My small books are packaged up ready for their very own city breaks... they can be seen at the Small Publishers Fair at Conway Hall in London on 10-11 November, and then in Berlin (artbookberlin.de) on 17-19 November. They're better travelled than me.
PaperLove - week one: paper
Collecting and cataloguing paper samples.
Creating different paper textures (photographed on a lightbox).
Pamphlet stitch booklets of paper samples.
Pamphlet stitch booklet of envelope linings.
A very inspiring first week on Rachel Hazell's PaperLove e-course. The first theme is 'paper' - a good excuse to use up some of my hoarded stash of papers in my plan chest.
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.
CAB 2017
Looking forward to taking part in the first Cardiff Artists' Books event this coming Saturday at The Printhaus in Cardiff. Working out my table layout in advance because I won't have long to set up!
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.
BS9 Art Trail
Taking part in the BS9 Arts Trail this weekend (10/11 June) - I'll be at Stoke Bishop Scout Hut (between 15 and 17 Kewstoke Road)… come along and say hello if you're in that neck of the woods in Bristol. New for this year's art trail are prints of Bristol Terraces, beetle mini prints, handmade wooden print stands and lots of new books.
Belated BABE wrap up
I had a quick dash round before opening on the Sunday and bought a small stash of bookish treasures.
The Bristol Artist's Book Event (BABE) at the Arnolfini in Bristol on 1/2 April was an amazing weekend. Beautiful sunny weather certainly brought the crowds out, and there was barely a quiet moment for the whole two days. It was fantastic to meet so many people interested in artists' books and to spend a blissful weekend talking about books and printmaking (instead of Trump and other depressing political nonsense). I'd almost lost my voice by the saturday evening… talking that much is unusual for a hermit like me. Lots of sales and positive feedback, and a strengthened resolve to continue making more books. Just two years to prepare for the next one...
Launching today...
… a new shop in Westbury-on-Trym - We Make Bristol. Featuring the work of local artists and designers (including some of my books and cards). Worth checking out for some early Christmas shopping.
Keeping it local
Have been trimming and binding a new book of line drawings of my local shops (Westbury-on-Trym in Bristol). All ready for its launch tomorrow in a brand new shop - We Make Bristol - on the very same High Street. The shop will feature work of local artists and designers (including some of my books and cards)… do pop along and check it out if you're in the area.
Taking a leaf out of a (digital) book
Trimming and binding 40 copies of a digitally printed version of the very first book I made back in 2012 - Autumn Leaves. I used scans of the original carved rubbers, stamped in black and then coloured in Illustrator. Card covers with a title block cut away with my trusty Sizzix machine. Top notch printing job by printed.com - printed as A3 flat sheets on Acquerello paper.
Setting up
A full-on couple of hours setting up in Stoke Bishop Scout Hut for the BS9 Arts Trail - running this weekend, 11am-5pm.
Cracker Books at Large
Great to see the collection of cracker books exhibited together in Bower Ashton library. It’s been a really fun project… many thanks to my fellow cracker collaborators: Rebecca Weeks, Stephanie Turnbull, Alison Sloggett, Kate Williamson and Linda Parr (and Anwyl Cooper-Willis who’s just handed in a beautiful new addition to the collection).
Packaging, pricing and publicity
The final preparations for this year’s BS9 Arts Trail. Do come along and say hello if you’re in Bristol this weekend. I’ll be in the Stoke Bishop Scout Hut, and - crucially - there’ll also be tea and cake!
Arboretum
A small woodland has sprung up in my studio as I make up more copies of 'Twenty Trees (as seen from a train)'.
Cracker Book sneak peek
The Cracker Book collaboration with the ABC group at UWE is nearing completion, and early results will be exhibited in Bower Ashton library from 20 April. Participating artists (from the left): Kate Williamson, myself, Alison Sloggett, Linda Parr, Rebecca Weeks (2 books). Having seen early print proofs of Stephanie Turnbull’s amazing lithographic contribution, it’s shaping up to be a lovely set of books. Just need to put my thinking cap on to come up with a good way to package them...
Phew!
Fifty books made in the last two-and-a-half weeks, Building up stocks for the ABC@UWE exhibition at Bower Ashton library, the Turn The Page artists’ book fair in Norwich and the BS9 Arts Trail.
Ten orange cracker books
Flocked and finished - hurray!
Production line
Lots of cutting and sticking to make an edition of a new book – Petal Prints.
Photos of the finished book to follow tomorrow…
Lots of lovely books
Carol Wood
Cathey Webb
Olga Fear
Katherine Stevens
A real pleasure to attend an exhibition of student’s work from the Hand Printed Artists’ Books course at Spike Print Studio. Having taught some sessions on lino printing on this course back in the Spring, it was a great to see those concertina books finished, but also the dizzying array of other handmade books on display. So many different formats and styles of working - and all completed since January. Really impressive stuff. The books will be on display in the Tom Trusky exhibition cases at UWE (Bower Ashton campus library) from 7 December to 31 January.