Carsick and Corrugated Cardboard

Good article in the New York Times (3/22/19) about the resurgence of corrugated manufacturing in the US. Nice segue to sharing images of this project from last summer...

Last summer I finally got around to binding my copy of John Waters' Carsick that chronicled his hitchhiking trip from Bawlmer to San Francisco. Carsick is your "traditional" modern trade hardcover, adhesive bound with dust jacket... Nothing special.

So, rip cover off, take tacking iron (with protective layer between) to remove the bulk of the hot-melt adhesive and round while still warm. Next, attach a rolled cord to make a shoulder as there was none, make the endpapers, trim, give top edge a coloring of Woodland Scenics asphalt color (bookbinding and choo-choos overlap), apply rolled endbands, line spine, make case, cover with distressed corrugated cardboard, case-in. Got it? Good. Just another German case binding...

The start of Mr. Waters' journey, and mine.
Thought it might find use in the design.

A trip to AAA (Just like Mr. Waters) to get some road maps.
Started in Bawlmer/Maryland, an overall of the US, and finally San Francisco.

Textblock done, next the covers. Start with your typical corrugated cardboard box like you might pick up to make your hitchhiking sign, write destination (or in this case title) in Sharpie, and done. My vodka box was too clean though, so some light weathering was called for. Enter a post lunch-time coffee on Waverly Avenue, busy during that time, including with heavy truck traffic, just like along the interstate.

Result of the weathering...

Mr. Waters holding his sign.
From a review in the Chicago Tribune.

Needed a bit more, so coffee stains from the bottom of the cup.

End on view showing edge treatment, endband making use of map cutoffs,
and the corrugated.

The endpapers...

Overall view of cover. A torn strip of map depicting the heartland along the bottom

A very different yet very fun project where I felt I was channeling Richard Minsky's "material as metaphor" concept.

I enjoyed reading the book, too,really three stories bound as one, his fantasy trip, his horror trip, and reality. My masseuse (who didn't care for the book) undertook a similar trip last summer, retracing the one he made 40 years ago. Like Waters' experience, his reality was similar, a trip filled with meeting interesting people with interesting stories that reveal not all is lost in 'Merica.