The Liverpool Doors Project, Studio 5 work and on site at J M U.

Words begin to appear on the doors... Not as simple as one may think, what goes where ? how are the words to be applied ?


Visualisation and format.


Size...


... and texture.

The Liverpool Doors Project, Special doors from a cherished place, The Everyman..

Liverpool boasts many well know land marks. Perhaps one of the most cherished was the Everyman Theater and in the basement the so popular Bistro run by the equally well known and popular 'Paddy' Sadly the last time I saw the Everyman it was a huge whole in the ground. Some elements have been kept to be included in the 'new' Everyman.... time will tell.


Some of the doors inside are iconic, used by many........




Some seen by many..... and we got them....

Cyrano De Bergerac... the 2 tray drop back box. Making the Lip for the outer case.

With the trays covered I move on to the outer case. Nothing special about this ... but I do like a bit of Lip.

The lip is made from 1mm board and is adhered to the inside edge of the boards at head, tail and fore edge. Only at the head and tail of the spine piece. The components are then covered in the usual way, turn ins etc...

The resulting lip ( bottom image ) here showing the inner tray and space between it and the lip for the outer tray to go into, creates an additional dust trap and helps to support the trays.

Cyrano De Bergerac... the 2 tray drop back box.

I first start as many binders do when making a box with a series of measurements. Height, width and depth. Then make up small compensation pads for the lining material and start chopping.
I cut the walls and then line the board with 240 gsm water colour paper, trimming the water colour paper to leave a flange the same width as the board (in this case 2mm ) Making a half lap joint.

I consider it a stronger joint than just butting the board together and saves on having to masking tape all the components together.

Covering is with simple angles and book cloth.

Cyrano De Bergerac... a book from the past..

Cyrano De Bergerac.
Printed in a limited edition of 1000 copies (1998) at the presses of Jean- Francois Manier, in Chambonseur - Lignon on behalf of the Cercle de Relieure d'art a Ciboure.

Bound in 1998 by me...

Bound with a double hollow in black goat skin and hand dyed French Parchment ( by binder ) with inlaid panels of egg shell ( by binder ) to both front and back boards. Title to spine in black ink. Hand sewn end bands in blue and red Japanese silk. Head decorated in graphite and gold leaf.
Leather jointed end papers and doublers of hand dyed ( by binder ) in a French hand made paper.

The present owner ( USA ) has requested a new box.... This means that the original box has done the job it was made for.. eg.. to protect the book, which it has as the binding, text block is in the exact same condition as the day it left my studio some 14 years ago....

Over the next few days I will show some of the aspects of one style of box I make.....

Week starting Tuesday the 13th

After some time... the studio will be back to normal hours and days..........

YIPPEE

Through the Looking Glass.

The Liverpool Doors Project, work begins.

With over 20 doors to work on the space and time required was always going to be an issue. The size alone made the task of moving them a reason to take up weight training and visits to the physio a regular thing.

We began by deciding what text, imagery and object would go on each 'page' easier said than done. When I say 'we' I mean that Roger would consult a book (One I had made) with all the poems etc that he had decided would be used, with our sketches, plans and thoughts added, while I would prop the page (door) up I was able to look at the surface and think of methods of being able to make our ideas work.

As we worked ideas came and went, some were explored to destruction whilst ideas we had from the very beginning of the project worked without any problems.

As with a lot of creative work it looked like very little was being done, but let me assure you tons was being done.

The Liverpool Doors Project, the doors begin to arrive.

With the space sorted out next was to get the doors.
From the beginning we wanted this project to be as representative of Liverpool as much as possible. As previously discussed we were to use doors as the medium. We were let loose on the local BBC radio to make an appeal for doors, any doors. Loo doors, front doors, back doors. You name it ....

We also contacted John Moores University, Art and Design Academy... they let us have studio space... more of this later....

Within a few days the doors began to arrive and the work began.....

The Liverpool Doors Project, the space.

We went to Liverpool to see the space for the exhibition. Still unfinished and not open to the public we were shown the spot. Big.
The i dea that we could use more doors was talked about and how we could get them.. we retired to a place of rest to think on...

The Liverpool Doors Project, on the train again.

An other trip to Liverpool..... with the opening date being the 24th of February the final lap is to be run......

The Liverpool Doors Project, bigger model (skip treasure)

Fired with enthusiasm I made a larger model, this time out of old cupboard doors. With many people modernising their homes is that so much is thrown away, this includes doors. Used to line skips these unwanted lumps of wood find their way to tips and salvage yards, left to rot in corners.....
But Doors are an important part of our lives, we are carried through them in birth and death, they offer security, warmth and privacy. They welcome us, they deter us. Painted and decorated, often changing with trends and fashion they remain a door.

The idea was to collect doors from the Liverpool area that were going to be thrown away.... press and radio appeals then followed.

I have been told I have the perfect face for radio....

The Liverpool Doors Project, one member of the team...

An important member of our discussion group is Sonny.



Though we thought what were doing was interesting Sonny began to grow somewhat bored...



... and in the end gave up on us... until he had a treat or two....

The Liverpool Doors Project, scale models (Diddy Doors)

Roger had told the people at the New Museum of Liverpool the idea and set forth with a scale model of some doors. I am sure that it was not the model that did the trick but..... they said yes... WOW

Next was to see it on a larger scale....

The Liverpool Doors Project, a little research.

A trip to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford for a look at the writing tablets in the collection. With the historical president in place, we felt more and more comfortable with the concept.

The Liverpool Doors Project

With the opening of The Roger McGough Liverpool Doors Project only a couple of weeks away I have been busy...

It all began with The New Museum of Liverpool asking Roger McGough if he would put his words in the Museum... on the walls, windows and the like.

However Roger asked me if it would be possible to make a book... yes I said.... then we had another beer... how big could a book be ? the answer was how big do you want it ?

With notes and sketches being drawn on the backs of menus and wine lists (we were in the pub at the time) and slow working staff, a concept slowly took shape.....
At sometime during the evening doors as a cover for a book cropped up in the conversation. This being one of those evenings 'work' when many things are talked about I was able to rationale the use of doors. In the main they are made of wood and if we go back in time the boards of books were of wood. Further back Monotychs, Diptychs, triptychs and polytychs were made of wood... so no problem there.

As the evening wove its way towards the bell we worked with a frenetic pace, 'could the pages be made of wood ? yes was the answer, could we use doors ? well yes as we could make huge concertina books using hinges..... yes we would use doors.

The next step was to put our thoughts into action......

Designer Bookbinders Lecture

Dear Lecture Goers,

Just a reminder that the next Designer Bookbinders lecture is……..
GLEN BARTLEY A Retrospective.

Starting at 6.30 pm, Tuesday the 7th of February 2012



I have to own up and say that as a fan (on the quiet) of Glen’s work, I am delighted that after minimal persuasion, he agreed to give a talk about his work.

Though well known for his air brush work and binding in Vellum, there is much more to his output and this is a unique opportunity to understand more of the back ground in the development of his working methods and his individual approach to being an independent Bookbinder.

I look forward to seeing you there and have been assured that the heating is working.

Mark


The Art Workers Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1
Nearest underground stations: Holborn and Russell Square
Admission: DB members £5, non-­members £7, students £2.50 per lecture

The Liverpool Doors Project

You may ask why a picture of a door in a skip.. well it is all to do with a project I have been working on in The city of Liverpool.

It all started over a year ago over a drink or two in the Red Lion ( Barnes ) chatting with the celebrated Liverpudlian Poet, writer and all round good egg... Roger McGough.

Die NIBELUNGEN.

The hand dyed leather is on, now to the leather joints and in-filling...

Happy New Year.

Wow, a busy year was old 2011 and I hope 2012 will be busier.
lots of studio work and new students, projects big and small.


One of the biggest is the Roger McGough, Liverpool Doors Project. More about this later. But, it has meant that I have been working in Liverpool. I find it important to be able to find a comfortable office to work out of. Mine is called the Roscoe Head.



I think it is no secret that the project involves doors... over 30 of them....



And a lot of people.. more about them as time for the opening gets nearer.

Die NIBELUNGEN.

The endpapers are on, the boards and spine attached, ready for sanding.

The boards are shaped to reflect shapes in the illustrations.

Been Very Busy

New post will be up soon....

Book in Progress. Through the Looking Glass.