Having finally tidied my studio a little, I came across a pile of offcuts from my Frankenstein book earlier in the year. The original book they were cut from was The Journal of the Society of Architects from the 1930s... lots of incidental crops of different buildings. I decided to make a small one-off concertina book of these building crops with collaged text from other offcut pages. Inspired by the collage books of Daniel Lehan and the found poetry workshop by Jeremy Dixon I attended earlier this year... think this will fit the brief for ABC’s ‘Found’ book exhibition at UWE this winter.
My favourite things (maps and books)
Have just spent my ideal couple of days on a book making workshop at UWE run by the inimitable Guy Begbie. Snappily titled ‘Book Cartography: Using the Map as an Artistic Strategy Within Book Structures’ it was cutting, glueing and stitching to make books with old maps. Really enjoyable, and I’ve come away with lots of new ideas. Lovely group of fellow book makers too – very inspiring to see what everyone produced.
Memento Mori – Part II
Miniature, digitally printed version of my embroidered Frankenstein book ‘Memento mori’ finished and posted off to North Carolina to be part of the Asheville BookWorks exhibition ‘It’s Alive: Frankenstein, 200 Years’. An ironic title in my case because the content of this book is most definitely not alive. Flat sheets were printed by printed.com on gesso paper, and I've bound them with bookcloth covered hard covers, vintage endpapers and a laser foiled belly band. I'm planning on making a small edition of these...
Preparing for BS9 Art Trail
There have been a lot of books in production over the past few weeks in preparation for the BS9 Art Trail this weekend (9 and 10 June). I'll be at the Stoke Bishop scout hut again (venue 11) - so come along and say hello if you're in Bristol
When we call a place home...
The finished book, just before it headed off to Athens...
The importance of pressing the books overnight ('before' at the back and 'after' at the front)
A quote from Frank Cottrell Boyce for the endpapers (I heard this on the radio a few years ago, and wrote it down in the hope it would come in useful one day)
Starting to take shape, with the addition of Trodat stamped dates
Grappling with my vintage typewriter to add the memory captions to each card. Who knew centring type was so tricky in the good old days?!
Hand lettering on the pockets of all the road names
Stamping on top of the digitally printed illustrations
Hand carved rubber stamps for the house numbers
Lots of folding to create the pocket concertina structure
Illustrations were digitally printed onto A3 gesso paper, and then cut down into individual cards and the corners of each rounded with a punch.
Carbon paper illustrations of my second five homes
Carbon paper illustrations of my first five homes
A new book created for an exhibition as part of the Athens Print Fest 2018, on the themes of nostalgia and interruptions.
It is a catalogue of the ten places I have called home – the depictions of these houses represent punctuations in my life. The houses are originally illustrated with carbon paper – a transient medium that fades over time – but digitally reproduced for longevity. The concertina format reflects the chronological nature of the content, and the use of cards and pockets is reminiscent of childhood memories of library books: checking in and out of each place. The visible information (house number, road name and date) is factual, with typewritten personal memories of each place hidden within the pockets. I chose to cover the books with woodchip wallpaper – a common feature in all of my childhood and student homes, and a wall covering I have spent many hours scraping off walls of homes I have renovated as an adult.
I've only finished three books so far, but it will be an edition of 20 (once I can carve out a little more time to make them!)
A medieval Show and Tell session
Angela Callanan's 'Invisible' with beautifully carved rubber stamp text and illustrations
Sandie Gent's colourful, tattoo-inspired 'What's your Story?'
Sarah Jarrett-Kerr's exquisitely bound girdle book 'Sammy the Seal goes to the Library'
Kate Bernstein's informative screenprinted book 'Love and Toothache, 2017'
Linda Parr used an intriguing folded structure for her book 'Pilgrim Passport'
A really fun Show and Tell session for the 'Redesigning the Medieval Book' exhibition at UWE Bower Ashton last Saturday. Twelve participating book artists came along to talk about the inspiration and production processes behind their book. It was also an opportunity to see the books up close and to handle them – always a treat. Still amazed by the diversity of responses to the same brief, and it was so interesting to meet other artists who have been inspired by the same subject matter. Many thanks to everyone who came along, especially Professor Daniel Wakelin who came over from Oxford to join us. Photos by Sarah Bodman, who also helped to organise the session… I'm very grateful to her and the library at Bower Ashton for offering the opportunity for this exhibition to take shape.
Redesigned Medieval Books come to Bristol...
A sneak peek at one of the cabinets
Signage and labels before assembling the exhibition
My embroidered book 'Remedie' is on show in this exhibition
Very pleased to announce the opening of the 'Redesigning the Medieval Book' exhibition at UWE Bower Ashton Library in Bristol. The display is an extension of the original exhibition at the Bodleian Library in Oxford earlier this year, and features 40 new books and artworks created in response to the Bodelian's collection of medieval books and manuscripts. I'm very grateful to Professor Daniel Wakelin and all the team at the Bodleian Library for their help in facilitating this extended exhibition, and to Sarah Bodman at UWE and fellow book artist Kate Bernstein for their help and support in setting up the exhibition. It will run from 19 April - 29 June, and there will be an informal 'show and tell' event on Saturday 12 May, 12-2pm, where you can hear some of the artists talking about their books and working process. If you can't visit the exhibition, you can download or view a pdf of the catalogue here.
Riso Birds in Uppercase
Pretty blimmin’ excited to receive my latest copy of the always-excellent Uppercase magazine... the theme of this issue is CMYK, and features my Riso Birds book! Many thanks to editor Janine Vangool for including these chaps... a real treat to see them on the printed page.
Grand unveiling
The grand unveiling of my Frankenstein book ‘Memento mori' in all its morbid glory... packaged and sent off to Liverpool Book Art for their exhibition at Liverpool Central Library. Met the deadline by the skin of my teeth. Here's my statement, which hopefully goes some way to explain why I've spent the past three months stitching dead people...
Memento Mori is inspired by the theme of art as a means of remembrance: a recurring motif in Frankenstein. William was carrying a Miniature of his mother, Caroline, before he was murdered, and this then became a defining piece of evidence in implicating Justine. When Victor returns home from university, he is moved by the Miniature of William on their father’s mantelpiece, under a painting of his mother kneeling by the coffin of her dead father. The death of Victor’s mother acts as a powerful catalyst for his experimentation with creating new life, and the memories of his loved ones lost at the hands of the resultant creature lead to his desire to avenge their deaths.
I have altered an existing hardback book and transformed it into a ‘memento mori’ for all the characters who lose their lives. The book has a new cloth hard cover with a foiled title, and opens as a case in two sections. These contain eight framed oval cut-aways featuring embroideries of all of the expired characters (Caroline, William, Justine, Henry, Elizabeth, Alphonse, Victor, and the monster). The embroideries are vignettes of each individual death, each labelled with the character’s name.
I chose to hand embroider the illustrations as the process forms a symbolic act of remembrance, and embroidery was a popular handicraft of the time. The morbid fascination with death in Victorian times, along with the themes of grief, memory and loss in Frankenstein, are reflected in this new work.
Some last-minute hitches
A few final hurdles and technical hitches in binding my Frankenstein book. The perils of making it up as you go along. Very grateful to advice in Keith A Smith’s wonderful book ‘Bookbinding for Book Artists’ and help from my partner, Ian, who is blessed with a technical brain. Saved the day, and the final book is now being pressed. This has been quite a learning curve!
Inking, labelling and framing
Finally ready to mount my Frankenstein embroideries into the altered book. Some things just can’t be rushed (even with a looming deadline!)
Clamping, glueing and cutting
Lots of lovely offcuts which will hopefully come in useful for a new 'found' book for ABC.
Carving up the book to frame my Frankenstein embroideries. It was bought from the Book Barn for a total of one whole pound, which salves my guilty conscience at cutting up a book. Bit nerve-wracking as I'm not entirely sure if this will work (and I don't have a Plan B) but it’s slowly coming together.
Altering a book for Frankenstein embroideries
Recovering an old book cover to make a case for my Frankenstein embroideries. I added an inset panel for the title block, covered the boards in grey bookcloth, then added the laser foil-blocked title.
PaperLove – week four: book
Tiny 'trouser books' made with envelope backs
Multi-section book with embroidered cover
A slightly sinister shot of my book mobile
A bit more in my comfort zone this week with the e-course PaperLove's theme of 'book'. Starting with making single sheet 'trouser books' from envelope patterned papers (combined with last week's folded cover to make them more robust). Quite addictive once you get folding. Then moving onto a mobile of tiny map books (photographed on a particularly gloomy day)… not totally happy with the end result of this one so I may re-visit it at a later date. I like the idea, just not my execution. The larger project this week was making a multi-section book. I'd done this before so I wanted to use it as an opportunity to try a few new techniques: using deckle edged paper (cut with a clip point knife), embroidering bookcloth, leaving longer knot ties on the outside of the book, and also bringing the stitching over the top and bottom of the spine. Really pleased with how this one turned out, and I'm using it as a sketchbook already - hurray!
Slots and tabs
The second book structure from 'Woven and Interlocking Book Structures' by Claire Van Vliet and Elizabeth Steiner - this one is called 'Moeraki Boulders'. Six individual pages are held together with binding strips and a series of slots and tabs. It took me a while to work out the correct sequence for the binding, but after a bit of trial and error I finally got there. The original version of this book was apparently made with circular pages and circular tabs, hence the name.
New folds
Starting to work my way through 'Woven and Interlocking Book Structures' by Claire Van Vliet and Elizabeth Steiner. I'm keen to learn some different book structures to get me out of my concertina book comfort zone. These first three are variations on a format called 'Aunt Sallie's Lament'… linking individual pages with a long woven strip. A perfect opportunity for some rubber stamping too, to bring some pattern into the proceedings.
My medieval book
My entry for the Bodleian Library 'Redesigning the Medieval Book' competition – a real labour of love. The planning and thinking for this book have taken almost as long as the actual making, and I feel slightly bereft now it's finally completed.
I attended a workshop at the Bodleian back in March, and was inspired by a discussion about the prestige of book ownership in Medieval times – the time and expense of commissioning an illustrated book made the final product into a status symbol. I usually create small editions of cheap and cheerful books, but I saw this brief as an opportunity to create a one-off, handmade artefact with an unrushed, methodical production process.
I was interested in addressing the challenges of Medieval craftspeople in designing a book, and –influenced by their love of ornamentation – I decided to hand embroider my illustrations. I chose to work with natural materials such as cotton, wool felt and hemp cord which could have been available in centuries past. My nods to the 21st century were the digitising of the Carolingian Miniscule alphabet to create a typeface for the text, and digitally printing this and my original hand-drawn illustrations onto fabric (thanks to excellent fabric digital printers Contrado).
It's been a very enjoyable, and challenging, project to work on, and I'm definitely keen to find ways to combine stitch and books in the future. Just have to wait and see now if it makes the final selection for an exhibition at the Bodleian Library in December - fingers crossed!
Playing with stitch
Found some monoprints I had digitally printed onto fabric in the second year of my MA, and decided to make a small book cover from one of them. Ironing a sandwich of the fabric, bondaweb and tissue paper makes a passable book cloth to cover a board. The pink spine/endpaper was a colour catcher used in the washing machine (nice colour thanks to a leaky red duvet cover). Needs some refining, but I like the idea of bringing more stitch into my work.
Medieval stitchery
A few sneak peeks at my most ambitious project to date. An embroidered Medieval book for a competition set by the Bodleian Library in Oxford. No such thing as fast hand-embroidery. It takes as long as it takes. But the deadline is the end of August so I'd better get a wiggle on…
Countdown to BABE
Final couple of days of preparation for the Bristol Artists' Book Event (BABE) at the Arnolfini in Bristol this weekend (1 and 2 April). I've been busy making for months but still seem to take it up to the wire and will only just be ready on time. Lots of new books, cards and a fresh batch of hand-stamped notebooks will be on sale, alongside 79 other stalls of bookish loveliness. Hope to see you there!