Making “The Great Library” Part 3

The Outside

Having worked out the inside of my story box (see here and here) I started thinking about the outside. Initially I thought about just using text from the excerpt but decided to continue with the idea of the box actually being a simplified physical representation of the library.

Architecture of Ancient Alexandria

An internet search failed to come up with any drawings or artists’ impressions of the building which housed the Great Library of Alexandria of antiquity. In fact, the library collection was quite possibly spread across a number of buildings. I decided to look for images of important civic buildings from the time in Alexandria to use as a guide. I was lucky enough to find this book, and to be able to borrow it via an inter-library loan. The book proved fascinating and I was sorry I was only able to have it for a fortnight.

I decided to base my library on the temples built during the reign of the Ptolemaic period. (Winterson mentions Ptolemy in our extract). The feature I was most concerned about was the column capitals. I know very little about architecture from this period, but I do know enough to know that if I made a mistake with this, someone more knowledgeable (perhaps even JW) would know!

Fortunately this reference told me all I needed to know: the columns needed to be straight (not bulbous) with “composite capitals”. This refers to the fact that more than a single plant was depicted on the capitals (e.g. not just papyrus or palm, but both).

Creating the “Cover” Image 

Edfu Temple from the time of Ptolemy III- XII (public domain image)

Above you can see a photo of a temple from the Ptolemaic period and below is my original drawing before processing and adding effects. In the end, I kept decorative details to a minimum, but it was important to me to have the basic architectural forms right.

 

As this image was to form the equivalent of the cover, I needed to include a title. I decided to use the “title stone” below as a layer over the whole image.

I used this online tutorial on Moe’s Realm as a guide to develop the effect of text engraved into stone. For the most part I followed it exactly, and then at the end just tweaked things a little until I was satisfied.

Below: the two images with opacities adjusted to my satisfaction.

Using Instagram 

The final step was to transfer my drawing to my iPhone so that I could process it using Instagram. Unfortunately, the Instagram app is not available for non-Apple devices, and if you have an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch you probably already know it. However, you may not realize that you can also use Instagram to process any jpg file, just like this one of mine.

Unfortunately I’m not fluent in “Apple-talk” but as it is done in iTunes, I imagine it is very similar to the method I’ve outlined below.

The steps on a windows computer are:

1. connect your device to your computer  
2. open iTunes
3. open your device
4. click on “Photos”
5. Tick “Sync photos from” and then select folder from the drop down menu
6. then click on “Sync” at the bottom right of the screen
7. once the sync is finished, open Photos on your iPhone, iPad etc and you’ll find your images in your Photo Library

 

And voila! special effects courtesy of Instagram.

(Also, I want to extend a BIG THANK-YOU to the talented Azirca over on Speak Without My Voice who so kindly shared this facility with me!)

Visitors!

 

Last Thursday I was delighted to meet long-time blog friend and Book*Art*Object colleague, Carol.

I don’t remember how we first came in contact, but I know that it was before the days of BAO, through our mutual love of books. Carol is a retired bookbinder who blogs at Barnacle Goose Paperworks, when she’s not travelling and visiting friends that is!

Carol was in Brisbane visiting fellow-bookbinder Leone, who has just moved here recently. We spent a hot but lovely afternoon at Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, and when we weren’t spotting sculptures of native animals (some very realistic) there was rather a lot of artists book talk!

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When I got home, I found that “someone had been sleeping in my bed” or more accurately – reproducing in my pond! There were rather a lot of these little eggs floating on the water surface. But I’m not sure who, or rather what has laid them. Can you help?

I know it isn’t a toad, because toad’s eggs don’t look like that, but is it a frog? I have seen green frogs around this year for the first time in many.

The other possibility is that they are snail eggs. We have some rather lovely largish gold coloured snails, I believe they are known as Mystery Snails or Apple Snails. The trouble is that these eggs don’t look like any of the pictures I’ve seen online.

Unfortunately, it may all be rather academic, as the goldfish in the pond are finding them delicious! That said, everyday since Thursday I have found more eggs have been produced, so “whoever” is laying them, isn’t giving up easily!

Making “The Great Library”, Part 2

The Inside Continued – Editioning

In last week’s post I had made it as far as a successful proof for the inside of my book object “The Great Library of Alexandria”. You would think that a successful proof would mean that things were sorted, but as soon as I tried to make an edition of the drypoint, I had problems.

As I’ve said before, I’m not experienced in intaglio printmaking, and with a drypoint especially, there is quite a bit of lee-way in how you wipe back the ink. In case you’re not clear, a drypoint works like this.

What is a drypoint exactly? 

* you take a plate (traditionally copper, but also used are zinc, perspex, other plastics and even illustration board coated with wood varnish, as I wrote here)

* and a pointed scribe of some sort (even a nail can be used at a pinch)

* and you draw, creating “a burr” or a raised edge on the plate. It is this which catches the ink for printing in addition to the line you have scribed.

Once your image is done, you cover the plate with ink and wipe it back with tarlatan (a coarsely woven fabric traditionally used by printmakers) using circular movements. Working this way forces the ink down into the line and  burr, while removing it from the surface.

When you print a drypoint, you achieve a very particular type of line. One that to me, is very beautiful. It is soft and fuzzy, yet rich and dark. And the burr is essential to that mark.

The Great Library of Alexandria (detail)

You can imagine that the burr is very fragile, even more so with perspex than say copper. So, as I tried to make my edition of about 12, I was wiping very carefully and also trying to replicate the original plate tone, which had contributed so much to the first proof.

After three or four attempts, none of which were usable, I began to realize that my plate might not last the edition. What to do? The plate was quite large, I didn’t want to start from scratch (no pun intended!).

Digital BFK Rives?

I knew that there is now a digital BFK Rives, produced by Canson. I wondered what the paper was really like, and whether it would be possible to reproduce a scan of the artists proof using it. I decided it was worth a try, and then I remembered that a while ago I bought a Canson inkjet paper sample pack. When I checked, there was a sample of the BFK Rives in the pack, so I downloaded the *free ICC profiles from Canson, pressed print and crossed my fingers.

I was actually stunned by the quality. I had expected to feel that it would be a major compromise to work this way, but in the end, it was such a practical solution for me. I love to work with my hands, and a mouse or even a graphics tablet can never be the same to me. Yet, so often I come up against my practical limitations, and am physically unable to create even a small edition like this without exhausting myself. It seems to me that making the original by hand and editioning it digitally is a good compromise.

*Using free ICC Profiles

Free ICC profiles can be downloaded from the websites of the paper manufacturers. If you’ve bought a fine art quality inkjet paper but found the colours hugely different from the colours on your monitor, using the ICC profile may help. I am planning to write a post about what profiles can and can’t do for you, and how to use them in the next month or so.

Making “The Great Library”, Part 1: Inside

From my first reading of the Art & Lies extract by Jeanette Winterson, I wanted to depict the boys in their eyries.

Initially, I planned to make a varied edition of altered books and I progressed as far as buying Condensed Readers Digest books in sufficient numbers, before I realized the difficulty of hand-carving hundreds of pages over and over to make the edition. Fortunately, another structure came to mind.

The Structure

At Ed Hutchins’ Single Sheet Structures workshop, a couple of years ago, I learned about the story box. It’s a simple structure that can be very effective when it supports the concept, and in this case it was perfect. With the image of the eyries in my head, I plunged into working on the inside of the box.

Inside

For this edition, I really wanted the warmth of a hand-pulled print, despite having more experience with digital printmaking. Having only made a couple of etchings before, I chose to do the inside image of the library as a drypoint on a Perspex (acrylic) plate, 30cm x 42cm. I did not want to make a large acid-etched plate in case it wasn’t successful.

Below you can see the plate now.

To inscribe it I used two drypoint tools, which you can see too.The one with the wooden shaft is an inexpensive diamond point from Dick Blick. The diamond makes an incredible difference in the pressure you have to apply. I’m not sure whether this particular tool will last very long, but if not I’ll certainly be replacing it with another diamond point. If anyone has a favourite tool for drypoint they recommend, please do let me know.

Digital Background

I found this lovely photo (above) of the book stacks at the British Library by Steve Cadman on flickr. It was the inspiration for the colours I initially prepared for the background of my print, using acrylic inks (below left).

Right: In progress, showing lightened areas in two places

I scanned the background and planned to create areas where the eyries would be positioned using the “lighting effects” in Photoshop. Obviously, this darkens those areas of the print that you haven’t chosen to be “lightened”.

In case you haven’t used this, you just go to:

Filter>Render>Lighting Effects.

There are a lot of options, but a good place to start is with either Omni or Spotlight (found in the Light Type window). From there you can play about with intensity and narrow or wide focus. It maybe useful to adjust the “exposure” and/or “ambience”, which can be found under Properties. I’ve found these to be the most fundamental controls to achieving simple but effective lighting effects. Beyond that, you can spend hours playing to see what can be done.

Combining the Digital and Drypoint Prints

In total I created five “lightened eyries”, which showed up quite nicely, but the background was now looking rather dark and dull. I altered the saturation and colour balance until the background printed on the Rives BFK printmaking paper to my taste. As this isn’t a paper for inkjet printing, there aren’t any colour profiles online, so I had to make numerous small test prints on the actual paper in order to see the colours.

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Left is the final background, as the file appears on-screen. Right, a scan of the artists’ proof (drypoint over digital background on Rives BFK).

More next time!

It’s a lovely clean slate

As memories of Christmas indulgences fade, it is time for the bit I really enjoy – the New Year.

I like nothing better than the feeling of standing at the top of a brand new year, with the months unfolding before me, like bright, white pages of opportunity. I love the sense of possibility and I hate to fill it up with specifics too quickly.

There’s also a chance to pause and glance back at the year that’s finishing. For some, I know it hasn’t been a particularly good year. I’ve certainly known how it feels to say “good-bye and good riddance” to some years. Luckily for me, 2011 was not one of those.

Yesterday I dug out the plan I made twelve months ago. Inspired by Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity fame, last year I put together my most extensive list of goals ever.

The process Chris describes seems very business-inspired to me, and I have to confess I wasn’t entirely committed. He sets very specific, measurable goals even for his personal-life, which feels a bit too concrete and didactic for me.

However, I did find it interesting and helpful to think about all the areas he covers, including the personal. For the sake of the exercise I wrote down some ideas, which meant I had those to refer to yesterday, some twelve months later, and I have to say, it did make interesting reading. Some things I hoped to do were a bit over-optimistic, and I think if I repeat the exercise this year, I’ll know myself better.

If this sort of thing interests you, Chris’ s guide can be found here. I think you’ll find it quite an eye-opener!

Whether I go the full Excel spread sheet (yep, that’s how he does it!) or not, I will certainly be doing a review of my year in relation to my art work. I love to sit down and write out a list of works made, exhibitions, workshops or conferences attended and in recent years, I’ve been able to add works acquired to that.

It’s a great time to update the CV and celebrate the year’s successes. I often feel frustrated by what seems to be very slow progress during the course of the year, so writing up the year in this way is a pleasant surprise.

Highlights of 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

Then when it’s done, I can turn the page to a fresh new year, and think about my priorities for 2012.

Wishing you a lovely, shiny bright, fresh New Year, with lots of blank spaces to fill in just as you want!

The Big Reveal: The Great Library of Alexandria

The good news is the wall bed has been installed in the studio and I am slowly getting the rest of the room back in order. This is a chance for a bit of a spring clean, so things tend to progress slowly as I sort through everything and try to part with some! When it is all organised and looking pretty I will post a photo or two.

In this post I thought it would finally be safe to post images of my latest Book Art Object edition, as I think that everyone must have received their copy by now. I have decided that the best way to show off books is in a video, and as I now have my website to keep up to date as well, I spent some time this afternoon putting one together. I don’t usually use much in the way of transitions or effects, as I don’t think they usually add much, and in fact used badly can be rather comical. However in this case I used a few and I think they help to give a bit of an impression of handling the book and turning it in your hands.

 

 

And in case you are interested in details, here is a close-up of the colophon.

 

I also want to let you know that over on the Book*Art*Object blog, the call has gone out for our next edition. So if you think you might be interested in joining in the fun, pop over there and take a look at the details. Making an edition of ten plus is a challenge, but we are a friendly and helpful group, and I guarantee you will learn a lot from taking part.

Finally, I’d like to thank everyone who has visited my blog this year, and especially to those kind and encouraging folks who commented. It is such a delight to hear from you and I am always thrilled and surprised when your feedback comes through. If anyone has been thinking of commenting or sending me an email, but hesitated in the past, please know that I would love to hear from you!

I wish you all a happy, safe and loving time this festive season, and hope to see you here again soon. xxx

BAO edition finished & other progress

I’m very happy to be able to report that this week I completed the edition of 10 books for Book*Art*Object inspired by an extract from “Art & Lies” by Jeanette Winterson.(Yes, they are curiously square in shape for books, aren’t they?)

Four are currently winging their way overseas to members of BAO in the UK and the US, so I’m holding off a full reveal here for a couple of weeks until they have arrived.

We’ve also been lucky enough to have the “Art & Lies” edition acquired by the State Library of Queensland. Helen Cole, from SLQ, saw the work exhibited at the Impact conference and that’s where the deal was done! There is also some discussion with Alicia Bailey from Abecedarian Gallery in Denver, Colorado about exhibiting “Art & Lies” there! This is a very exciting possibility and if it comes off, will be my first step onto the international stage.

I realized that I haven’t posted the text by Winterson here yet. So, in case you haven’t seen it over on the BAO blog, here it is.

300BC. The Ptolemies founded the great library at Alexandria.
400,000 volumes in vertiginous glory.
The Alexandrians employed climbing boys much in the same way as the Victorians employed sweeps. Unnamed bipeds, light as dust, gripping with swollen fingers and toes, the nooks and juts of sheer-faced walls.
To begin with, the shelves had been built around wide channels that easily allowed for a ladder, but, as the library expanded, the shelves contracted, until the ladders themselves splintered under the pressure of so much knowledge. Their rungs were driven into the sides of the shelves with such ferocity that all the end-books were speared in place for nine hundred years.
What was to be done? There were scribes and scholars, philosophers and kings, travellers and potentates, none of whom could now take down a book beyond the twentieth shelf. It soon became true that the only books of any interest were to be found above shelf twenty-one.
It was noticed that the marooned rungs still formed a crazy and precarious ascent between the dizzy miles of shelves. Who could climb them? Who would dare?
Every boy-slave in Alexandria was weighed. It was not enough to have limbs like threads, the unlucky few must have brains of vapour too. Each boy had to be a medium through which much must pass and yet nothing be retained.
At the start of the experiment, when a book was required, a boy would be sent up to get it. This could take as long as two weeks, and very often, the boy would fall down dead from hunger and exhaustion.
A cleverer system seemed to be to rack the boys at various levels around the library, so that they could form a human chain, and pass down any volume within a day or so.
Accordingly, the boys built themselves eyries in among the books, and were to be seen squatting and scowling at greater and greater heights around the library.
A contemporary of Pliny the Younger writes of them thus:
[here is a chunk of latin that is never translated. JW at her most scholarly & impenetrable... but would look great in calligraphy, Ronnie!]
There is no system that has not another system concealed within it. [my emphasis] Soon the boys had tunneled behind the huge shelves and thrown up a rookery of strange apartments where beds were books and chairs were books and dinner was eaten off books and all the stuffings, linings, sealings, floorings, openings and closings, were books. Books were put to every use to which a book can be put as long as it is never read.

Jeanette Winterson, Art & Lies (London: Jonathon Cape, 1994), pp. 4-6.



STUDIO

The other lovely news I received is that our wall bed will be installed on December 20th. You may recall this post from a couple of months ago, mentioning my plans for doing up my studio (at last!). 

Well, having a wall bed, instead of the current single, will allow me to have a lot more shelf space above the bed. Storage has been a problem in this little room ever since the air-conditioner was installed, which meant that small bookcase that sat on top of my desk had to go. Here’s where some of that stuff has been patiently waiting for a “real” home for some months.

I didn’t want to leave you with a photo of my mess, so here is the plan I’ve drawn up for the studio. I am hoping I might be able to squeeze in a small comfy chair for reading between the bookcase and the built-in, but time will tell. 

If you see any glaring problems, please do comment! Your thoughts, as always, are gratefully received.