April 13th, 2011 / 10:32 am
 Craft Notes & Random

Bookmaking: Handcrafting Isn’t Dead

I walked into the Writing Center after teaching a course on copyediting last week and found a tableful of mums-the-word students working away diligently on handmade zines. The table was piled with paper and tape, drawing implements, glue. On a nearby table, DIY snacks: celery, peanut butter, hummus, raisins. Two of our Student Writing Assistants organized said zine workshop, provided guidance and ideas and supplies, and BAM! instant zine community.

I like that handmade isn’t dead, or even dying. People want to do things with their hands. We want to feel our own handiwork. We want to give little books as gifts (my gift, from a student I’ll call Pearl Satchel, shown here). We want, in short, for life (everyday living) to find that happy medium between computer screen and farm plot. We can’t sit at screens all day and expect to be fully human. Our bodies rebel against us. We lose our connection to plants and animals. We forget what it’s like to be a kid running around the neighborhood.

Here are some pictures of P.S.’s zine and a link to a sort of relevant 2009 NYTimes article: The Case for Working with Your Hands. I’m going out to walk the dogs.

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12 Comments

  1. April 13th, 2011 / 4:24 pm mimi—

      this is lovely alexis
      i do this type of thing practically every day with my students and i love it
      we get Very Much Down To Basics
      unfortunately i can not (am not allowed) to photograph any of their work as they are a Protected Population
      the one issue i fret over is wasteful use of materials, (not to mention a shoestring budget of soft money) so we do a lot of recycling, re-purposing, and use natural materials (twigs, leaves, we paint with dirt mixed with water, etc etc)
      thanks for this

  2. April 13th, 2011 / 6:10 pm herocious—

      Thanks for this Alexis. It’s nice to know handmade isn’t dead or dying. If it were, I’d be in a very precarious spot!

      Maybe you can take a gander at my contribution to this ‘movement’: My handcrafted paperback novel?

      http://theopenend.com/2011/02/16/what-is-diy-publishing/

      Be well.

  3. April 13th, 2011 / 9:10 pm Kimmyduh—

      I wish I could be apart of a zine community. >.< I love being crafty.

  4. April 13th, 2011 / 9:10 pm Kimmyduh—

      I wish I could be apart of a zine community. >.< I love being crafty.

  5. April 13th, 2011 / 9:10 pm Kimmyduh—

      I wish I could be apart of a zine community. >.< I love being crafty.

  6. April 14th, 2011 / 2:12 pm jackie wang—

      yes this is so exciting!! i should bring one of my Shadow Ladies chapbook/audio tape bundles to leave in the WRC. there are rewards to working with the hands.

  7. April 14th, 2011 / 6:48 pm alexisorgera—

      Yes, yes. Give us stuff to share!

  8. April 14th, 2011 / 6:49 pm alexisorgera—

      Wow–it’s great looking. Thanks for sharing.

  9. April 14th, 2011 / 6:52 pm alexisorgera—

      Mimi: That’s great that you get to do it often and, yes, unfortunate that you can’t share their work…

      We do a lot of recycling, too. All of the materials in this book were scraps from the writing center or my house. I like your natural materials idea a LOT. I eat lots of fruit off of trees. I could save the seeds for us to use…

  10. April 14th, 2011 / 6:52 pm alexisorgera—

      Mimi: That’s great that you get to do it often and, yes, unfortunate that you can’t share their work…

      We do a lot of recycling, too. All of the materials in this book were scraps from the writing center or my house. I like your natural materials idea a LOT. I eat lots of fruit off of trees. I could save the seeds for us to use…

  11. April 16th, 2011 / 1:23 am Anonymous—
  12. May 12th, 2011 / 12:06 pm What E-Book? I Made This With My Hands | Lit Drift: Storytelling in the 21st Century—

      […] tired of staring at a screen all day, to writers who want to learn to make their own books, to teachers who want to get their students more excited in reading by offering kids a chance to make stuff with […]