The Doctor's Dilemma.....

Though I suppose I am perhaps best know for contemporary binding and some bookarts I also undertake the rare repair or restoration job. Some years ago I spent my day at the bench as a bench monkey (general bookbinder in a small company paid peanuts... hence bench monkey)

As said, I do undertake some general work but there are a number of boxes must be ticked ...

1st. Do I like the customer ? If no then I suggest another binder, if yes then we move to box 2. I feel that it is important to enjoy the company of your customers. It could be that the relationship may last sometime and that with each visit I gain more insight as to their requirements, their likes and dislikes. Also that as the binder you may have to educate them as to what is possible given their budget, use of the book, condition etc.

2nd. Do I want to do the work and is the work involved within my skill base. Again if no then I suggest another binder. If yes I move to the final box....

Last. Will I enjoy the work ? It could be that I may be spending a lot of time working on the book....As a side note to this, as I am working on the book the studio members and students will have the chance to see how I tackle issues, problems and bad stuff with the repair of old books. Also, how I work out my costings and charges.... something that few teachers like to talk about.....

I realise that my attitude may come across as arrogant and that I am not genuine ( as one critic said recently) but it is the way I work and have worked for the last 20 or so years... it works for me but I realise that it does not work for all... each to their own.


The Doctor's Dilemma (1872). In 3 volumes, bound using wire staples.... what more can one say....




First the text blocks are removed from the original binding and the sine linings removed. This had to be done dry as the condition of the paper and the fact that the staples were rusted meant that no paste could be used. I used a dental tool to pick of the papers and old adhesive...


This took some time...


When the spine was clean I then opened up the staples being very careful to keep as much of the staple intact because a broken staple leaves a hook that can result in more damage when the staple is removed from the section..


The staples were then extracted from the inside of the section.... not easy but a workable technique.


I realise that this is only one way to deal with the problem of staples, but I have to consider time and budget..... Hence the pile of staples in a previous post....

Next is manual cleaning and pressing the sections, then onto spine repair.......

Staples.

There is a story behind this rusting pile of staples..... more to follow soon.

Liverpool Doors....

Poet and good all round egg Roger McGough and I will be working in Liverpool later this year.... we will be making books out of doors.
The book /s library will form part of the permanent collection of the new Museum of Liverpool, the main opening is the 19th of this month with the installation of our work later in the year.

Why doors ? I hear you ask... well here is the background to the concept....
On one of the very rare evenings that Roger and I found ourselves in the Red Lion pub (Barnes) at the same time.... we started to talk about our various projects. Over our first beer the chat flowed this way and that.....
During the second Roger asked me how big could a book be made... I replied that in theory any size but practically about the size of a door... Roger had been asked to produce some work for the New Museum of Liverpool and wondered if a large book would work... the chat turned to ideas...by the third pint the ideas had turned into sketches on the reverse of the menus.
After many false starts and cul de sacs we came up with using doors .

Doors fantastic things.. They open and close,we are carried through them at birth and death... they keep us safe, the welcome us. Notes are pinned to them for the milk man, letters are posted through them, loo roll, coats, and towels are hung on them. Posters are blu tacked to them........... doors everywhere , quite often we do not notice them until they are not there.

With their different paint, knobs, letter boxes etc each has their own special history, but when a property is re-developed or pulled down where do we see the doors ? by and large used to line skips or torn up and left as rubbish.
This is why we are using doors.... They can form a diptych, triptych etc. Ori Hon, with a bit of work one can make a codex out of them.



We have started with the collection and our first doors are from the Everyman Bistro and Theatre.



Roger and doors.......

Japanese Bookbinding.

NEWS FLASH>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

New series of courses in JAPANESE BOOKBINDING AND BOX MAKING

Please see The link to Bookbinding Courses at Studio %...

NEWS FLASH ENDS>>>>>>>>>>>

LIVERPOOL DOORS.

Over the last few months I have been working on a book with Roger McGough, Roger is a poet and a damn fine one to boot.
What started of as a few ideas over a pint in the Red Lion began to take shape after two pints and by the fourth we were ready to take on the world.

The book or books is going to be huge and will form part of the permanent collection of the new Museum of Liverpool which opens its doors on the 19th of July.


Images and more blurb will follow soon........

The Tempest, finished ....

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613241336867261362" />

Now just the box to make.

On You Tube

I am on you tube !

See the links and follow The Bookbinder.

The Tempest, cold gold and first phase tooling.

After the dye has been allowed to dry out over night the gold leaf has been applied. It took 2 books of gold leaf !


Then the first phase of the tooling. I estimate that there may be up-to five different tooling phases..... I may just go mad.

Also... the book has been titled......... not a common thing with me.

The Tempest, Black Line work...

With the leather dying completed I worked on the image of Miranda. using a fine brush and a spirit leather dye I blacked in the original. This gives more definition and really brings the face to life. Next will be applying the leather to the book, then cold gold work..... still lots to do.

The Tempest, Leather is pared on with the colour...

Following on from the spine cleaning new linings, end bands, linen, skirting, hollow, boards etc have been added to the text block. The next thing to be done is the paring of the leather. This I do with a hand paring machine and a French (Made and bought in Japan) paring knife. I do not use a spoke shave as I feel it stretches the leather, and if I am honest... not accurate enough.

An image of a young girls face (Miranda) is applied to the front board area.



Next is some hand dying to create the tempest............

If you would like to know more about some of the techniques I use, I will be demonstrating them at this years Society of Bookbinders Conference. Please go to the SoB web site for more details....

EYE

The morning after a day of filming, the result....

Return of a Prodigal Book.

The Royal Mail delivers many things, yesterday was not an exception.

After some time, buried in the soil of New Zealand one of my books returned.


Buried by Sandy Corbett. Many thanks to her and her Husdband.


I would like to say that it has been through two earthquakes

The Stoned Bradel.......

One of the variants of the 2nd module in the Studio 5 Introduction to Bookbinding Course is to make a Bradel Binding. This one has Flottage board papers with the spine leather being manipulated to hold two stones.



Just one of the variations that we come up with....

The Tempest, a new commission.

The Tempest, lovely illustrations by Dulac.... what more can I say.
First job is to clean off the old spine linings and adhesive, in this case hot or flexible or animal glue. A stiff cold starch paste is applied to the spine, covered with cling film and allowed to sit for 10 minutes.


After 10 minutes the paste has begun to soften the spine linings and re-activate the old glue. It is just a case of gentle scraping with the flat end of a bone folder to remove any material that feels like coming off. Patience...... Then a re-application of paste, wait 10 minutes and repeat and repeat etc.


And repeat.....


.... Untill the spine is clean. The trick is to be gentle, take one's time and not over work the spine. Patience.............

Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine.

Detail of the hand dying and tooling.

Back on track... new bindings Gilbert and George....

After a lot of work and experimentation I was not happy with the results of the first Gilbert and George. I had to make the decision to start again... a very painful process but I am happier now. It is always difficult to take the step and say that some thing is not right. Much learnt and the challenge continues.


Gorden's getting us drunk.............




End papers and doublers.


End band and edge decoration.

When things do not go as you hope....

Sorry, I have been a bit bit busy over the last few days, normal service will resume very soon.

Work on the bench.

Some times I find it important to go back to the basics. A simple paper covered case binding. The structure is based on the Bradel with a minor twist, to look at the simple and to think why is this done this way? not just doing things the same old way but to take the next step.

This leads me on to BRAVE NEW WORLD.


The front board... The main body is made from old, discarded, cupboard doors, with applied found objects and materials.


The text block, well this is where I meet the brave new world . I will be using a Kindle, locked with just the one book ( Brave New World ) installed.


The binding will form a dyptich.


Though the Kindle will be part of the work, the viewer will be able to remove it from the binding... an interesting concept..... I hope.

JAPAN

Dear Reader,

In my previous post I mentioned that I was going to Japan, to see family, friends and do a lecture or two. My flight was for Friday the 11th, my flight was cancelled.

Our family,friends and students are safe (those we have managed to contact and for the moment)

My thoughts are with them and all of Japan.

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

The gold is on, the resin is set, all is right.

Going to Japan for a few days.......

The Art of Gilbert and George, Gordon's Getting Us Drunk, Gold Leaf and paint stripping.

The resin has done its stuff and the gold leaf has been applied to the back board. The effect is about what I am looking for. More work to do and time is not on my side....



Paint stripping for the binding of Brave New World.....................

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.