Preserving Past Projects
Crown Binding
One book contains examples from Paper on the Move, inspired by the exhibition On The Move with Eric Carle. Guests were encouraged to make 3D paper sculptures based on forms of transportation. Some projects ended up being more two-dimensional, which were fantastic nonetheless and easier to preserve in book form. For this book I used a technique known as the crown binding. With a single sheet of paper and a few careful folds, you can create your own book spine! I was careful to select a sheet that was the same length as the projects, so that they would fit snugly into the folds. I then glued them down so they would be secure. Not all of the projects are completely flat, either, which makes for some interesting pop-up elements!
String and Rubber Band Binding
During the project Your Art, Your Voice, guests were encouraged to paint words and images that share change they’d like to see around them in the world, inspired by the exhibition Picture The Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Picture Books. For these projects, a simple hole puncher and string did the trick. I punched two holes in the cover and two holes in each painting, keeping the locations of the holes roughly the same. Once I threaded the string through all of the holes, I tied a rubber band to both ends of the string to help keep the binding tight.
Long Reach Stapler Binding
During the Picture the Dream exhibit, guests wrote down on Post-It notes their own personal definitions of freedom, activism and equality. I glued these down on colored construction papers which were folded in half, and stapled them together at the creases using a long reach stapler. This type of stapler is adjustable which is great for making booklets of any size. We have used this stapler in several Everyday Art Projects to prepare booklets, and even songbooks!
