Back from Copenhagen, again.

But first, Water on exhibition in the Bodleian.



The Royal Library (The Black Diamond) a stunning building with a fantastic interior.





Private view of the exhibition of studio members work at Galley North in the centre of Copenhagen.

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde. The finished binding.

The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is finished. Red dots to the back board have been in-laid and the eye panel has been dyed and worked.
The lower right hand panel on the front board was printed (under supervision) by Anne Claire Weber, a work experience trainee from Tolbiac Lycee, many thanks Anne Claire.



The dyeing and working of the panel emphasises the ridges, bumps and creases in the leather.



Red touches to the eye lid adds menace.



drawing us into the depth of the eye.

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde. The last panel take shape.

The last panel, again derived from an old glove. The fingers have been moulded around the base of a Victorian medicine bottle, found at low tide in the mud of the Thames river, near the studio. The effect is disturbing, an image has been placed under the glass, the inner self seen through the windows of our eyes.



Detail of the final panel (sorry for the image quality)

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde. The front board panels take shape.

Work continues. More panels to the front board, hand dyed leather and more glove work. Reverse and a small printed paper panel.



Detail of the paper panel. A soft plate off-set print of Victorian glasses, the colours in tune with the end papers, leading the reader into the text.

the Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde. The back board panels take shape.

The structure for this binding is based on a disappearing spine, Bradel binding. The spine has been covered in reverse goat skin. The spots are a natural result of the dyeing process. I think they look like bubbles in a strange potion. The first two panels have been applied to the back board.
The first is from an antique ladies evening glove with a seam running down the middle (ish). The second is a panel resembling a Victorian news paper cutting, a stop press of a murder.



Working on the lower panel. An image from the London Illustrated News of the 1880s, has been transferred to a panel, again covered in a ladies evening glove. The seam forms a break in the panel. The area to the left of the seam is worked over with a technical pen.



The resulting image when applied to the binding. With only part of the face worked the other half almost disappears, almost a transition between the two personalities.



Detail of the lower panel.

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde.

A Fantastic read, with this particular volume having dark images. A lot to get one's teeth into. The original case was removed and kept as the owner wants all the stuff keeping. As this is a commission I would do this any way.
As you can see from the image the book was originally rounded and backed. Over the years the rounding has given way leaving a rather flat spine. Other considerations.... There is not a square edge, line or angle to be found. The edges are rather uneven with the deckle and brisk cutting. All in all this book is going to be interesting to work on.
With some commissions I find myself working to a budget.... let work commence.



After the spine was cleaned, I judged that the sewing was sound and was able to move on to the end papers. I managed to find an old print of a lab with all the flasks, bunson burners, pipes, and strange shapes that one thinks of. With further manipulation with pencil, crayon and tipex I was able to make soft plate off-set prints. The colours are sharp, moving from acid yellow through to rich re, perhaps the lab through the eyes of both Jekyll and Hide.



The head was already coloured red, the end band is sewn in a green silk with a red leather skirting which has been brought round to cover the ends of the end band core.


Detail of the tail and the disappearing spine, Bradel binding. The structure will allow me to use a double board and offer a degree of flexibility to the finished design.

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.

Marmite and research.

Today was spent working with MARMITE and researching corsets. Not a bad day on the whole.

Now I understand that you may be thinking that I may have had an early glass of wine but no. All of this work is to do with books.

It is a hard life.

The Agony of the Frog Prince.

The Agony of the Frog Prince, made for an exhibition in Tokyo using Japanese papers and a number of found objects. The work revolves around the concept of a fairy tale in which a frog turns in to a prince, we all are aware of this sort of thing I am sure. But, what if the frog and the princes never met.... what if he was unable to find her golden ball.... what if he was not the dinner guest but dinner ?


The book is a single, open page book. More an assemblage in book form. This form of book allows the reader to explore the three dimensional quality of the individual pieces and the whole.


Frog and fork detail.


Mirror detail.


Suspended golden ball detail.

Woodpeckers and Books.

Not all my time is spent working on fine or contemporary books. I enjoy working with the book as part of a larger work, placing the book in difficult or unusual situations. The juxtaposition of various elements creating scenarios that either make us think, agree, disagree or just smile. The world of books is not always serious.

I am finished with UTOPIA

Just in time for the Flow Gallery exhibition, Utopia is finished.


Detail of the front doubler and end paper.


Detail of the back doubler and end paper.


Detail of the front board, gold tooling and in-lays.


Detail of the back board, in-lays and tooling.

Scratching UTOPIA.

How i love doing this. Everything (well nearly everything)I was taught about using calf I have disregarded. The whole surface has been taken to task with sharp and rough things, the surface is not smooth. How the trads will hate this.
The inlays are near crescent shapes (a reflection of the shape of the island described in the text) These in lays are left as untouched as possible, perhaps in their pure state.




Details of the gold tooling (what is left of it) the inlays and scratch marks.

UTOPIA...work in progress.

Work with Utopia. A full calf binding (hand dyed) with black line and gold tooling. The inlays will come later on. Having read Utopia, I find that much is turned on its head. Gold becomes the lowest of all metals, fit for the meanest of uses, all religions are accepted, slavery for the main part is abolished. I am sure that if Moore was alive today there would be no slavery in his Utopia.


The gold tooling has been distressed by scratching it out with a sharp pointy thing, wire wool and rough sand paper.


Calf is a delicate covering material. Care should always be taken to ensure that the work surface is clean, that nails are cut short and on no account should the calf be scratched.
I have scratched and re-worked the surface, staining the leather with dyes and other stuff.


Next is the inlays, this should bring the whole design together. I anticipate that the calf will be re-worked. A lot.

Back in the swing of things.

Wow, what a month. Much of the time was spent with the preparation work for the work shop in Halifax. We were blessed with fine weather so some of the dustier work, such as sanding the boards and spine was done out side. I hope the participants had a good weekend, I know I did.



The studio work continues. I am currently working on a large commission, the design of which is complicated but more about that later.



Along side the normal studio work I am working on a number of pieces for possible exhibition in the Flow Gallery in London next month.



Yes, a Wood pecker making a hole in a book. This I will be putting forward for the exhibition, though I fear that it will be rejected ( The curator is a bit conservative ) We will have wait and see.