Straw board covers

cover-boards-001
Originally uploaded by potsrme1962

This photo shows the problems associated with using cheap materials. The covers are for a landscape sketch book for a relative's birthday and because I ran out of archival binder's board I substituted straw board.

Added Sat 14th March
I realize this post is a bit out of the ordinary for me, so I thought I should add an explanation. I posted a question about correcting this warping on the book arts listserv and some photos were requested. People who haven't joined Flickr seem to have problems accessing it sometimes, so I decided to post the photos here.

The folks on the listserv have an amazing wealth of knowledge and experience and are so happy to jump in and share...it is one of the things I love about the internet...the way it has created this fantastic global community spirit.

Playing With Drypoint

A couple of years ago I did a 6 week online printmaking course and learnt an at-home method of creating a drypoint print. I absolutely love intaglio prints and with the acquisition of a cheap second-hand pasta machine, this course claimed they were a possibility. At the time I tested it out and it seemed to work reasonably well, so I decided to trial the method again.

Using a perspex plate and an etching needle I made an image based on this photo (the one on the right). Below is the outcome on kozo paper and you can see two different inkings on watercolour paper here.



Last week I took the plate along to the class I mentioned I am attending at Studio West End. One of the teachers Wim de Vos is a printmaker and he showed me the correct way to ink up the plate and then we printed it on Arches Velin (proper printmaking paper) with the etching press. You can certainly see the difference (below) but I still quite like the result the pasta press gives - it is softer, with less detail for sure, but that can be nice in the right work.



Following on from this little venture in to printmaking, this week I am going to try something I've wanted to explore for years....etching. Stay posted!

Coptic binding

Here are the two coptic bindings I've completed this week. I learned the technique from Adele Outteridge, an artist who I mentioned here. The covers are Japanese fabrics I bought ages ago on Ebay, enticed by their beauty to believe that despite my hopeless skills as a seamstress, I could make something from them. The larger book is filled with a mixture of Canson 300gsm watercolour paper and Rives BFK, a printmaking paper, and sewn with waxed Irish linen thread. The smaller book on top has pastel papers and brown linen thread.

I have to say I am completely entranced by this binding. It's so satisfying to make something so beautiful and practical, and I love the fact that you can sit and tear paper for the sections/ signatures and sew the binding even when you're not feeling 100%. I know what my friends will be getting for their birthdays...