Cornell. Bookbinding with Shadows. Leather and covering.

After much sanding to smooth out the small lumps and bumps the spine and tail of the boards are leather bound.

The leather was then worked over with a 400 carbide paper and placed vertically in a finishing press.

When working with mixed media I prefer to have the book in a canvas like state. I can see all of the surfaces, how the relationship of the design to the book and the transition of the design in 360 degrees. 

Next is the layering of paper for the head and tail of the boards.

Though seemingly random, the paper is placed with considerable care.

Cornell. Bookbinding with shadows.

Cornell. Bookbinding with shadows. The boards have been attached with full aero linen along with the spine piece. This will be left to dry for a number of hours and then the sanding can begin.
 The forwarding process is critical to the finish of the book, get it wrong now and it will never be right.

Cornell. Bookbinding with shadows.

After a little searching I have found the cabinet for the Cornell book. 5 glass panels, doors that open... very Cornell.

Last night was the C L P E Award

Last night was the C L P E Award. A fine evening. The heat of the day radiated from the buildings and pavements around the revitalised Kings Cross area. Birds darted in the evening air and children played in the fountains. One of those perfect UK evenings that linger well past dusk.
Poets and other literary bods gathered at the House of Illustration, followed the Kings Cross Poetry Trail, chatted, listened to readings and drank Pimms.
The evening moved on with the sky moving through shades of pink, a hush fell and the speeches began. The usual thanks, ripples of claps and the knowing nods of agreement. Finally, Roger McGough took the stage........ The runner up.....Bookside Down by Joanne Limburg........ The winner of the 2014 C L P E Award goes to... Wayland, The Tale of the Smith from the Far North by Tony Mitton.

A Charming evening.

The presentation binding for Bookside Down.

The presentation binding for Wayland, bound in pewter with a swans feather.

Joseph Cornell, Bookbinding with shadows. End papers, edge decoration and prep for the end bands.

After sewing and rounding and backing Aero Linen is applied to the spine with adhesive and secondary sewing. The edges are sanded in preparation for the edge decoration.

The contrast of the finished edge decoration and the end papers highlights both.

Sections are flagged to the middle of the sections in readiness for the end banding. This will be in white silk over a laminated core of vellum and fairish goat.

Joseph Cornell. Shadowplay Eterniday.

One of my favourite artists.

End papers for Cornell.

This book promises to be something else. I just hope I can do it justice.

The paper has been hand dyed after the print work.

A Clockwork Orange is finished.

From the outset A Clockwork Orange was never going to be a 'nice' binding. The text is so shocking, so powerful in the extremes of human kind. It begs for a visceral approach and use of materials trying to capture the distortion and fluidity of the sensations that the book evokes.

A Clockwork Orange, tick tock.

Leather joints are put in and the structure of the book begins to take on form. Perhaps now we can see how the outside of the book and the inside of the book begin to create a narrative.

The title is completed with hand tooled letters.

Tick Tock.

Front and back end papers and doublers. So close to being finished. Of course that means hours to go !

A Clockwork Orange. Work cracks on.

 The work now begins to traverse the boards, elements of the design  now flow.

Back board detail.

Old school techniques are sometimes employed to get the correct visual texture.

Nearly there I think. Well, for the time being.

 With Orange I am really wanting this not to be a 'nice' binding. The text is so shocking, so powerful in the extremes of the human nature. In places that it begs for a visceral approach and use of materials. I am trying to capture the distortion and fluidity of the sensations that the book evokes.

A Clockwork Orange.

Slow but getting there.

A Clockwork Orange, work in progress.

 Starting with the back board the first layer is applied. Hand coloured and manipulated. In a way this is rather like a canvas artist taking the white off a canvas. In all probability very little of this first layer will be visible. However, I know it is there.

 Though book binding is perceived by many as a traditional craft there is art to be found. As a Fellow of Designer Bookbinders I do not let tradition get in the way of a good idea.

Working with a double board construction allows for far more freedom and scope for manipulation and experimentation. As the work is squeezed out of my head, cut and pasted (not on a computer) the colours and textures working together with the imagery the chaos, brutalism and despair materialise on the surface.

A Clockwork Orange, edge decoration. Work in progress.

STUDIO 5

Rounded and backed case binding

and book-cloth making 

Section folding ☞ sewing ☞ rounding and backing

☞ secondry sewing ☞ and much more 

Saturday 31st of May 2014

10 to 5 

☞ One hour for lunch

Full cloth case binding in Kimono Fabric 

Limited to 5 places.To book your place or for

more details please contact Studio 5 e-✉ 

studio5bookarts@aol.co.uk

A Clockwork Orange.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. This is a second edition with a signed tipped in plate signed by the author.

A Clockwork Orange is the scarifying autobiographical confession of Alex, a juvenile delinquent of the unspecified but very distant future, who tells the tale of his own criminal excesses and his 're-education' in the peculiar slang of his generation. It takes the reader to understand this expressive language called 'nasdat'; after he falls into the world of Alex.

A horror comedy, a fable of good and evil. Make of it what you will but for the faint hearted it is not.

I have wanted to bind iconic this book for ages and now feel ready to tackle it.

 Halfway through the application of colour to the endpapers. 

 Dribbles of orange.

 Front endpaper with a series of prints from a collage.

Back endpaper.

Peter Blake Alphabets. Finished.