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Suspending the book in an aquarium. The book perfectly suspended in the aquarium, symbolizing how Frankenstein ended up in the sea.

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FINAL BOOKWORK

A book/ publication designed in response to Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein.

By quoting the novel Frankenstein, taking all the emotions, the pain, and the darkness in Frankenstein, the topic war was chosen. The book is designed to remind people the aftermath of war, the pain to the people, especially women and children. Just like the monster is created, but then detested - feeling lonely, lost, and filthy, war is. We, humans, and all our greed creates war. Victor Frankenstein, with all the greed in knowledge decided to play God, created the monster. Leaving the civilians, the people, and also the monster in suffering. With the layering, transparency, and over-printing gives a contrasting effect to the whole “book” itself. By soaking it in water, showing how the suffering of war sinks in the people, drenched their souls, and leave them

The book was first drenched in water, air-dried for couple of hours, then suspended in the aquarium. Inspired by the line “I looked upon the sea, it was to be my grave,” the suspending in aquarium was a symbol of how Frankenstein ended up in the sea, how war, ended with people dying and suffering.

REFLECTION

This project got me into thinking out of my comfort zone, working in a style and a concept that  is to me, unfamiliar. My first approach to this project was something that is very predictable from me, illustrated children storybook. But then, I decided to go with something that would have more meaning, a stronger concept, and something that is different. Instead of focusing on the positive emotions, I decided to focus on the negative emotions and “playing around” with that. Getting out from my comfort zone, where I am so used to everything sweet, cute, and illustrative, creating something this dark was such a struggle. How do I interpret something that is so dark, and how do I portray that.

During the early stage it gets too vague and all I have was the idea of war. Exploring war, understanding something that actually has a depth to it was actually very tricky. Trying to really get the feel of something that actually is unfamiliar is rather weird, and war is such a “disturbing” topic in a way it makes you feel something. In the end, even though the process requires a lot of U-turns, confusion, I am happy I decided to go outside the box and go with the war theme. I learned a lot through the process of not knowing, getting lost, and being stuck at the same steps.

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REFLECTION

REFLECTION ON TUMBLR AS A MEDIA

To be honest, I am quite “traditional” when it comes to research. I prefer writing down all my ideas on my notes instead of posting it online. So, Tumblr is something new to me. Call me weird, but I have never used Tumblr even once in my whole life (yes.. I know). Having a tumblr to me as a journal was .. fun! I get to “save” what I found online and I also get to see what I posted before. In the end, it became a really useful tool for me just to look back.

With all the excitement, I was so tempted to post what I found online in Tumblr, looking at stuffs to post on Tumblr, going through from one post to another, and reblogging. When I was doing my creative prototype, Tumblr was really useful! Having all the options (and because it’s an open brief), and with everyone posting different things actually helps in saving time to do the research.

But along the way, I started to grow out of Tumblr. As I started to think about my final prototype, having all the posts, the books, ideas, and inspiration, to be honest is quite daunting. It feels like I am being hit by train of books. And the pressure gets real too, with all the “really amazing looking” books, I kind of feel like I don’t know what I am doing. Then I “stopped” using tumblr for a while. I was only posting, but not reblogging, and get on to the real thing. Reading Frankenstein again, looking at books in store, and actually write more on my notes, and that help me a lot in getting me on the right track.

I am not really much in reblogging posts, because I think now that I know where I am going for my final project, I use tumblr more as a sharing tool, and maybe get some feedbacks. At first, I feel the need to actually post a lot, reblog a lot, but now, reaching the end of the semester, I feel like I am just gonna do tumblr just for the sake of myself, something to help myself in the end.

REFLECTION ON THE STUDIO

I have always loved doing something by hand, and by all means - being away from the computer. I love how Frankenstein Unbound, really unbound our way of thinking. The studio opens up our mind in a way we approach design, and book in general. Escaping the “normal” perfect stitch bound books, we cut books, we glued them together, we rip them apart. What I gained the most from the studio, is to not think, but just do it. I am a thinker. I love spending hours, even days thinking of the concept, and not even dare to touch “the thing” before I have all my concept drawn out perfectly. But this studio, taught me to maybe just do it first, and things will only happen (maybe even some magic) if you do it. It has been such an amazing journey (so far) and I know, more magic is about to happen.

TOTAL POST : 65 (to date)

ORIGINAL POST : 58

REBLOGGED FROM STUDENTS: 7

FROM OTHER SOURCES : 3

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FRANKENSTEIN RESEARCH | WEEK 10

Was looking at binding methods (again). This binding method is.. sick. Is anyone interested in doing this for their final prototype? That would be sick.

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FRANKENSTEIN RESEARCH | WEEK 10

To bind or not to bind? 

With my final prototype being very messy, and it’s gonna be suspended in an aquarium, I was thinking whether I should bind it together or not. But then I stumbled upon this very surgery looking coptic stitch binding that actually suits the mood of my final prototype. I might be giving this binding a go, and see how it goes.

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FRANKENSTEIN RESEARCH | WEEK 10

More war pictures inspiration, the mood that I can build upon for my final prototype. Looking at those picture, especially in black and white feels a little bit depressing.

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FRANKENSTEIN RESEARCH | WEEK 10

Ideas from Andy on how I should “suspend” my book. Maybe in an aquarium with gelatine?

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FRANKENSTEIN RESEARCH | WEEK 10

(SOURCE http://www.andlarry.com/bynd-artisan-brochure)

With a legacy dating to 60 years ago, Bynd Artisan was established by Singapore’s oldest bookbinder to celebrate the work and joy of master craftsmen. The concept is a tribute to the enduring excellence small band of craftsmen, both in traditional ways of bookbinding and leather crafting.

To me personally, this book is magnificent. Even though this may not relate to my messy final prototype, but I just cannot not post this. With different layers, different sizes, folding in and out, this book is just pretty! Really showcasing the unique binding method.

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Too bad that I missed the goey binding class:( But it's good to know that there is messier way to bind a book. I might not be using this for my final prototype, but it's always good to know new techniques.

I just love this special “gooey” binding that Andy taught us in class! So amazed that you can create it in different colours and shape it up to your liking. However, I think I still prefer something which is harder and more sturdy – perhaps glue gun or resin? Would love to try out binding books with resin one day to see how it goes.

The first picture is a book which I attempted to bind using the same technique! Just thought I could try clustering them in clumps, and see if they would still bind the pages together! (It worked)

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I love books, I love black, and I love incorporating touch to the books. It feels like nowadays, we are all very digitalized that we forget that sense of touch is actually important. I love how the book has no content too, enabling the "reader" (if there is anything to read) to actually think about the book freely.

CZARNO (BLACK) Designed by mariaszczodrowska artbook Created in 2015 in 1 copy Dimensions: 20,6 x 20,6 x 3,8 cm   Book has been made to appeal to sighted and unsighted people.The use of tactile pictures as well as traditionally printed and embossed Braille texts is aimed at broadening the multi sensory reception of artists’ books by the sighted and the blind.The topic of vision loss is subtly developed in the short text and provides the rationale for all formal procedures applied in the work. The series has been made with reference to picture books(unavailable for the group in question). 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This book uses the sense of touch as the most important aspect of the design. I thought that how she was able to cater to both people who are able to see and those who don’t was awesome as they can feel the whole aesthetic of the book with just their touch. The use of no content and subtractive cut emphasises her main point even more. 

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FRANKENSTEIN RESEARCH | WEEK 10

I stumble upon this very unique + messy envelope on tumblr, an invitation for the Viridi-Anne FW 2008-09 show. If this is an invitation for a show, I find this very interesting. The messy look on the envelope give such a contrasting feel to the very clean invitation itself, contrasting the idea of a fashion show to be sleek as well. In my final prototype, I am working with tracing papers so this kind of remind me of it. Maybe instead of binding all my paper together I can just chuck them all in a messy transparent looking envelope? I think the crippled effect matches the whole mood of my final prototype.

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FRANKENSTEIN EXPERIMENT | WEEK 10

This week in class, everyone was sharing their Frankenstein monster. It is such an amazing experience to see how everyone literally interpret Frankenstein monster differently. As for me, I did experiment with glitching the newspaper that I had overprint, giving it a more distorted look. Loving it, I am so going to apply this to my final prototype. As for right now, I have to start thinking how am I going to bind everything together! 

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FRANKENSTEIN RESEARCH | WEEK 10

Cube by Jacqueline Rush Lee

Soaked, dried, scraped, manipulated book components! I like the idea of putting old bodies together, squeezing them altogether. Also loving the idea of soaking them first to give the crippled effect.

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FRANKENSTEIN RESEARCH | WEEK 10

Some more research for my final prototype. Here are newspaper article from the war era that I decided to work on. I have always loved vintage newspaper. They look different, in a good way. We’ll see how it goes from here!

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FRANKENSTEIN RESEARCH | WEEK 10

JACQUELINE RUSH LEE - Endoskeleton (From the Series Ex Libris), 2000 Petrified Book (High-fired Book in Kiln)

Because I am starting to look at ways to “destroy” a book but not making it 100% gone, I started to look at works by Jacqueline Rush Lee. I find her works are more sculptural and not 100% what I am looking for. But I get the idea of “destroying” a book, and how the crippling effect give such an irony to a book. I love how it’s all messed up but you can still tell, it’s a book.

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PICTURES OF WAR | FRANKENSTEIN RESEARCH | WEEK 10

This is the kind of mood I am going for! War, misery, pain! This is the tool I used to create my Frankenstein final project

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Love love love this book! This could be such an inspiration for my final project, all the different material that tells its own story. I don’t know how the others feel about this but I can see some vulnerability, strength, and elegance all in one sketchbook! 

Fashion Sketchbooks   ｜   Week 9

These outstanding sketchbook pages are by an young designer who has had work by Lady Gaga. I like the form that explore a wide range of tactile surfaces and structures, especially dramatic human faces.  The mixed-media pages made me thinking my final work how each pages treated as artwork.