Tag Archives: fun

Preservation Underground Word Cloud




access ago aic alcts alex artifacts avoid best beth blog book box care case center choose clean collections comes comments conditions conservation contents controlled damage days department digital disaster display documents doyle duke dust e-forum enclosures environment family foil food format fragile give handling hands hang home humidity idea information items keep labels library light lot manuscript materials mold national original page paper people ph photographs photos plan plastic pollutants posted preservation production project protect provide pt quality rare read recommend relative resources safe sensitive store sure temperature ten textiles things think tin tips tools university web week work years
created at TagCrowd.com

Tin Foil Men Grow Bigger


OK, so we here at Preservation Underground are obsessed with the Tin Foil Men. They showed up in the exhibits area, and later in the Chronicle which we also blogged about, and have been blogged about over at The Devil’s Tale.

Today the artist has been placing really large Tin Foil Men around West Campus. What joy these are bringing to the weary campus denizens as we march towards finals week! We like the treasure-hunt aspect of today’s installation. If you get a chance to go outside, don’t forget to look up, there may be something in the trees! Here’s some pictures, if you have any images of your own, we would love to see them!

Tin Foil Men Artwork Exposed (Almost)


We blogged before about the tin foil art that crops up on campus. Recently the artist surprised us with a few men climbing the exhibit cases. The whole library was abuzz and the story was picked up by the Devil’s Tale. In today’s Chronicle, Shining Li wrote a column about the student who creates this artwork.

“As it turns out, they’re made by a soft-spoken and thoughtfully philosophical student at Duke, who prefers anonymity. After picking up the skill at a young age, “bin Fuad” (a code name he specified upon our introduction) can now make each foil man in less than five minutes—and he makes, he said, sometimes a hundred at once to scatter across campus. At other times, he shapes just one based on a passing fancy and leaves it wherever it strikes him as a fitting location.”

Whoever “bin Fuad” is, we want to say thanks for brightening our world just a little bit.

Stop the Presses! EBF5 receives rave reviews

I always wanted to say that, even back when I worked for the local newspaper as a photojournalist. Now I just yell it randomly, like today when I bring you the links to the press we received for our EBF5 (2010 edition).


The Office of Communication Services produced a short video clip featuring interviews with library staff members who created edible books, including your humble blogger.

We were highlighted in Duke Today.

The Independent Weekly also highlighted us on Blink. Thanks Indy Week, we love you!

The Chronicle, our student newspaper, ran a photo of the event but didn’t put it on their website. Too bad! our edible books are so visual. If you would like to see it, we do have it pinned to our bulletin board. How very paper-y of us.

We were picked up in the blogosphere, too. BadgerBlog announced the event for us, thanks Badger! We were Tweeted by the Gothic Bookshop and many individuals in the library and outside of the library. Thanks for spreading the word, and I invite you to join us next year in person!

Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate Spring Magazine interviewed us for their spring 2010 edition. Again, you can’t link to any content, but trust me, it’s in there. Our portion is small, just a couple paragraphs, and they present their own ideas for real edible food based on book titles.

*Image: “In Defense of Food” by Amy Turner.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!


Have you missed me? I’ve been out sick this past week and haven’t been able to post. Maybe I need more Beef Wine in my diet. While I catch up on what’s been happening around here, I thought I would give you a little luck charm for St. Patrick’s Day in case you aren’t wearing any green. We found this four leaf clover in Lloyd’s War Losses: WWII. Fun, and a bit ironic. You can see more of what we find in books on our Flickr page.

Last Minute Preservation Gifts

Taking a cue from the Goodson Blogson we present our first preservation holiday gift guide. If you don’t know what to give that conservator or preservation librarian in your life, never fear, Preservation Underground is here.

Books
You can never have too many, right? With so many to choose from where do you start?
Preservation: Issues and Planning by Paul Banks and Roberta Pilette. A well written collection of essays that provides an overview of what library and archives preservation programs entail.
Science for Conservators volumes one through three. Organic chemistry for non-scientists. A must for any conservator.
ABC of Bookbinding by Jane Greenfield. A clearly written thesaurus of bookbinding terms and book structure history.

Emergency Supplies

Too depressing you say? Preservation people eat, sleep and live this stuff.
React Pak will have you recovering from that pipe leak fast. Of course, you can put your own together and customize it any way you want.
Emergency Response Salvage Wheel from Heritage Preservation. It even has a magnet on the back to hang it on your fridge.
Hard core gift givers will purchase the Heritage Preservation combo pack which includes the Field Guide to Emergency Response and an Emergency Response wheel. Heck, they’ll even thrown in Working With Emergency Responders: Tips for Cultural Institutions for free when you buy both.
For the Bookbinders in Your Life
Face it, people who actually MAKE things are hard to buy for. Here’s a few ideas to get you started.
Diary Blocks for 2010. Sure, you could buy a wall calendar at a big box store, but then you wouldn’t be able to put a beautiful binding on it.
Blank Book Kits are great for those of you writing that great American novel by hand.
Decorative Blue Paper for your favorite Duke or UNC Chapel Hill Fan. You prefer Wolfpack red? no worries, there’s paper for that, too.
Bone Folders make great stocking stuffers or hostess gifts. Trust me, they do, especially when they are this lovely.
Life Long Learning
Who can ever know enough? give them the gift that keeps on giving.
Book binding classes can be found for every skill level.
Calligraphy classes can help with that handwriting, you have to fill all those blank pages somehow.
Interested in audio visual preservation? digital preservation? there are classes for that, too.
After Dinner Mint
Finally, when all seems lost and you need just one more perfect gift, how about a unique hand made book bound into a mint tin? You know you want one.
Happy holidays to all. May your winter break be free of frozen pipes and lumps of coal. What would you like to find in your stocking this year?
Listing does not imply endorsement by Duke University or Duke University Libraries.

Beef Wine For Your Health

Duke was giving out H1N1 flu shots today and quite by coincidence I found this ad in a bound set of Women’s Penny Papers (1889-1890). This book is going into the British Women Writers exhibit that is being installed on Monday afternoon. Since the paper and binding are fairly fragile, I’m making a custom-fit book cradle so it can be exhibited safely.
It’s also serves as a good reminder to take care of yourself as the semester winds down and the holidays begin. Get plenty of rest, eat right and stay healthy over the break. Otherwise you will be having beef wine for your holiday meal.