Contemporary Fine Art Bindings

Saturday, 20 December 2025

The Picture of Dorian Gray. Work in progress.

 

My biblionautic chums and friends.
Work in Progress. A Picture of Dorian Gray. 
 
A couple of days with a little free hand black line foil work. 
 
The surface of the binding was abraded revealing the layers of hand dyeing to 'age' the surface which has been torn and disstressed in places, or left twisted and brooding in others. All to create a 'canvas'. The original artist's painting becoming lost in a patchwork of floating colours and low relief sculpture for the partial over image of the true Dorian Gray to be worked into. Though in life Gray never aged his pictured did. Each carnal, immoral and perfidious act eating away the once beautiful image, leaving the true picture of Gray as an etched (eaten away), twisted, ungodly creature. 
 
My intention with the various techniques I have used is to give a painterly/hand drawn quality to the binding along with an over image that resembles an etching of the period. Perhaps we can imagine each line and mark being etched or carved into the canvas.
 
Just the leather joints and edge to edge doublers to do.
 
Please note there are other ways of doing stuff to books. Opinions etc, etc, etc.....along with 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.....