sketches, i usually do a LOT.

this one is the winner for now.

then, of course, comes design and production.

here you can see some of the layouts.

yes, I had to keep each printed page in water for about 3 hours in order for the paper to become soft for tearing it manually.

paper in water, fascinating, right?!!

using a casserole lid to tear evenly. never underestimate powers of females who cook good )))

wet paper under the lid of the casserole, priceless ))

i had to tear each page Very sloooooowly not to mess it up and give a beautiful, hand-made fuzzy edge to each of the pages.

it was my first time to try a papier-mâché technique, my daughter and me totally loved it—here is an impromptu piece of our exploration!

I did this base for the book with my daughter. Now it needs to dry.

pages are ready for painting.

here are the painted pages.

now pages will need to go under the press of my heavy books in order to become straight again ))

i was painting with sponge and spraying with brush, but wanted to allow every stroke to happen unconciously on the pages, almost in dadaism sense of it. Some painted pages I liked right away, some I grew into liking later ))

it's time to sew now, finally, when the kids are asleep and it's late )) I took a really looooooong thread, mistakenly measuring it as double height x page numer, but it was alright as I was not scared the thread will come to an end in the process ))              

sewing books is more fun than sewing cloths for me, somehow makes more sense.

the needle is sharp, this time i get my fingers two times, and finish the project in two band-aids ))

hooray, so glad to see them done!!

you can always see more of what was involved in this project, following the link below: