Bags Packed.

Bags were packed, passports checked and tickets printed.

All the preliminary work was completed in the studio, this should be fun going through security !

So, over the last 6 or so weeks what have i been up to ?

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2013

Preparing for the bookbinding workshops........

Leda, the hole and the vellum are on.

Leda. The hole, with vellum around it.

For those of us who know Leda the swan feather is a crucial part of the design. Of course when I did not need to find a swan's feather they were a penny a pound. I spent a day wandering around various areas of water near the studio........ it was raining !

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2013

With about one month to go to the EAFL I am beginning the preparation of a new lecture and working out the materials for a work shop and a master class. Other things are on the boil as The Doors move to Dubai.

So, you ask, what has the Ministry of Funny Walks got to do with books ?  Come to the lecture and find out. For more information go to...... .www.eaifl.com

Leda, Leather on.

Ok, I know that it looks all over the shop at the moment. Trust me, I am a bookbinder. I have selected s piece of vellum to cover with. It is beautiful and I will be using one of the holes in the skin to add a swans feather, a little gold and a little colour.

This will be so simple in appearance, perhaps minimalist almost. Looking back at some of my work over the last few years that have been exuberant and robust (reflecting the content) Leda will test me.

I enjoy a challenge.

Designer Bookbinders Lecture.

DESIGNER BOOKBINDERS LECTURES   Spring 2013

 

The Art Workers Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1

Nearest underground stations: Holborn and Russell Square

Admission: DB members & full time students £5, non-members £7, per lecture

Further details from Mark Cockram: 0208 563 2158 / studio5bookarts@aol.co.uk

 

WILLEM de BRUIJN Tuesday 5th February 2013  6.30pm

 

                         ‘OUTSIDE THE TEXT’: SOME DECORATIVE ENDPAPERS IN THE ARCADIAN LIBRARY

This evening’s illustrated lecture will concentrate on Willem’s research into (and work on) decorative endpapers. As librarian of the Arcadian Library, Willem is able to combine his interest in making with access to rare historical material and will aim to highlight some decorative endpapers that he considers of special interest in this unique collection. He will also talk about the way in which this research feeds into his practice as an editor and designer of some academic publications.

 

 

 

Willem’s background is in architecture. He completed a PhD in History and Theory of Architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, in 2010 (his MSc in Architecture was obtained from Delft University of Technology). His doctoral thesis looks at books and their making with specific reference to the exchange of knowledge between architecture and alchemy during the early seventeenth century. In this context he coins the term ‘book-building’ to denote the way in which authors, publishers and craftspeople collaborate in the construction of a book. As part of his research, he undertook to learn basic skills in bookbinding at Morley College. Willem has since tried to integrate an amateur’s love of binding and paper decorating with in-depth research into historical material and with the design of academic publications (primarily for the Bartlett School). He is happy to cover these varied facets of his practice and try to show how they relate, with an emphasis on the role of decorative endpapers.

 

The Arcadian Library is a private, family-owned library focusing on the shared cultural heritage of Europe and the Arab World. For further information, please visit www.arcadian-library.com

 

The Great Sausage Roll Off.

You may very well ask what I do when I am not making books.

The last week or so I have been making the award for the Great Sausage Roll Off. A competition to be held at the RED LION PUB in Barnes, 30th Jan 2013 (check out their blog)

Something like 20 teams are taking part ! There will be 4 professional judges with the audience being the 5th.

Roll on the 30th.

The Book from Bangkok. After a week or so of drying.

I love it. Now to create an assemblage.

LEDA. A Double Hollow, Vellum Binding.

Leda is now ready for the first phase of covering. The spine will be bound in leather.

The head and tail of the spine piece has been built up. This is to allow for the vellum to sit flush.

Detail of the built up area on the spine and board edge.

Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. 5th - 9th March 2013.

I have no idea how this has happened, but I am a guest speaker at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.

I will be giving workshops and a couple of lectures. See you there.www.emirateslitfest.com

Back from Bangkok, drying out.

Though the book was frozen for 24 hours to kill everything off I have re-frozen it. Now is the drawn out process of drying out.

The colours are amazing a month and a half in the soil.....

The final result from Bangkok.

Looks fab, many thanks Maya for the use of your garden and the images.

HAPPY TIMES

Everyone have a good and peaceful time.

Congratulations to all the Studio members and students past and present for making it a great year.

Books in a Bangkok Back Garden number 3

Books in a Bangkok Back Garden, number 2

Books in a Bangkok Back Garden.

New book on the block, end papers

Designer Bookbinders Lecture

Dear All, The next DB Lecture is TUESDAY 6th NOVEMBER 2012. 6.30 pm. The Art Workers Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1 Nearest underground stations: Holborn and Russell Square Admission: DB members and full time students £5, non-­members £7 Three Saturday Lectures: DB Members and full time students £14, non-members £20 Further details from Mark Cockram: 0208 563 2158 / studio5bookarts@aol.co.uk GLENN STORHAUG ERIC GILL AS ENGRAVER & ILLUSTRATOR Focusing on Gill’s work with The Golden Cockerel Press, in particular The Canterbury Tales and the legacy of William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones Eric Gill and Robert Gibbings collaborated as artist and publisher on The Golden Cockerel Press’s four-volume The Canterbury Tales only 32 years after Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris collaborated in an almost identical way on The Kelmscott Chaucer. The Kelmscott volume is widely regarded as one of the finest books ever printed in Britain, but Gill and Gibbings came much closer to the spirit of Chaucer, argues Glenn Storhaug. Their work celebrates the poet with great wit and perception, while the actual design and printing are the first realization of their shared dream: the marriage of wood and metal – a truly creative relationship between engraved woodblock illustrations and cast metal type. Glenn Stothaug will illustrate his talk with many images by Burne-Jones and Gill, as well as the rarely seen working drawings and block-proofs privately saved by Gill. He will also read passages from The Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English