Work for the Designer Bookbinders Touring Exhibition ( I hope )

A long with Gilbert and George I am submitting two other books for the Designer Bookbinders touring exhibition.

Work in progress. Brave New World and The life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine.


Brave New World. A large book/Kindle installation piece. Made from the new and the old, the made and the found.


The Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine. A hand dyed leather waiting for gold tooling.

The Art of Gilbert and George, Gordon's Getting Us Drunk.

The back board, a label from an empty Gordon's Gin bottle. Some of G and G's early work feature Gin.....

Designer Bookbinders... a snap shot.

34 Fellows and Licentiates of Designer Bookbinders are producing a collection of designed boards to be housed in a specially made wooden presentation container.

The theme of these designs will be Africa because they will be sold in aid of the Ethiopian Heritage Fund.

This is a charity dedicated to the conservation of artistic relics and artefacts which are kept in the rock hewn churches of northern Ethiopia. It also aims to raise awareness of these objects, increasing tourism to deprived areas.

The creation by the binders of D.B. is a unique event - a snapshot of what is being done in contemporary binding. It can be viewed, and will be for sale at the ABA Bookfair in June 2011.



So, here is my offering so far. Not finished but well on the way. The reverse of the board will have the various details of the work, design etc. A unique way of using our skills to help others.... It should prove to be a a fascinating collection.

The Art of Gilbert and George, leather is on...

As the new year is behind us the bench begins to fill with work.
Gilbert and George is well on the way with initial dye stuffs on and then covered.

I have made a practise board for the next few steps as I am after a particular finish to the book...... it may all go wrong but life will be fun.

Back in the swing of things.

Working on a number of different projects, some big and some small. More news when I have time.....

Studio 5 re-opens after the seasonal break.

Evenings in the pub (The Red Lion Barnes) open fires and my second biggest critic inspecting a pint of Porter !



Now that the seasonal break is behind us I am pleased to say that Studio 5 will be re-opening on Wednesday the 12th of January 2011.

Happy Christmas....

Happy Christmas and a good to new year from Studio 5.

The Art of Gilbert and George by Wolf Jahn.

A fantastic book, full of colour, full of some of the most influential work produced in the 20th century and beyond. A signed edition that charts the work and life of G and G.



The boards have been attached with aero linen, skirting and 3/4 hollow are evident. I have created a recess in both of the boards, this is to create an area for the design and a new material, more about that later.



G and G with water colour paper to the boards and the spine piece in place, all sanded and ready for the leather.

Ally Cold gold...

Ally, the gold leaf was applied with a mix of PVA and a rice starch paste... simple.

LYSISTRATA is finished, now the images.

LYSISTRATA is finished....

Images coming very soon.

LYSISTRATA very nearly finished...

Lysistrata is very nearly finished, just the box to finish...
Hope to have images up very soon.

LYSISTRATA the final stages of the binding.

So yesterday I was in Studio 2 printing the Doublers for Lysitrata. The print technique is soft plate off-set and is fun if a little unpredictable.



However, I love the results with the line, texture etc.



The client had wished for a few details to be printed on the front doubler so here they are, minus the clients name of course. So all is set for the binding and the box to be finished well before Christmas, well I would hope with a week to spare...

LYSISTRATA and snow.

Snow, wonderful stuff.




Lysistrata, now that the outside is completed work can begin on the inside. The leather joints are down just in-fill and the doublers to do... not long to go!

Lysistrata,the Lady disappears then shows her charms

As the gold leaf is removed the lady begins to come through. The dynamic pose, the gesture. I really like this look, the gold looks worn, similar to an ancient mural. Covered in the dust of time only to be found by an archaeologist.

LYSISTRATA, Gold Leaf...

Not the perfect day for laying down the gold leaf but I want to crack on with the job. Finding all the gold leaf cushions in the studio and cutting the gold so that I can work with a momentum. For the last few weeks Julie (Work experience from Paris) has been helping. Today Julie will be keeping the gold leaf cushions charged and who knows Julie may be helping to lay the gold leaf down, it is work experience after all.

LYSISTRATA, final touching up of the dyes.

Once the blue dye had dried out I was able to continue with the other areas.



Quick brush strokes to give movement and energy.



Next will be the gold work, I have to have a day with no students to be able to lay out the gold leaf...... we shall see.

LYSISTRATA, the first colour is on.....

With all the blind tooling done and Black Line work finished the first of the dyes are applied to the cover. In this case a touch of red and a lot of vibrant blue.



I am aiming for a very dynamic look, almost like the posters for WW 1. This along with the painterly quality of the dye gives movement. I hope to be able to capture a little of the pop Art style.



As I was taking the images my camera went into automatic portrait mode !

Early Morning outside the studio.

Simple hand made tools.

With Lysistrata I am making my own tools. They are simple and not so expensive so i am not worried about altering them to create new shapes.
I start with drilling a hole into one end of a handy length of dowel to fit a length of brass rod. The brass rod should be snug and fixed with evo stick or a similar strong adhesive. The blank is then held in a bench vice to keep it secure and save my hands from damage.


Using a model makers hand held drill with an abrasive fitting I start to create the tool face. Once the main shape has been prepared I then use needle files to get to the final shape.


Emery Paper is then used to get rid of any burrs and refine the face.


Then I Emery Paper the face to get any marks from the saw or files out. This can take a few minutes but is worth the effort.


The last stage is to polish off with a strop with jewelers rouge to make sure that every thing is clean and top.

I am careful to clean up and always wear safety glasses.