So since Thursday I have been working on my empty book project.  I decided to go with the "&" because, honestly, I really love the ampersand.  Its a story Ive always found fascinating, but not so much anyone else Ive ever shared it with.. so a "Thrilling Tale", its not.  For most, anyway.  For those who don't know, & used to be considered the 27th letter of the alphabet and was placed behind the "z".  (Your eyes are already crossing with boredom... you dont care where the & used to be, I know!)  Four years of Latin taught me "et" translates as "and", and the ampersand is a ligature mark of the letters "E" and "T".  You always knew it, even though you didnt know you knew it... almost everyone writes "and" by making a mark that on close inspection... it looks like an "e" and a "t"! 

 

If you want to know more about the real story of ampersand, heres the wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand. 

 

Otherwise, back to my project, which is what you folks are really interested in (Im assuming!)

 

So I started with this idea of poor &, all alone in his big, old mansion, forgotten by the whole world.  He used to be SOMEBODY, the 27th letter and now he's... well, he's just something lazy people use in text messages.  And not even, now they just use "n".  How far the mighty have fallen!  So my cover is just going to be a large &, maybe with a top hat and a sparse title.  But lots more work went into this book cover than that.  I needed a font that said... avant garde and lost grandeur, that conveyed the feeling of old money & cobwebs.  I settled on Birch Standard after roadtesting a MILLION fonts it felt like.  I wanted a "thinner" body on the &, and I wanted to achieve it without warping the letter in PS.  Also I want on the back a portrait of good ol' & in his glory days, along with a photo of him with dear ol' Mom. 

 

I have most of this finished, except for the portrait.  I also have it on both a white background w/black text & white brackground with the text knocked out.  I also am tossing around the idea of making part of the text red.

 

Here's where I started from:

 

 

 

Yes, thats a photo of my grandmother in front of the Fuquay Springs High School.  Fascinating, right?

 

 

 

 

And here, you have a blank template.  I used PS and made just a blank, vintage photo background.  Guess whats going to go here?  Baby &, you got it!

 

 

Look!!  Its baby Ampersand and his dear ol' Mom.  Yes, when Ampersand was a baby, he was in fact Garamond.  Good eye!  Anyway, I spent a while on this... all the elements are crafted out of Garamond typeface letters, regular and italic.  I messed with it a bit, making sure all of the nice vintage-y parts really came through.

 

 

And this is what I have so far, on the white background.  (Disregard that hat, Im going to make one of my own, its just a place holder for now).

 

I really love the black one, although I think Mr. Persand looks thinner on the white.  Also, I think if I choose the black, a pop of red (whether from a hat or text) is going to be necessary.  I actually love it, so far... but what does everyone else think?

 

(On the back there will be a wood portrait of &).