The podcast cover for the first season of This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast (bottom) is based on Alessandro Gottardo's cover illustration for Lyz Lenz's memoir of the same name, This American Ex-Wife (Penguin Random House, 2024).
I created the second season title card from a stash of silk scraps that I then digitized into the finished piece. The S2 package also included individual episode cards for social media (Instagram), a newsletter platform (Substack), and the show's RSS feed.
This American Ex-Wife is produced by Zachary Oren Smith. Season 2 is generously supported by Funny Girls, a Harnisch Foundation program that uses improv to teach leadership skills to girls and nonbinary kids in grades 3 to 8.
This binding was produced as part of an ongoing series led by Janine Vangool, publisher, editor and designer of UPPERCASE magazine, and Todd Pattison, bookbinder and conservator. Ms. Vangool shared unbound copies of Art Supplies – Making, Manufacture and Creating, which were given to binders tasked with creating unique covers based on the contents. The result of these creative endeavors, published in 2023, can be seen on this site.
This long- and link-stitch binding is based on contemporary models of 13th–14th century account books. Generally speaking, the structure requires few materials and a good deal of precision. The joy I find in the long- and link-stitch is the play between material and craftsmanship, each enhancing the other. In this particular binding, the medallions on the front cover are used out of their structural context, but do reference the broader history of medieval archival binding – specifically the “mudéjar”-style binding, a practice I found highlighted in Chela Metzger’s research and workshops during the late aughts.
The supporting cover material is 20-pt. card, and Mary Hark of HARK! Handmade Paper made the beautiful papers with which I wrapped the card and decorated the covers. Mary makes her paper in small editions using high-quality flax, linen, and abaca fibers. The endpapers are from a mixed lot of handmade sheets pulled at the Morgan Conservatory – likely a mix of abaca and other fibers. The spine is supported at the sewing points with parchment from Pergamena; the head edge is painted with Cerulean Blue gouache from Winsor & Newton.
Carolyn Dyer was an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa and a member of the "Women of Mystery" book group in Iowa City, Iowa. She was also a well-known expert on the Nancy Drew mystery books and their cultural significance and the instigator of the first scholarly conference on Nancy Drew held in Iowa City in 1993. (Biographical information from the University of Iowa Libraries).
About the Book It was Carolyn Dyer’s wish that, in lieu of flowers after her death, people contribute to Iowa Public Radio and/or the Iowa Women’s Archives at the University of Iowa Libraries. The local "Women of Mystery" group — of which Carolyn was a much-loved member — agreed to pool funds in order to commission a book of memories, as well as make a collective donation to the Iowa Women’s Archives. Kären Mason, Margaret Kinsman, and Lois Cox collected contributions from friends and colleagues, and were the patient and faithful editors of this volume.
Through conversations with Kären, Margaret, and Lois, and based on books loaned to me by Margaret at the start of this work, I typeset this book to mirror stylistic elements of an early Nancy Drew title. Remembering Carolyn Dyer was digitally typeset in Baskerville, and closely follows the layout of the first edition of the The Clue of the Black Key — the 1951 Nancy Drew mystery. It was designed in the year that followed Carolyn’s death, commercially printed in Iowa City in late summer 2022, and five copies hand bound in early 2023.
A fellow bookbinder and mentor connected me to a project for an upcoming career celebration in the broader Iowa City community shortly after I restarted my bindery in 2022. Though curious, I was initially uncertain whether I could take on the work. I attended the planning meeting for the project, and quickly learned the book was intended for the parent of a good friend—much to my delight.
To commemorate Dr. Zabner’s leadership as Director of the UIHC Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Occupational Medicine through the first years of the pandemic, his colleagues compiled messages of thanks into a document they wanted bound into a handmade book. Their charge was that the finished piece reflect the spirit of the celebration in a distinctive manner.
Plotting with Dr. Zabner’s family, I designed a cover that visually bookends the span of his career to date. I chose green as a color associated with medicine and new beginnings, and gold as an expression of celebration and accomplishment. And, to meet the request that the whole set feel substantial, I built a matching fitted clamshell.
2022. Various book cloths and papers, book board, gouache, cotton embroidery floss, and machine-made endbands. Perfect binding and fitted clamshell enclosure. 11⅞” x 9” x 1”
Weddings, in all the joy and potential they hold, are a wonderful occasion for creativity. On this page are examples of projects I’ve completed for a variety of celebrations: a hand-bound photo album to document the moments—big and small—in a shared life; a Quacker-style marriage certificate; a small, handmade box to hold a pair of wedding bands on the day of a ceremony; a framed piece signed with messages of love and support by guests at a reception; a program cover for a wedding mass. Other custom projects include an album and matching box set I designed for a traditional Chinese wedding.
