwise end up in my city's incinerator.

 

Fiction

Aside from galavanting across the nation in relatively cramped quarters, I wrote a bunch on a few novels. None, of course, finished to my satisfaction. None, in fact, finished at all.

• The Posthumous Autobiography of Agnes Grout: Death Weaver. A young woman ‘sees’ deaths and accidents of loved ones as she weaves in 19th century New England.

• Ferrell on Ferrell: An Autobiography Based on a True Story. The fictional author of a series of tragic novels writes his autobiography which greatly parallels that of his fiction.

• KZMG #1. A mystery by Doro Ferrell about a thief in Kanazawa, Japan who continually taunts her victim.

YouTubeski

A short (about 5 minutes) Youtuberesque video of me unsuccessfully making City of Cocks into a book about six years ago. The Kanazawa Art College is no longer there; it moved several blocks away.