Whilst I have been waiting for commission work to dry or in the press I have been working on a series of 5 miniature books.
Forgotten titles.
5 miniature books. Each unique, hand coloured, hand collaged etc etc.
The individual (30) spreads/folios have been cut to size and await assembly. As the books begin to take shape the visual narrative evolves. Each linked........
Progress has been interesting and fun. As you may have seen, from the previous posts, each text black has been collaged and hand coloured. Now is the time for the easel work to make way for the bench work of making.
Pages detail.
The
text blocks have been assembled, 7.2cm x 5.2cm x about 0.5-0.6cm (each
book is a different width due to the collage work contained). Now for
the binding. Initial spine linning and a leather tight back for each.
A
day of hand colouring and easle work for the cover papers of the 5
books. Again time to let things dry before next steps are taken. Next is
to research and make transparent palimpset parchment... that should be
fun!....
The
final colouring and application of the covering papers to the boards...
the final trimming of the papers will be done when dry.For the first time I am able to pair up the boards. Each set of boards reflects the contents of each book.
The boards for Forgotten Titles have dried and the covering paper has been manipulated to fit. This is the first time the boards for each of the 5 miniatures have been paired up! The front board is to the right in the following images and yes, you have guessed it... the back board is to the left in the images. The boards measure 7.5cm x 5.3cm x 1.8mm. For those of us using Imperial that is a bit under 3" x just over 2" and thin.
Each board has been edged in black leather, infilled both in and out to ensure they are as flat as a flat thing, in a flat place on a flat day. A little more tweaking and they will be finished. However, I will be letting them dry under weights overnight, one cannot hurry these things.
You know what it is like, books are in presses being pressed, emails are emailed and as coffee is well....drunk. It is at times like these that ones mind turns to experimentation. In my case, for the last few weeks I have been experimenting with parchment (the real stuff, not the paper stuff), making the none transparent... transparent. The results are encouraging, though nothing is finalised.... it is getting there.
After
much stuff getting the palimpsest parchment to the state I want it,
transparent that is... Well, time to apply to the boards. So far, so
good... With two of Forgotten Titles finished the other three are well on the way. I am very interested in the way the book works.. the construction. The text blocks have been collaged the bidings are of leather, mixed media and palimpsest parchment. 7.5cm x 5.3cm x 1.8mm. For those of us using Imperial that is a bit under 3" x just over 2" and thin.
Please note there are other sizes of books, methods of binding and opinions..... 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.
