How can I make a book that changes every time it's read?
April 25, 2008 7:21 PM
Are there any materials I could use to make a book that would chemically react to the reader's touch in a way that changes the appearance of the page or cover?
Ideally the change would be permanent, like something where oils from the fingers cause discoloration. Temporary change like some mood-ring-esque variance by heat might work too.
Obviously it's got to be safe for the reader.
Making the paper crumbly and delicate enough that handling it is likely to tear it would be good too, if you can recommend a place to buy crumbly paper or a crumblyfying treatment process for regular paper.
Ideally the change would be permanent, like something where oils from the fingers cause discoloration. Temporary change like some mood-ring-esque variance by heat might work too.
Obviously it's got to be safe for the reader.
Making the paper crumbly and delicate enough that handling it is likely to tear it would be good too, if you can recommend a place to buy crumbly paper or a crumblyfying treatment process for regular paper.
You could look into thermochrome inks and papers. If you're looking for a permanent change to the material, the papers would probably be your best bet, but I'm guessing they wouldn't go through a printer (desktop or offset) without discoloring.
posted by lekvar at 7:49 PM on April 25, 2008
posted by lekvar at 7:49 PM on April 25, 2008
Lo-tek approach: Using graphite or carbon for the writing/illustration without spraying a fixative over it will mean that the pages will smudge where touched, and the smudges will be permanent, and the readers fingers will pick up some of the black, which in will leave their fingerprints on the paper where they touch it. (If you wish make several books, you could look into stencilling or stamping the designs)
There is also a gloss black ink finish to pages (check out an expensive coffee-table book with flat-black pages) where the slightest touch leaves visible smear of oil, and whereever you rest your fingers, your fingerprints stay visible. The surface is just right that the oil contrasts enough to be visible.
I'll see if I can think of a hi-tec approach. Your skin is acidic right? It should be quite doable to endow the pages with a chemical that visibly reacts to acid.
posted by -harlequin- at 7:53 PM on April 25, 2008
There is also a gloss black ink finish to pages (check out an expensive coffee-table book with flat-black pages) where the slightest touch leaves visible smear of oil, and whereever you rest your fingers, your fingerprints stay visible. The surface is just right that the oil contrasts enough to be visible.
I'll see if I can think of a hi-tec approach. Your skin is acidic right? It should be quite doable to endow the pages with a chemical that visibly reacts to acid.
posted by -harlequin- at 7:53 PM on April 25, 2008
It looks like I might be able to do something with those book covers from the "Totally" link, thanks. Particularly if that hand-print graphic isn't printed on them but is just a demonstration of the effect. It's difficult to tell.
The graphite thing is interesting but I worry it might be too aggravating for people who end up transferring it to their clothes etc.
Thanks for the responses.
posted by moift at 8:01 PM on April 25, 2008
The graphite thing is interesting but I worry it might be too aggravating for people who end up transferring it to their clothes etc.
Thanks for the responses.
posted by moift at 8:01 PM on April 25, 2008
A different tack - print the book on photosensitive paper (paper negatives). This means that the longer a page is exposed to light (Ie, the more time spent reading it), the dark it gets. If a hand is resting on an area, or fingers touching it, those areas will not darken, or will darken at a slower rate. So basically, every page of the book is taking an ongoing crude photograph of the hands holding it.
There are DIY instructions online for turning paper into photosensitive paper. My understanding is that it's fairly trivial to do - the only difficult stuff is the stuff that you don't want (ie getting the reaction to happen quickly - you want it to be slow, and fixing it (ie freezing the paper from developing any further at a certain point) - you would presumably want the book to keep on darkening with use.)
posted by -harlequin- at 8:03 PM on April 25, 2008
There are DIY instructions online for turning paper into photosensitive paper. My understanding is that it's fairly trivial to do - the only difficult stuff is the stuff that you don't want (ie getting the reaction to happen quickly - you want it to be slow, and fixing it (ie freezing the paper from developing any further at a certain point) - you would presumably want the book to keep on darkening with use.)
posted by -harlequin- at 8:03 PM on April 25, 2008
Good suggestions so far.
If those don't do want you want, there are the "paint by water colors" which look white until you hit them with water. That technique might also work over time with the oils in hands to move the colors out from the small dots of paint over time.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 9:00 PM on April 25, 2008
If those don't do want you want, there are the "paint by water colors" which look white until you hit them with water. That technique might also work over time with the oils in hands to move the colors out from the small dots of paint over time.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 9:00 PM on April 25, 2008
"seconding" ddaavviidd. the first thing i thought was hypercolor.
posted by ncc1701d at 9:33 PM on April 25, 2008
posted by ncc1701d at 9:33 PM on April 25, 2008
Oh my god, archivists and preservationists are going to looooooove your books! (Meant both literally and sarcastically. My brethern and er, sistern ... love challenges.) Follow-up query: do you want these changes to keep the book readable (even if the reading experience changes) over time, or is the plan for the book eventually to become a mute object or even self-destruct? Because that's going to change the answers you get. The omission of graphite fixative, as suggested above, is going to eventually result in all the text/images/whatnot printed in that method eventually smearing into a blur - if that's what you want, well, that's all good. But if you're more out to create a book whose 500th reader will be able to read the same text as the 1st reader, but mediated by being able to see the traces of the 1st through 499th readers' handling of the physical object, you really don't want to omit the graphic fixative. Does that make any sense?
Actually, if you can find a local collection of art books, or even just speak to a nearby preservationist you could probably get some really interesting ideas about how books change over time and with use. A good way to do this would be to hie on over to your nearest university library and see if they have a special collections area (where they keep all the good stuff). Have a chat with the staff, find out if they have any art books, whether the school has on-site preservation people and if you can meet one of them, etc.
posted by bettafish at 9:44 PM on April 25, 2008
Actually, if you can find a local collection of art books, or even just speak to a nearby preservationist you could probably get some really interesting ideas about how books change over time and with use. A good way to do this would be to hie on over to your nearest university library and see if they have a special collections area (where they keep all the good stuff). Have a chat with the staff, find out if they have any art books, whether the school has on-site preservation people and if you can meet one of them, etc.
posted by bettafish at 9:44 PM on April 25, 2008
I googled up a bunch of photosensitive paper material, but it seems that won't work because the material I saw would either (a) go completely blank in a few minutes (photography supply stuff) or (b) work so subtly as to not change over the users' exposure time (construction paper). If anyone has a link to something in the mid-range please post.
Which gets to bettafish's follow-up question: for my purposes the book must stay essentially usable for a few hours for a presentation, after that it can continue to degrade indefinitely, or not.
That wouldn't be the point, whether it eventually became unusable or not. Rather I'm looking to impress on the readers that their paging through the book is altering the experience for anyone who looks at it after them. (Although I'm still interested in the Hypercolor-type stuff that won't actually do this, because it at least implies the idea for a few seconds)
posted by moift at 10:01 PM on April 25, 2008
Which gets to bettafish's follow-up question: for my purposes the book must stay essentially usable for a few hours for a presentation, after that it can continue to degrade indefinitely, or not.
That wouldn't be the point, whether it eventually became unusable or not. Rather I'm looking to impress on the readers that their paging through the book is altering the experience for anyone who looks at it after them. (Although I'm still interested in the Hypercolor-type stuff that won't actually do this, because it at least implies the idea for a few seconds)
posted by moift at 10:01 PM on April 25, 2008
Also bettafish thanks for the advice about speaking with people maintaining special collections, I wonder if they might be able to tell me how people that fake old documents make their faux-olde crumby brown paper. I know a lot of times they use actual period paper so carbon-dating doesn't invalidate their work, but surely some of the less-devoted just use some chemistry.
posted by moift at 10:05 PM on April 25, 2008
posted by moift at 10:05 PM on April 25, 2008
Also check out these forensic supplies for various methods of making fingerprints visible. Perhaps something there will give you an idea.
posted by -harlequin- at 3:19 AM on April 26, 2008
posted by -harlequin- at 3:19 AM on April 26, 2008
I suppose you affix sheets of home-made hardened rock candy to a substrate.
posted by DenOfSizer at 10:15 AM on April 26, 2008
posted by DenOfSizer at 10:15 AM on April 26, 2008
Like the specimen book for Sauna, the typeface by Underware. The book changes colour when read in the sauna (something it can withstand generally).
posted by joeclark at 11:17 AM on April 28, 2008
posted by joeclark at 11:17 AM on April 28, 2008
Have you seen Angela Lorenz's Soap Story? I don't mean to suggest that you could copy her exactly, but it seems like a good example of the type of time-based work you're trying to do, and it's interesting that the material she uses is so mundane, and so related to the text of the work itself.
If you're interested in book arts and haven't seen her work before, you should check out the rest of her work as well. She's done some really interesting and unexpected stuff.
posted by dizziest at 1:54 PM on April 28, 2008
If you're interested in book arts and haven't seen her work before, you should check out the rest of her work as well. She's done some really interesting and unexpected stuff.
posted by dizziest at 1:54 PM on April 28, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ddaavviidd at 7:34 PM on April 25, 2008