February seems to have just flown by in a snap. Where did the entire month go?

Chinese New Year, perhaps? I feel that I have spent almost the whole month preparing for and recuperating from the holiday. My Chinese New Year, as usual, started with a series of seemingly non-stop shopping trips, followed by the cooking marathon. I cooked a lot and ate a lot this year. Sounds like Thanksgiving, doesn't it? Traditionally, Chinese celebrate the Lunar New Year for 15 days, and this year it will end on February 28.

On top my that, one of my closest friends from college came to visit me in New York; we talked a lot, ate a lot, which also made the days went by faster.

And then there is Art D'Eco. The Shopping B(ag)ook is travelling again. From now through April 3, it is being shown in a show called "Art D'Eco" at Gallery 125 in downtown Trenton, New Jersey.


Not to mentioned that I was just being notified that 2 other pieces have been accepted to another upcoming show in a couple of months. More details to come.

This month just flew by.

Throughout the month of December last year, I was working on a piece that I hoped would help me to try working in an obsessive mode. Rapunzel involved cutting up about half a mile of cotton twine into 3- to 4-feet pieces, and gluing them individually onto a two-needle coptic bound book. If stretched wide, it spans about 7 feet, and is definitely the largest piece I've done so far.

Rapunzel is the first piece in a series that re-tells familiar children stories though books, but only through the physicality of these books. Every material in this book is white (or off-white), so the viewer is confronted with its physical form, and forced to address it. Embodied into its binding and form, the essence of Rapunzel can be seen and touched through the physical book.

See more pictures of Rapunzel on Studio CaiLun.

These books have been sitting around for a little bit over a year, waiting patiently for their home. I've finally made a box to put them in. They seem kinda happy, don't they?

My dear friend Ong just came back from Thailand and brought me some great paper and paper goods. Yes, he got me a few sheets of the elephant dung paper that I've wrote about before. Though not from the same factory, these sheets of paper were also made from the high-fiber content elephant dung.

Apparently elephant dung paper is commonly known as "umbrella paper" because it is mostly used for making umbrellas. The sheets that he got were made at a paper factory of one of his acquaintances near Chiang Mai, located at the north of Thailand.


On top of that, I also got a couple of bags of ultra-cute miniature paper flowers made from the same paper and a ton of dried leaves. Not sure what I am going to do with them just yet...

I have finally caught up with the questions that you've asked in the comment section. Be sure to check out the "Latest Comments" column on the far right of the site (below the Amazon ad) for your answers.

The holiday season is over, so my hiatus is over, now back to action! Happy New Year!

A question posted on the comments:

When you have a paper-covered book, do you glue the board side first or the back of the paper, and what's the best glue? I am afraid the paper may buckle or tear when I crease it.

Answered: As a general rule, when gluing together two pieces of paper/board, always apply glue to the thicker piece and then lay the thinner on it.

But when gluing a thinner piece onto a more complex structure, for example, inlay paper onto a constructed case, you'd apply glue on the paper, because it's simply easier to handle. When applying glue on paper, always let the glue soak up enough moisture so that it doesn't buckle. In other words, you need to saturate the paper with glue before fusing with the other material.

The best glue depends on the materials that you're working with. Generally, water-thinned PVA, a mixture of PVA with methyl-cellulose, or wheat paste are used with paper and boards.

With the addition of a board-cutter and a (long overdue) flat file for paper storage, I have spent an entire day re-organzing my studio space. It looks more spacious and practical. Now, let's make more books, shall we?