I spent a good deal of time today designing the next bookmarks. The one that is complete is half of a tribute to librarians (media specialists). I worked on the other half of the tribute today. The design is very cartoony and one-dimensional. Really, it’s not bad the way it is, but I’m turning it over to Mike and I’m eager to see what wonders he will work on it. I’m trying to save the early drawings so that I can post the process here. We’ll see if it works or if we accidentally save a later file over an earlier file.

That actually came together fairly quickly–2 or 3 hours, I guess–since I’ve been thinking about it for months, and I was in a groove, so I moved on to another idea. I’m back to ambigrams. Wordplay, puzzle, and design all twisted into one–is there anything more fun?

Being limited to squares (stitches) adds a challenge. I don’t start on the computer, but have to doodle on paper first. When something workable appears on paper, I then see if I can make it work in squares on the computer.

Well, I might have an asymmetrical ambigram for a bookmark. The same image spells one word or phrase from one perspective, then spells another word or phrase when viewed from a different perspective. I was jazzed when I first worked it out, but as I got some distance from it (let it rest, came back to it later with a more critical eye), I’m not so sure it’s that great.

Mike got it. I mean, he got the 2 different words.

We’ll see. That’s 2 bookmark starts today, and that’s great!