A SHORT FILM ABOUT HOW I GO ABOUT DOING A LITTLE BIT OF FINISHING

 

My biblionautic chums and friends.

Following on from A LITTLE BIT OF FINISHING TOOL MAKING AND MAKING PRACTISE BOARDS, the the third film in the trilogy.

PART THE THIRD (AT LAST)

A SHORT FILM ABOUT HOW I GO ABOUT DOING A LITTLE BIT OF FINISHING WITH THE FINISHING TOOL I MADE IN PART THE FIRST

Please note this video is not intended as a training video, more it is a peek in to one method of finishing I use.

https://youtu.be/PYT74dttUJU

Please note.... there are other studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.

 

A new film.... that features disappearing Jaffa Cakes amongst other things.

 

My biblionautic chums and friends

A new film.... that features disappearing Jaffa Cakes amongst other things.

Following on from A Little Bit of Finishing Tool Making.

Part the Second

Though I did say that the second part would be about testing the tools I thought it a better idea to have a short film about how I go about making practise boards...... so.....

A SHORT FILM ABOUT HOW I GO ABOUT MAKING PRACTISE BOARDS

https://youtu.be/dNEFV4iNwK4

Please note.... there are other studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.

 

 

Simple Finishing Tool Making.

My biblionautic chums and friends

Simple finishing tool making. A new post on my youtube channel.

 

https://youtu.be/NxMYMm4yFwc

 

 

 Please note.... there are other studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.

Cold Gold for bookbinding.

 

My biblionautic chums and friends

Summer in the City.

Studio 5 Saturday Summer Workshops.

The morning after Saturday 19th of July, Cold Gold Techniques workshop.

Biscuits nibbled but no takers for the dodgy coffee. After a packed day of making and doing. The beauty of working on more than one techniques of Cold Gold is that there is no down time, when adhesives need to dry we turn our attention to the other technique. From preparing our leather through to the finished results we concentrated on the processes required (nothing in kit form). Using basic tools and equipment we explored each step in the making, finding that each step was, in fact, a stand alone. By stand alone I mean that each step could be used as a finished technique, realising that we had acquired knowledge of a minimum of 5 individual decorative techniques suitable for in-lays, on-lays, panel work etc etc.

I have found, in the past, that many students want to produce perfection first time, becoming frustrated when they fail to achieve their idea of perfection. This drive for perfection so often results in the student not grasping the processes required.

I concentrate on the process, encouraging practise later on... in the elusive search for a perfection. 

 

Please note.... there are other studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.

 

 

My biblionautic chums and friends

Summer in the City.

Studio 5 Saturday Summer Workshops.

New date......Saturday 19th July 2025.

Back by popular demand......Cold Gold Techniques. 

 

Gold leaf is a beautiful and versatile material for the bookbinder and book artist. During the workshop we will be creating 3 design solutions combining Gold Leaf and leather to produe beautiful Tesserae, Maril (MArbled Inlaid Leather) along with sensitive nuggets of wonderfulness. And if that was not enough we will be exploring a South East Asian technique of sprinkling Gold Leaf on to paper and Leather. All suitable for the bookbinder and other artisans.

A much enlarged image of one of the Cold Gold techniques in the one day workshop.Image for illustrative purposes only.

£115.00 including all materials, tea, dodgy coffee and biscuits.

Limited to 4 places only. For more details please contact me.

 

........................................ 

 

Introduction to Book Arts. 

 

26th of July 2025. 

 

The Introduction to Book Arts workshop introduces the student to the Minimalist Flat Tight Back Binding (MFTB) with a Drum Leaf text block, a book structure that is an ideal starting point for artists’ books and creative book works.

 

Variations in the Minimalist Flat Tight Back Binding (MFTB) with a Drum Leaf text block. Image for illustrative purposes only.

 

The MFTB with a Drum Leaf text block can be made with just a few hand tools and basic materials, making it both realisable and flexible in use. The structure is suitable for heavier papers and lends itself well to mark making, process print techniques and hand work.



 

Image for illustrative purposes only.

 

The workshop is divided into two sessions. We start by learning the construction process, selecting materials, develping the structure and the skills needed to create a professional-looking book. 

The second session could get messy! We will develop our own personal book art or book work. We will consider the structure as a platform for creative exploration in addition to thinking about sequence, materials and layout. Whether you are working with pencil, pen and ink, collage or text, the intention of the second session is for you to produce a book of your own. 

By the end of the day it is anticipated that you will have gained the skills and confidence to continue experimenting with the MFTB with a drum leaf text block in your own work.
 

 

£115.00 including all materials, tea, dodgy coffee and biscuits.

Limited to 4 places only. For more details please contact me.

Bookbinding workshops

 My biblionautic chums and friends

Summer in the City.

Studio 5 Saturday Summer Workshops.

Saturday 28th of June 2025.

Cold Gold Techniques. Gold leaf is a beautiful and versatile material for the bookbinder and book artist. During the workshop we will be creating 3 design solutions combining Gold Leaf and leather to produe beautiful Tesserae, Maril (MArbled Inlaid Leather) along with sensitive nuggets of wonderfulness. And if that was not enough we will be exploring a South East Asian technique of sprinkling Gold Leaf on to paper and Leather. All suitable for the bookbinder and other artisans.

A much enlarged image of one of the Cold Gold techniques.

£115.00 including all materials, tea, dodgy coffee and biscuits.

Limited to 4 places only. For more details please PM me.

Please note.... there are other studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.

365, 0

 

My biblionautic chums and friends

Palimpsest parchment hinged diptych. Hand pierced (holes) rembroitage boards with 20mm bayonet tacks.

Please note.... there are other construction methods, studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.

 

 

The Marriage Of True Minds

 

My biblionautic chums and friends .........

THE MARRIAGE of TRUE MINDS. A commission is finished.

The overall design is largely inspired by the poem All Souls’ Night by Frances Cornford (1861-1960) page 76.

My love came back to me

Under the November tree

Shelterless and dim.

He put his hand upon my shoulder,

He did not think me strange or older,

Nor I him.

All Souls' Night uses the superstition that a dead lover will appear to a still faithful partner on that November date.

Full leather binding with exposed sewing structure (Jean de Gonet style). The sewing structure brings together the front and back boards, creating a physical bond that infers of the link between the partners, though separated they are joined in their love for each other. The boards are covered in emulsified fragments of leather in the style of David Sellars, the surface left rough and hand dyed a consistent black. Layers of lacquer, made from an old 78 record - I love the Moon by Tom Cline, 1928 HMV recording - are repeatedly applied and polished. The raised areas catch the light with the recessed areas remaining matt.

The resulting surface create both texture and the illustration of bare branches caught in the moonlight. The end papers are printed from reclaimed wood, I slightly augmented the existing scratches and gouges. The resulting print gives us the outline of figures under a bare tree in a midnight landscape.

267mm x 186mm x 20mm

Please note.... there are other construction methods, studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.

 

 

TEN POEMS with ONE TITLE

 

My biblionautic chums and friends .........

TEN POEMS with ONE TITLE, a just finished and collected commission. Exposed sewing (De Gonet style) with hand dyed leather to the spine. Boards are in hand dyed palimpsest parchment with free hand foil work.

Please note.... there are other construction methods, studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.

 

 

 

 

Nailed It.

My biblionautic chums and friends .........

Nailed It. Ok, I am somewhat busy but I had a few spare hours, a blank book, one hammer and 560 Fine Cut Tacks (Bayonet Point). What could possibly go wrong?

And before anyone says anything, it is not pointless (there are 560 of them) and I made the book from scratch.

Please note.... there are other studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.

 

 

Frances Cornford's poem... All Souls' Night.....

 

My biblionautic chums and friends work starts on a new commission. Love Poems. First read the book then the end papers.

Wood cuts on re-claimed wood. I like to think of lovers carving their initials in to a tree. Inspired by Frances Cornford's poem... All Souls' Night.....

My love came back to me

Under the November tree

Shelterless and dim.

He put his hand upon my shoulder,

He did not think me strange or older,

Nor I, him.

Please note.... there are other studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.

All inked up.
 

A whole lot of rubbing.

Even more rubbing.

The reveal.

The print/endpaper.

Pale Fire and Box finished.

My biblionautic chums and friends work is finished on Pale Fire and the box.

Exposed structure, collage, palimpsest parchment and stuff. Hand printed end-papers. 204mm x 127mm x 35mm (when closed).

On a slightly different note... I always try to remember to take a few images with a colour separation guide as, if the images are to be used in a publication, the editor or whoever is doing the layout has a fighting chance of getting the correct colour, tones etc. In addition I have been told, by those who know of these things, that it is best to let the editor, layout person etc the original images... not clipped, altered colour etc.

A modest set-up of camera (not mobile phone), tripod, lights and backdrop is all that is required.

Please note.... there are other studios/binderies doing stuff, spelling and grammar. Please further note, the opinion of the author may change at any moment. This is due to having an open mind of sorts.