I've been going through some of my architectural stuff for a commercial job. This is still one of my favorites: HP5 - ah what a film.
6/07/2006
Washing Grand Central
I've been going through some of my architectural stuff for a commercial job. This is still one of my favorites: HP5 - ah what a film.
More Books
I ordered a couple of books by P.J. Wodehouse but when I crawled into bed to read one - all I could do was look at the binding and how the book was put together. Both were hard copy books, published in Woodstock New York, and printed in Germany. I removed the dust jacket and felt the cloth cover. I was transported by the feel to a collection of books by Dickens that we had as kids. I don't know how my father managed it but there were always the complete works of someone in our Bronx bookshelves: Dickens, Twain, the Tarzan series, Dostoyevsky.
I suspect that my penchant for reading all the books of a favorite author began back then. With Twain, for example, we didn't just read the famous ones, but there was a book of letters, and an essay about how to prepare for a speech (something he knew a lot about). I can still remember him describing how a speech should seem to be spontaneous but was always to be carefully rehearsed.
I'm certain that my father got these sets when neighbors moved away, or from the garbage bin. But once in the house, they were there for years - waiting to be discovered - one by one.
Books that my father had gone through were impossible to read because he circled every word that he didn't know, or that was new to him. Questions written all the margins. For years, he kept a box with index cards where he would write down one new word, and one new definition per day.
We were steeped in literature and classical music. We fell asleep listening to a record about the life (I think it was tragic) of Lizst. My sisters and I still laugh about the dramtic - dum-dum-dum crescendo at the end of the Lizst record when the narrator proclaimed: And Liszt died!
Dum-dum-dum
And the music swelled. And off we went to sleep dreaming about the lives of the musicians in far-away places like Vienna. I'm certain that all the great composers died in Vienna.
Mark Twain - as I remember it - died when the comet came back. He was in bed and asked his daughter - who he was not on good terms with - to bring him his two cats. She carries them to his bed and then he kicks off.
These are memories - probably mixed up memories - from these records we listened to at night.
One day - when the so-called rich people (we always thought everyone around us was rich) - moved from the third floor - we got a complete set of Shakespeare. Now that was a treat. My father would read to us from either King Lear or The Tempest. The Tempest was my favorite because of the magic stuff that went on. The bad guys were also the best characters.
Anyway - I hope this bookbinding bug gets out of my head soon so I can enjoy the books the way I used to.
I suspect that my penchant for reading all the books of a favorite author began back then. With Twain, for example, we didn't just read the famous ones, but there was a book of letters, and an essay about how to prepare for a speech (something he knew a lot about). I can still remember him describing how a speech should seem to be spontaneous but was always to be carefully rehearsed.
I'm certain that my father got these sets when neighbors moved away, or from the garbage bin. But once in the house, they were there for years - waiting to be discovered - one by one.
Books that my father had gone through were impossible to read because he circled every word that he didn't know, or that was new to him. Questions written all the margins. For years, he kept a box with index cards where he would write down one new word, and one new definition per day.
We were steeped in literature and classical music. We fell asleep listening to a record about the life (I think it was tragic) of Lizst. My sisters and I still laugh about the dramtic - dum-dum-dum crescendo at the end of the Lizst record when the narrator proclaimed: And Liszt died!
Dum-dum-dum
And the music swelled. And off we went to sleep dreaming about the lives of the musicians in far-away places like Vienna. I'm certain that all the great composers died in Vienna.
Mark Twain - as I remember it - died when the comet came back. He was in bed and asked his daughter - who he was not on good terms with - to bring him his two cats. She carries them to his bed and then he kicks off.
These are memories - probably mixed up memories - from these records we listened to at night.
One day - when the so-called rich people (we always thought everyone around us was rich) - moved from the third floor - we got a complete set of Shakespeare. Now that was a treat. My father would read to us from either King Lear or The Tempest. The Tempest was my favorite because of the magic stuff that went on. The bad guys were also the best characters.
Anyway - I hope this bookbinding bug gets out of my head soon so I can enjoy the books the way I used to.
6/05/2006
PRINT SHOP
My little print shop has been rockin' today.
1) Two commercial orders
2) Figured out paper for the text part of the book (linen rag, inexpensive and nice feel) and goes through inkjet fine. In other words: stationary.
3) Wrote a summary of what I've come up with so far in the book binding business but it's not ready to post yet.
4) Received digital photo book kit from BreezKit. This is by far the nicest and most flexible system I've looked at. You can use your own paper. Essentially, for $19 they are supplying the cover (black linen), adhesive, and other bits and pieces. Once you've got this, if you just want the covers... well you can make your own. I haven't assembled the book because...
5) Had two print orders to get out and another 50 or so prints to do and
6) For the first time I had a major clog with the epson 4800. And after a fair number of automated cleanings, I moved the print head to the center of the machine and cleaned off the ink pads with warm water. The heads are clean now but there's a touch of diluted ink around the edges of the print so I have to wait for it all to dry up a little. Waited, and the beast is happy now.
My apartment looks like a bomb hit it. I must have ten different types of paper floating around the place. Funny thing - I actually would use the Epson Luster for some parts of the book, but they had to print "Epson Professional" whatever on the back which kills it.
My plan (once all the commercial printing is finished) is to do a simple photo book with the Canon double-sided paper (using InDesign) and assemble it with the BreezeKit system. That will really give me an idea of how pages turn, smudge or don't smudge or any other hidden surprises.
1) Two commercial orders
2) Figured out paper for the text part of the book (linen rag, inexpensive and nice feel) and goes through inkjet fine. In other words: stationary.
3) Wrote a summary of what I've come up with so far in the book binding business but it's not ready to post yet.
4) Received digital photo book kit from BreezKit. This is by far the nicest and most flexible system I've looked at. You can use your own paper. Essentially, for $19 they are supplying the cover (black linen), adhesive, and other bits and pieces. Once you've got this, if you just want the covers... well you can make your own. I haven't assembled the book because...
5) Had two print orders to get out and another 50 or so prints to do and
6) For the first time I had a major clog with the epson 4800. And after a fair number of automated cleanings, I moved the print head to the center of the machine and cleaned off the ink pads with warm water. The heads are clean now but there's a touch of diluted ink around the edges of the print so I have to wait for it all to dry up a little. Waited, and the beast is happy now.
My apartment looks like a bomb hit it. I must have ten different types of paper floating around the place. Funny thing - I actually would use the Epson Luster for some parts of the book, but they had to print "Epson Professional" whatever on the back which kills it.
My plan (once all the commercial printing is finished) is to do a simple photo book with the Canon double-sided paper (using InDesign) and assemble it with the BreezeKit system. That will really give me an idea of how pages turn, smudge or don't smudge or any other hidden surprises.
6/04/2006
Binding Continued
I just ordered the Gigabooks binder from Gigabooks. There just were so many options to consider but this seems to give me the most flexibility at a reasonable price. I'm not going to do any more as far as layout etc. until I've got the machine.
* * *
Besides deciding on fonts etc. I have one other thing to find that is new for me: paper for printing the text part of the book, i.e. the book I'm contemplating will contain prints (that's now the easy part) and stories. So I need an inkjet ready paper that is double-sided and that feels and turns like book paper. Not enhanced matte. I'm guessing it would need to be a thinish cotton paper - but I honestly don't know. I think another trip to Staples is in order.
In other words - the book is going to have a narrative flow (words!) with what I'm calling "plates" with the photographs that illustrate the story. The model for all this is the old Sherlock Holmes stories - as seen in the Strand Magazine with illustrations. To further complicate this whole endeavor - the usual letter size paper is not appropriate and I really don't want to have to cut paper in bulk. So I'm leaning towards 8 x 10 sized paper. The "text" paper should have some grain - some tooth to it.
Anyway - I think that's the last part of this puzzle to figure out. I may be biting off more than I can chew. Though actually - the InnovaArt smooth cotton isn't bad - but it's costly. What the hell - if nothing else, I learned a new term: Imposition Software.
* * *
Besides deciding on fonts etc. I have one other thing to find that is new for me: paper for printing the text part of the book, i.e. the book I'm contemplating will contain prints (that's now the easy part) and stories. So I need an inkjet ready paper that is double-sided and that feels and turns like book paper. Not enhanced matte. I'm guessing it would need to be a thinish cotton paper - but I honestly don't know. I think another trip to Staples is in order.
In other words - the book is going to have a narrative flow (words!) with what I'm calling "plates" with the photographs that illustrate the story. The model for all this is the old Sherlock Holmes stories - as seen in the Strand Magazine with illustrations. To further complicate this whole endeavor - the usual letter size paper is not appropriate and I really don't want to have to cut paper in bulk. So I'm leaning towards 8 x 10 sized paper. The "text" paper should have some grain - some tooth to it.
Anyway - I think that's the last part of this puzzle to figure out. I may be biting off more than I can chew. Though actually - the InnovaArt smooth cotton isn't bad - but it's costly. What the hell - if nothing else, I learned a new term: Imposition Software.
6/03/2006
More About Paper and Binding
I did make some progress today. First thing was I found out that InDesign won't automatically print your book in folios / or signatures - and if you don't know what that is - forget it.
There are programs and plug-ins that you can buy for that purpose but they are either expensive or there was something about them I didn't like.
I also decided that I wasn't going to use matte paper. That was out. And it wasn't a good idea to be bending semi-gloss photo paper. So I am convinced that single sheet photo paper is the way to approach this.
I tested Canon dual-sided semi-gloss and that's just fine, though still on the expensive side. It's about a dollar per sheet at Atlex for letter size. So if your book is going to have say 20 pages - that's $20 for paper, though you could mix it with single sided etc. But as I say - prints look great, and it's just the right thickness so the pages will turn easily and you can't see the back image coming through. I did some smudge tests with it and it also seems fine. There may be another double-sided semi-gloss paper out there to test. If you want to keep it simple, you can just buy linen hinges with adhesive for each page - and put it into a post book.
But what looks most promising right now is a small binding press for perfect-binding. This means that the books will not lie flat when open - but will be more like the Aperature book, though frankly - the inkjet prints will be of a better quality.
I don't think I'm going to do the post-bound book thing because they look too much like photo albums. I want this to look like a real book. Ever so slowly - and with a couple of Tylenols - I'm getting close.
There are programs and plug-ins that you can buy for that purpose but they are either expensive or there was something about them I didn't like.
I also decided that I wasn't going to use matte paper. That was out. And it wasn't a good idea to be bending semi-gloss photo paper. So I am convinced that single sheet photo paper is the way to approach this.
I tested Canon dual-sided semi-gloss and that's just fine, though still on the expensive side. It's about a dollar per sheet at Atlex for letter size. So if your book is going to have say 20 pages - that's $20 for paper, though you could mix it with single sided etc. But as I say - prints look great, and it's just the right thickness so the pages will turn easily and you can't see the back image coming through. I did some smudge tests with it and it also seems fine. There may be another double-sided semi-gloss paper out there to test. If you want to keep it simple, you can just buy linen hinges with adhesive for each page - and put it into a post book.
But what looks most promising right now is a small binding press for perfect-binding. This means that the books will not lie flat when open - but will be more like the Aperature book, though frankly - the inkjet prints will be of a better quality.
I don't think I'm going to do the post-bound book thing because they look too much like photo albums. I want this to look like a real book. Ever so slowly - and with a couple of Tylenols - I'm getting close.
6/02/2006
Making Your Own Book
This is the fun part where you try a new paper and get to beat your head against the wall. First off, I've never been crazy about matte paper. You know that. Now how nice it was with my Silver Rag or Luster etc. where I could just go into Monochrome Advanced Mode, a couple of tests, and I was in business. So I can't go into Monochrome mode with Matte Paper and Photo Black Ink. So right away I'm into trying to either fool the printer; or a new setup with a profile. This is where you begin to eat up money on tests.
I think the problem is that you need to use matte black ink to get d-max with this paper; and actually the profiles I see are for MK ink. So - am I going to switch to MK ink on the 4800 for a book. No.
However - all is not lost. I'm going to setup the 2200 with MK and use a profile for that and see if it's doable. Ugh.
I suspect that today will be a day to go backwards.
11:05 A.M.
I switched to matte black ink on the 2200, downloaded a profile from Booksmart for this paper, did the setup for using the profile and turning off color management in the driver etc. The results are okay. But there is the usual color shift you get with the 2200 as you move the print from incandescent to daylight.
I can get rid of the shift by hooking up my ImagePrint software - but I'm just not crazy about the smooth matte look. Never have been. The overall look is similar to what you'd get with Enhanced Matte etc. Nothing spectacular. Not compared to what I'm used to with Silver Rag or even with Luster on the 4800.
Honestly - at this point - I want to use the paper stock that I like. I think I'm going to look for some other method of assembly. I will sacrifice having double-sided printing if I can get the paper I like, and if the book can lie somewhat flat when opened. I want to do some smudge tests with the Silver Rag. BTW - nobody even has Silver Rag right now and there is no ETA. And I'm down to my last roll.
12:00 p.m.
I'm going to wait for the BreezeKit that I ordered which lets you use your own papers and supplies the cover and adhesive and clips - before I waste any more money.
3:45 p.m.
I'm going to say one other crazy thing. For under $800 you can simply buy two machines that will do a "perfect binding" with glue for a hard cover book. The binder and a crimper. Don't think I'm nuts but this is a real possibility right now but I'm going to have to look into it more carefully. These produce "real" hardcover / softcover books.
5:20
Here's one more link about making your own perfect bound book featuring the gigabooks press (scroll to bottom). I mean, basically, you're talking about $300 startup for making your own perfect-bound books. Of course I doubt if you're going to produce hundreds this way - but if you get to that point - you're ready to have them bound by someone else.
6:33
And there are dual side semi-gloss inkjet papers out there. One from Moab looks promising.
I think the problem is that you need to use matte black ink to get d-max with this paper; and actually the profiles I see are for MK ink. So - am I going to switch to MK ink on the 4800 for a book. No.
However - all is not lost. I'm going to setup the 2200 with MK and use a profile for that and see if it's doable. Ugh.
I suspect that today will be a day to go backwards.
11:05 A.M.
I switched to matte black ink on the 2200, downloaded a profile from Booksmart for this paper, did the setup for using the profile and turning off color management in the driver etc. The results are okay. But there is the usual color shift you get with the 2200 as you move the print from incandescent to daylight.
I can get rid of the shift by hooking up my ImagePrint software - but I'm just not crazy about the smooth matte look. Never have been. The overall look is similar to what you'd get with Enhanced Matte etc. Nothing spectacular. Not compared to what I'm used to with Silver Rag or even with Luster on the 4800.
Honestly - at this point - I want to use the paper stock that I like. I think I'm going to look for some other method of assembly. I will sacrifice having double-sided printing if I can get the paper I like, and if the book can lie somewhat flat when opened. I want to do some smudge tests with the Silver Rag. BTW - nobody even has Silver Rag right now and there is no ETA. And I'm down to my last roll.
12:00 p.m.
I'm going to wait for the BreezeKit that I ordered which lets you use your own papers and supplies the cover and adhesive and clips - before I waste any more money.
3:45 p.m.
I'm going to say one other crazy thing. For under $800 you can simply buy two machines that will do a "perfect binding" with glue for a hard cover book. The binder and a crimper. Don't think I'm nuts but this is a real possibility right now but I'm going to have to look into it more carefully. These produce "real" hardcover / softcover books.
5:20
Here's one more link about making your own perfect bound book featuring the gigabooks press (scroll to bottom). I mean, basically, you're talking about $300 startup for making your own perfect-bound books. Of course I doubt if you're going to produce hundreds this way - but if you get to that point - you're ready to have them bound by someone else.
6:33
And there are dual side semi-gloss inkjet papers out there. One from Moab looks promising.
6/01/2006
Innova Albums
Opus Innova Albums (SMOOTH COTTON) arrived today. I'm going to begin printing on them through InDesign tomorrow after I've got things setup, profiles, margins et. al. Obviously what I'm curious about is a) how the prints look on paper using their profile and b) what's the smudge factor like.
I've also received good advise from J. and from H. about making your own books / covers. More later.
I've also received good advise from J. and from H. about making your own books / covers. More later.
5/31/2006
THE SELTZER KING
Based on the long lost novel of Victor Hugo - Le Roi de Seltzer - this is the saga of Henri Mer and his single-minded quest to bottle seltzer in 19th century France. The movie was directed by the Canadian-born director Victor Hugo (no relation to the novelist) . This indy production features several exciting scenes where Henri is wounded by exploding bottles while he follows his dream of portable sparkling water. It stars Thomas Hanks (no relation to Tom Hanks) as the shlepper, and Madonna as his long suffering mother - Marie. Limited release.
Opus Innova Albums
I ordered two Opus Innova Albums, (smooth cotton high white) from ShadesOfPaper.com
There are profiles for the paper. $50 a book for 20 double-sided hinged sheets with a printable letter size (A4) area. I found profiles for Photo Black ink as well and templates showing margins etc.
So, in theory, I should be able to make an impressive fine art book for $50 plus ink and labor. What I'd do with such a book - I don't know yet - but I've wanted to do this for a long time and doing a duotone hardcover is just way too expensive. Believe me - I've checked.
There are profiles for the paper. $50 a book for 20 double-sided hinged sheets with a printable letter size (A4) area. I found profiles for Photo Black ink as well and templates showing margins etc.
So, in theory, I should be able to make an impressive fine art book for $50 plus ink and labor. What I'd do with such a book - I don't know yet - but I've wanted to do this for a long time and doing a duotone hardcover is just way too expensive. Believe me - I've checked.
5/30/2006
Self-made books
My first portfolio ever is finished. I did it all in InDesign, which for something simple like a portfolio is pretty quick to use.
But after the papers were slipped into their holders in the album - I got more ambitious. I have these books in me - and it is so expensive to produce a short offset run of good quality - it just seemed crazy that you couldn't produce a good quality inkjet-based book.
I don't mean where you ftp your photos and someone else does the printing - probably in 4-color, but a process where I can assemble my own hardcover inkjet book with say 40 photographs.
And these do exist - with different methods for the binding. In general, they seem too expensive to do in any sort of real quantity - but for gifts or maybe for a few special people - it can be done.
Light Impressions, for example - has a hard cover, post-bound system where you print on hinged paper (luster or matte) which can then be assembled with a nice cover, and if you want translucent interleaving tissue. To do an 8 x 8 inch book with 25 photographs is going to cost something like $50 for the sheets + $25 for the cover. So you're in the $75 range, not to mention the paper you'll botch for one reason or another.
Inexpensive hinged paper is the easiest way to approach this. But I've yet to find it. I'm tempted to hole punch and crimp my own.
Then I came across an adhesive based system where you use your own letter-sized paper, by DigifilmLabs and so I ordered one. I ordered one where I'd use my own paper and now the cost is down to $25 without counting the cost of paper.
Lyson even has something called Stone Hinge books - but I couldn't find much about them - such as pricing on their site.
So there you have it. I really am in publishing mode right now and one way or another I'm determined to get a high quality book done - even if I have to do the whole thing myself.
Oh - and this page (InkJetArt.com) is the best resource I've found so far on the various ways of going about this stuff.
Innova makes the Opus Presentation Album and I think this is just what I'm looking for.
But after the papers were slipped into their holders in the album - I got more ambitious. I have these books in me - and it is so expensive to produce a short offset run of good quality - it just seemed crazy that you couldn't produce a good quality inkjet-based book.
I don't mean where you ftp your photos and someone else does the printing - probably in 4-color, but a process where I can assemble my own hardcover inkjet book with say 40 photographs.
And these do exist - with different methods for the binding. In general, they seem too expensive to do in any sort of real quantity - but for gifts or maybe for a few special people - it can be done.
Light Impressions, for example - has a hard cover, post-bound system where you print on hinged paper (luster or matte) which can then be assembled with a nice cover, and if you want translucent interleaving tissue. To do an 8 x 8 inch book with 25 photographs is going to cost something like $50 for the sheets + $25 for the cover. So you're in the $75 range, not to mention the paper you'll botch for one reason or another.
Inexpensive hinged paper is the easiest way to approach this. But I've yet to find it. I'm tempted to hole punch and crimp my own.
Then I came across an adhesive based system where you use your own letter-sized paper, by DigifilmLabs and so I ordered one. I ordered one where I'd use my own paper and now the cost is down to $25 without counting the cost of paper.
Lyson even has something called Stone Hinge books - but I couldn't find much about them - such as pricing on their site.
So there you have it. I really am in publishing mode right now and one way or another I'm determined to get a high quality book done - even if I have to do the whole thing myself.
Oh - and this page (InkJetArt.com) is the best resource I've found so far on the various ways of going about this stuff.
* * *
Innova makes the Opus Presentation Album and I think this is just what I'm looking for.
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