So, there was this idea that Matt had, and I read about it and thought, oh, that's cool, I definitely want to go to that, and then forgot because I missed any more mentions of it. On Friday evening someone mentioned it on Twitter, and I remembered that I wanted to go. So, I wandered around the web in search of some information and came across the bookcamp wiki, which told me that BookCamp 09 was taking place the next day, with PaperCamp as a peripheral event at the same venue. I decided that I could happily spend Saturday going to that, if I could get a ticket. It was very last minute, and I was sure it would be fully-booked, and anyway no one would still be in the office because it was Friday night, but I figured it was worth a shot anyway. I emailed the organiser through the link at the top of the page, and five minutes later, Jeremy Ettinghausen emailed me back saying someone had just dropped out, so I was welcome along. Which was nice.
Having got myself a place, I had a think about what I was going to take with me. Rather than bringing along a book as suggested, I delved into my shoeboxes of mini-comics and old zines, and dug out some good examples of things people have made and printed independently, to show off what paper and books can be like outside of standardised formats. It took me a while to whittle down my selection, but eventually I managed to have an interesting array of stuff to take on Saturday; everything from old Slab-O-Concrete missive devices to Jeremy Dennis' teeny Tiny Tea Comic and jewel-encrusted Owl Is Angry; even a couple of issues of Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library with embossed covers and clip-out coupons. I also put a pair of scissors and a Pritt Stick in the box, figuring that there would probably be some hands-on cut-and-paste taking place.
a selection of some of the things I took with me
I also remembered that it's always a good idea to take contact-info cards to these things, but in a nod to PaperCamp's hands-on tactile approach, and the satisfaction of getting my hands dirty that I mentioned in my last post, I decided to make a special lo-fi PaperCamp edition. I spent a satisfying half hour chilling out with some music and getting into a creative flow-state, dividing a sheet of card into a grid, writing down contact details with an HB pencil and prettifying one side with a brick wall image, made from a piece of dolls' house paper glued down to the sheet of card before I cut it into separate mini-cards. (Dolls' house paper is neat. I buy it from the art dept at Paperchase and use it to write letters on and stuff.) Initially I was going to make the cards all different, using stickers and things cut out of a magazine, but I liked the solidity of the brick wall image; the way that a wall can be a support structure or a blank canvas seemed to mirror the way that paper can be a support structure or a blank canvas. Plus, I really do think brick walls are pretty. (So does Michael Sporn) Everyone I gave a card to on Saturday said it was a cool idea, too, so I'm inspired to think about what kind of mini-cards I could make for similar events, like the Zine Fest at the Women's Library next Saturday, for example.
Funnily enough, I came home on Friday night to discover a copy of Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book from my mum. It's a good example of the book-as-fetish-object, complete with padded cover and a section of it sealed with brown paper, so the timing of the delivery was rather apposite!
Anyway, I took a bunch of notes at Saturday's event(s), and in my usual way will be posting separate articles on the sessions I went to at both BookCamp and PaperCamp. It will be a lot of stuff to read, because I wanted to get it all online in time for some of the content to be considered for addition to the book that Jeremy Ettinghausen is compiling on Monday night (to be available for POD on Tuesday — ambitious, or what). Also, I find writing it all up in detail a useful way to get my thoughts clear and process all the information and ideas after an event. Hopefully it'll be interesting for other people, too.
