put a sock in it

i used last weeks Digital Photography session to take some photos of odd socks on feet, i got my sister to layer on some of the odd sock i had, her feet were very toasty, but they all turned out gorgeous, all the pictures are really fun, with the bright colours, and simple, with the white background and simple poses. I'm not sure how I'm going to use them just yet but they are really nice visual aids to what I'm looking for.

After the Crit session we had my group gave me the idea of a children's book, although children's book are very simply narrative and meant to be used in a educational purpose, I'm looking at babies and infants book which is more about the feel and look of them.

i cut up some odd socks and used them for this 'swatch' samply.
However i really want to somehow encorporate some typography in this somewhere as im really interested in it, and Mr Tom Cummings gave me the great idea of doing letter forms from sock shapes.

Statment of Intent , Book of 100

I collected 100 odd socks over the Christmas break, which i have categorised them in colour, numbered randomly pulled out of a bag, how far they would go around my house layed out next to each other and things like that. I'm going to keep in categorising them as i collect them, iv also started experimenting with the concept of a sock book and what that could mean.

my research is going to be mainly looking at children's books, iv been to Waterstones and got some secondary research of the children's book they have there for children which has really helped, its clear that a lot of them focus on bright colours and different textures which I'm going to look at further in my won work. I'm also planning on looking at different binding methods which might make the book still simple for children to use but a bit more aesthetically pleasing something to make the kind pick my book over another one. they say don't judge a book by its cover but everyone dose, even if you don't mean to.

I'm going to use a variety of different methods for this book, i want each page to be different, each page to appeal to the child in a different way, photographs, different textures, drawings, interactive parts an so on.

the group crits that we have had have been very helpful, i was resistant on producing a child's book for a while but the crit has gave me new incentive for ideas and way in which the book can be a piece of design more than just an educational book for kids. i also have lots of visual aids that iv been experimenting and developing in my own work.

So far iv been looking at odd socks but i think i will start looking at pairs of socks as this could work really well in a child's book to help pair them up.

my books

This is a concertina style book that has overlapping layers and hidden flaps. its called 'The Big Book of Little Lost Socks' as my project is looking at odd socks i focused this book more on looking at loosing the 'other' sock. being a big fan of pop up books myself but never actually tried it, decided it could really help with this theme. inside the book are little pop up boxes and pull out flaps that some way contain socks that cant be seen unless u actually look and interact with the book.

I made this perfectly bound hard back book in our book binding workshop, and I'm really impressed with this, even if i did rush some of the cutting round the edges! iv done a book binding workshop before and they didn't turn out as professional looking as this. now that i know the basic skills to make a perfect book its going to be fun playing around and seeing what else i can do with it! hopefully ill have something to show soon.

one short of a pair

What is a book?

a book is . . .

a scroll, very old simple way that we use to record information, very useful, well you'll never loose your page right?

Jonathan Drucker

This is an artist book by Jakie Batey, its part of a series entitled 'running a secret society' she has used this book as a information pack on how to set up your own secret society, the manual even has its own language code.

This artist book is a compilation a poem by Elizabeth McDermitt and illustrated by Julie Chen in a tunnel like consentinared book. It works as a piece unopened but still acts perfectly as a working book.

Sue Blackwell is very famour for her sculptural books, this is one of my faviourite and there is another one with butterflys that is as gorgeous. she uses books for her sculptures i imagine for use of the term, ;its like its coming right out of the book' and it dose. the old looking pages covered with text make these sculptures even more exquisit.

I first saw the works of Brian Dettmerpt in an I-D magazine, these book sculptures are amazing i just want to pick it up and feel it and peer inside. he picks out single words and images and carves round them leaving them almost hovering in this integate piece. deffinant 10/10

Artis book by Mathew Tyson and Les Bicknell

These last three images were of Jonathan Callan, im not eve sure why i like the first one but something about is so . . . u know? But this last one, books wraped together looking like a puzzel.