At last, the Pestival at the Royal Festival Hall.

After months of work, the making of books, the burying and eating of books and the subtle care and sympathetic restoration of what was left, the books make their way to the Royal Festival Hall. For some time I had been working out the display based on the dimensions of the display plinths given to me by the R F H people. Of course when I arrived I did not have the same plinths..... However with a bit of know-how and double sided tape it all came together.




Images of the insect eaten books, many thanks to Amoret at the NHM.
The pages have been reduced to the finest of laces. The light and texture create wonderful images within the paper and the text block.

The decayed book before the plinth was put in place.


Know-how and double sided tape.

The Book Eaters Number 3.

Aspects of the Decayed or The book Eaters.

The Book Eaters Number 2.

The book was frozen, this is sounds strange but is important as I do not want all of my books to be eaten in the studio.



Now comes the not-so-easy part of the project, the cleaning away of any wee beasties and muck. A long process as the book has to dry out first. The contours and colours are wonderful, full of texture and smell !



As the pages are opened the paths and holes created by the larvae and insects.



The staining and pressure marks have fused a number of pages together to form ridged pages...



... whilst others have become more lace like. I love this book.

The Book Eaters.

I spend my life making books. Recently I have been burying my books and today was exhumation day for one of them. As I rummaged through the soil,, worms disappearing down dank holes, shiny beetles defending their turf and other stuff i cared not what it was, I slowly unearthed my book.



Cleaning off the soil from the pages revealed a myriad of colours. Fungi and moulds creating pattens and swirls to delight the eye. Then the insect and their spwan damage began to take form. First the edges of pages had been nibbled.



On opening the pages holes began to make their mark adding to the page.



The book was being taken back to nature being both home and food, an environment within an environment.

Burying Books.

First the weather, the summer in London has been interesting. Having nipped out for a quick one in the middle of a down pour the equipment failed.



As part of this years Pestival at the Royal Festival Hall, south bank, London I have been making books and burying them in locations around Studio 5. I have been working with Amoret Whitaker ( the celebrated Forensic Entomologist ) looking at the interaction of insects and the book. The results will be displayed during the weekend of the Pestival.



The books were buried some time ago, having exhumed them and checked up on them at regular intervals the books have become a micro environment within the natural world. Top stuff.



Re-burial.

MARMITE and the Pestival

I do not think that this image needs any explanation.



So, what is it all about ? I hear you say. Well, later in the year I will be participating in a huge celebration/exhibition of the insect world at the Royal Festival Hall on London's south bank. The exhibition is called 'Pestival'. Part of my work is with the Dermesitdae, more commonly referred to as Skin Beetles, or Hide Beetles ( Dermestes maculatus)



As a bookbinder I often age or tint papers for resteration using a variety of food stuffs, such as Marmite. The problem is that the Dermestidae love Marmite and the like, which is not good for the book but very useful for this particular art work. The paper on the left was left in a tray of dilute Marmite for some ten minutes, the paper on the right is the control.



The intention is to make a book using marmite to tint the paper and to print with. The book will then be placed in an controled environment with the previously mentioned bugs. The book or what is left of it will be removed and displayed along side the film of the making and eating of it.
I spend my life making books, for the next few months I shal be making books to be destroyed, interesting concept.