Another book

Finished another book off and added an image to the cover from a print block I carved from an eraser some time ago. Have started a couple more. Perhaps they will become presents for people?

Last week's printing was based on, yet again, an old print block which needs modifying but I have not got round to sorting it out yet. Perhaps I will just start again.

Sewn Boards Binding

I learnt a new bookbinding structure on Saturday at a workshop with the lovely Lesley Crawley. It was similar to French Link, but with a covered spine and soft covers. I have finished a second one since then and might make some more if I have some free time.

A lovely variation of covers - wrapping paper, marbled paper, double sided paper and mixed media.

All had book cloth spines

We all produced one complete book on the day with a second book as work in progress.  I am sure everyone will have gone home and completed them.

More TSG Summer School

A view of the peaceful surroundings at The Hayes Conference Centre. This is the smaller of the two lakes viewed from the bird hide side. Lots of benches for contemplation.

I also ended up making this small layered book which was meant to resemble a walnut shell.

Another Book

Finally located the photograph of one more of the books that have gone off to be part of the Cut-Fold-Bind Group exhibitions over the coming weeks.  Mislaid it in transition from my phone to the desktop …. hopeless at times? This one used some textured paper for the cover that arrived wrapped around a present. The binding is stitched with two curved needles, used in pairs and one long piece of thread with a needle on either end. Such fun!!

Bogged Down

I have been busy for the past week making books for the Cut Fold Bind group for upcoming events.  I have forgotten how to do lots of things so it took me twice as long.

Book Art Exhibition - Hereford

Went out to do some H-Art venues today and also visited the HARC in Fir Tree Lane to see the 'Re-Imaging the Laws of England - Magna Carta through bookarts, textiles and paintings' exhibition.  It was wonderful although you did need to read the information in the accompanying booklet to fully understand the thinking behind each piece.  I believe it is open Monday to Friday until 24 November, but recommend checking if you plan a visit.

Just a few pictures to whet your appetite

Loved these little shoes

A Little Fishy Book or Two

This week I have spent a little bit of time finishing off a couple of books from bookbinding class.  I have added some cardboard cut out fish which I then painted.  The book is a strange structure with an expanding concertina style binding (think 'Experimental' was the word used). I did not think I liked it and have had to modify parts of it to make it a little more stable.  It has the advantage that it can take lots of additional material on its pages.  Not sure I will ever make any more of them.

Not so Mellow Yellow

I have now completed the first of the Coptic books stitched using 2 needles. Once I had started it was not as difficult as I had expected. Have now cut out more paper to make signatures for the next version and I could perhaps try using two different colours of thread too ... always full of good ideas I just need to put them into practice!!

A plus yesterday was the beautiful male Sparrowhawk that was sat in the Amelanchier tree in the back garden very close to the bird feeders.  He was magnificent.

Pebble Stencil

I have been busy cutting out paper to make new books this past week and also creating some coloured papers for the covers.  I have had the pebble stencil used below for some time and am not convinced I really like it but it looks okay on this book which is an A5 Secret Belgian Binding.  Going to try a new Coptic book using two needles together over the next week or so as I do not like the effect of the row of kettle stitches at the top and bottom of the spine on the normal Coptic binding method. Fear I may have some problems with the fatness of the signatures at the spine end of the page, but shall see.

Not blogged for Pages and Pages

and this is why ....

I have been making a concerted effort to finish several books ready for a number of events that the Cut Fold Bind group are involved in over the Summer.  Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind!!

These are small only 3.5" square

Quite a bit larger and utilising the Shibori fabric I made earlier in the year

These two coptic bound books are also small, around 4" square.

I still have a couple to finish off so need to make a final big push so that I can do other things without feeling guilty.

A New Book

During the past week I have been making an effort to make some simple books for the forthcoming string of events we are selling them at as the group 'Cut, Fold, Bind'.  This one is a coptic binding combining wrapped long stitches and French Link stitch.  The paper was a gorgeous handmade and printed paper I had found on one of my excursions.

Blue Book

This tiny little book was my present to myself when I was up in Yorkshire visiting the exhibition at RHS Harlow Carr.  It was created by the very talented tutor and artist, Joan Newall.

It is only about 3" square and is made from fabric that has been coloured, stitched and waxed.  Very tactile and just wonderful to look at. It is not as blue in colour as the photograph below.

Inner pages of the book

Water Level Marker Fewston Reservoir

The photograph above has made me consider collecting pictures of numbers, as I did with letters of the alphabet, just to see how far I can get and how many unusual ones I can find. I shall give it further thought.  Watch this space.

Daffodils on the road above Otley

Creative Books

I managed to spend some time over the weekend finishing off various small books that have been laying around for ages.

Just a very easy Coptic Binding using some bought paper.  I pasted a circle of tissue paper depicting a butterfly to the inside cover with matt gel medium just to provide a bit of interest.

Below another coptic bound book. The very nice handmade paper was bought in Worcester.  I added some more of the tissue paper butterflies to the cover to add highlights.

Two Secret Belgian Bound books using papers I had decorated myself.  I cut a circle in the front sheet of the right hand book and then added a circle of the cover paper to the second page so that it was viewed through the hole in front.

Two Stab Bound books. The left hand one is paper I decorated using a combination of methods including Quink Ink and bleach.  The right hand book was a plain black handmade paper which I stamped with gold acrylic.

A new binding for which I do not know its name I am afraid. It involves placing a strip of leather across the back of the spine before pasting the endpapers to the cover of the book. The signatures were stitched over tapes with a French Link Stitch. The gold paper was purchased from Paperchase in a pack of handmade papers and was very nice to work with. Both books have hand decorated endpapers to compliment the covers.

Finally, a structure which I have made before using dyed blanket.  This time I improvised with some leather.  I think it is called a Cross Structure binding.

I utilised some old metal buttons and the catch was a treasured find from the Rag Market, Birmingham.

Remix/Reimagine Exhibition

Went to see the Remix/Reimagine Exhibition at New Brewery Arts in Cirencester yesterday with a friend and it was fabulous. Particularly loved all the creative books on display.  The exhibition features work by Sumi Perera who is a textile and paper artist.

The piece of framed work that I liked the most was the one shown above.  It had little bits of machine embroidery on it within the circles and was lovely. There was also a book based on circles which I did not take any pictures of which certainly gave me lots of thoughts and ideas for future work I might do.

This was my favourite binding which was full of very inspirational work mounted in windows throughout the book.

There were images created by rusting, various methods of mark making, printng, eco dying and stitching.

I loved this concertina book which also had a slip cover. The colours do not show up particularly well on this image

For the Love of Books

For the past two weekends the bookbinding group I belong to have had a stall at a local H-Art craft market and it was my turn to steward on Sunday.  I do not know where all the lovely people were, but they were certainly not in Ledbury.

We also have a Facebook page now and hopefully this link will work Cut Fold Bind

All Boxed Up

Not done any blogging for a while for various reasons, one of which was problems with some major software on my computer which now has Windows 10 as its operating system.  None of my old creative software will work with it so I have spent absolutely ages trying to sort it out.  The problem is not yet resolved, but hopefully will be this next week, at great expense I might add.

Today I actually finished the two boxes that look like books that I seem to have been working on for weeks, so here are some pictures .... unfortunately I have not got the actual boxes at the moment as our tutor has gone off with them. I think the blue one may be for sale at The Hive in Worcester shortly as we have an exhibition in one of the cabinets there.

This is the pair of them finished.  The pink one is the better finished off, although I prefer the piece of embroidery on the blue one.

 The boxes are quite small, slightly smaller than A5 in size.