So That is How Caterpillar Books are Supposed to Work

I have made caterpillar books/snake books before but I was never quite sure how they were supposed to work. Mainly because the last very important step had been missed from the instructions and that is gluing the internal pages together so the book stands as a book and no longer wants to unfold in a complicated manner.

In Debbie Lyton’s Sensing Place course (Fibre Arts Take 2) we were encouraged to take a walk and create small sketches of a considered moment on that walk. I think we were supposed to sit and do this but I decided to incorporate the exercise with a walk to the Three Sisters Rocks at Tonagaporutu. I had long wanted to do tis walk but they are only accessible when the tide is out (half way or more) and my husband isn’t up to walking that distance since his lung cancer operation.

I was to collect some delicate ceramics from a home based potter in new Plymouth and I planned my return trip so that I would catch the tide just right. For any artist the trip is a delight of huge monolithic structures, textures, caves and the ever present sea

You can join me on my walk on the slide show below.

We were encouraged to use descriptive text to insert into our caterpillar book.

Here is my text:
The sun is warm on my face
The half tide sea, cool on my feet
Tide patterns forming against the strata rockface
I hear the drips of water cascading
The quilted rocks rise up above me
Sea worn caves of dark secrets
Tunnelling through to peep hole visions
Water flowing, tide ebbing
Glimpses of coastline through the openings
The Tasman sea forever lurking
Sentinels standing - Three Sisters

I chose turquoise burnt umber and black to paint two A3 pieces of paper using various mark making methods. Once the paint was dry, I folded the paper in half long wise and pressed with a bone folder. Then I folded each subsequent side into this middle fold and pressed with a bone folder.

I folded the short (portrait) sides of the paper in the same way. The result is 8 segments. Decide on whether your book is to be a portrait or landscape book (mine is landscape) carefully cut up the two outer folded lines through 2 segments. On the middle fold cut down in the opposite direction two folds.

The sections can now be folded up and down to create a pile of the folds. This is the part I had always missed. The blank top and bottom sections will be glued onto the covers. Open out and mark the rest of the blank sections 1 and 2 so you can identify which ones need to be glued together. Glue those blank sections (a 1 to a 2) down so the book now only opens as a traditional book.

Measure and cut two pieces of cardboard slightly larger than the book for the covers. Cut two pieces of paper 1.5 cm wider all round than the cardboard. Glue the cardboard and place in the centre of the papers. Press well with a bone folder. Trim off the edges at 45° close to but not right up to the corners of the card. Fold down and glue opposites ends of the covers. Pinch in at the corners to create tidy corners that do not have dog’s ears. Glue the inside of the cardboard to the blank front and back of the caterpillar book. Press under a weight over night.

These are delightful little journals that can be used for any number of recording ideas. In this case I have recorded my walk to the Three Sisters, but I am very tempted to make one for sitting in my garden, listening to the cicadas at this time of year