I made a book, a pa(i)ge made a book.
This project is a rebranding of the classic book The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I wanted to create a book that is well suited for any age from children to adult. Since this classic book is very family oriented, my goal was to create a book that had the look and feel of a book that you want to pass on from generation to generation. My main concept was a family friendly book with a modern edge.
This was a school project that I worked on for over 6 weeks. I redesigned the interior type in InDesign. Almost all the chapters have a unique illustration that go along with the book. I hand sewed and bound the book. This project was so rewarding at the end because I know have a unique book that I myself made!
I choose to make my own illustrations to accent the beautiful imagery the story already creates. The book was published in 1911 so the illustrations in other versions usually reflect that time frame. I wanted the illustrations to have a more modern to rejuvenate the story and appeal to the current generation of children to young adults.
Almost all of the chapter openings have an adjoining image that represents something of importance in that chapter. The images go from a darker style to more cheerful as you read through the book to follow the mood of the book as it progresses.
So for some reason the only source of documentation I used in this point in time in the project was snapchat... at least I took pictures. Here is a quick look at the process I used to construct the actual book.
The first step in constructing this book was creating the book block. Each page was hand folded using a bone folder, sorted into 4 page signatures and then carefully hand stitched together to create the book block. While waiting for the glue to dry the book covering was constructed. The book cover materials consisted of book board, book cloth and glue. The final step was to case in the book, which is done by carefully gluing the front and back book board to the appropriate end sheets of the book block.
