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~ Tedorigawa BookmakersAuthor: Tedorigawa Bookmakers
Creating Handmade Books and Writing Fiction in Kanazawa, Japan Language: en Genres: Arts, Books, Visual Arts Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Ep. 329: A Bespoke Collage & Tattoo?
Episode 329
Thursday, 19 February, 2026
Bookbinding This is a120-page, A6-size blank notebook with a collage cover. The important part is the collage cover. As is most of my collage covers, this was an experiment in two ways: first, could I film the process? Second, did it look okay? Top right is the front cover. Top left is the back cover. Off by itself is the book opened up so you can see both the front and back at the same time. Fascinating, eh? To the first question: yes, I could film it. If you go to RhinoTattoo on YouTube, you can see and hear the video. It was necessarily a pretty static shot that didn’t show my hands as I worked. Primarily because I don’t have that kind of tripod many collage makers have. Fortunately, much of it is speeded up. To the second question: It’s up to you. I like it. I think it accomplished what I set out to do. My goal: film a cover collage. What I would do differently is not put on the hazy gauze. The gauze made the book a bit fuzzy, of course, but it was also difficult to glue down, especially the edges. I would also had more pictures. Fiction Okay, sad to say this but I’ve been working on three, yes, Three, different pieces of fiction. As a result one has dropped by the wayside. Again. Caraculiambro is once again sidelined while I concentrate on the other two. The most further along is Zuihitsu. I believe this one is tying up loose ends in a satisfactory way. A few more months, I guess. The third one, just begun, is The Lonely Izakaya Down a Quiet Street. Here is the plot: a woman in her 30s runs into her retired high school Japanese teacher. Again and again. They talk. So far, this is the plot of Hiromi Kawakami’s very popular Strange Weather in Tokyo (which has nothing to do with the strangeness of weather in Tokyo). In Kawakami's book, the two fall in love. In mine, they might not. I haven’t finished it, so I don’t know yet. My novel has a touch of magical realism, I think. The main character, Rin, can “see” herself in different places with different people. Also, one of Rin’s co-workers can float in the air but nobody comments on it. Flicks Rhino Tattoo – so called because it has a kangaroo on the title page with a tattoo of a rhinoceros – is up on YouTube. It has kangaroo in Chinese. There are other videos that concentrate on bookbinding up as well. Please explore, subscribe, and enjoy.
