Saturday, January 30, 2010

Ladies, Women, Girls.

I often find potential journals (old books) with images of women on them. I find it interesting that they tend to sell quite well. Often to other women! In fact the journals that sell the best have people or animals on them.

Take Polly for instance. This book is called 'Polly, A New-Fashioned Girl'
Polly looks Victorian-chic playing racket ball on a hot summer day. This book has an inscription from 1919 in it!


Here is another journal with ladies on the cover...


This time they are on bicycles. These books were only marketed to young women. They served as the chick-lit of the times. They often included complex female relationships, rivalries and romances. Very fluffy stuff for ladies to devour. If only life were that easy.


On that note here is a great old video from 1964.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Vintage Book Journals and a bit about me


Hi Everyone.

I am officially pimping out Cover Stories Vintage Book Journals via Blog. Thank-you for reading this if you are amongst the 60 people on my Facebook fan page, 13 people that follow me on twitter and however many people look at my Etsy store. If you found this on Google well, thank-you even more.

My name is Eva and amongst other artistic endeavors (video, film, dressing up as a 70's mom for performances) I create spiral-bound vintage journals from old books with cool covers.

I am a vintage nerd. I love all things old that look they came from a Grandma's attic. I am a very nostalgic person who appreciates and often lives in the past. Even a past I never lived! (some of my books are from the early 1900's).

I started making Cover Stories in March 2009. I was out of work and looking for something quick and fun to satisfy my creative urges. I was a childhood crafter who cut the tips off crayola markers in Junior Kindergarten and spent a recess indoors making a felt Halloween scene complete with skeletons and gravestones. I watched Mr. Dressup religiously and admired his craft countertop and easal where he would draw dogs and children with the greatest of ease using a china marker.

I did a BFA at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Integrated Media (video art, installation, film etc) and prior to that completed a certificate in film studies at Ryerson University. I have created short videos and installations but crafts were a fun and accessible means of creation for me during my employment downturn. I do all my work on my 50's chrome and formica kitchen table (the top of which is the backdrop for all my photos) and use minimal tools to create Cover Stories.

I enjoy what I do but honestly my favorite part is rummaging for books. It is the thrifty vintage woman in me.

This is a journal I created back in December from a book called Dr. Kildare and the Magic Key. This was a fun book to work with because it has tons of great illustrations of Dr. Kildare and his team of sweet nurses. I always like books with images on the inside of the cover.





Check out a clip from the original television show from the early 60's