I hope that the other participants are enjoying my pages as much as I am enjoying theirs.
I am having a great time participating in the Round Robin journal exchange organised by Robin from New Zealand. Most of the other participants are from NZ or Canada. It is such a challenge for me and initially I wasn't sure how to approach each page. I hope that the other participants are enjoying my pages as much as I am enjoying theirs.
2 Comments
Spent a lovely day with two colleagues learning Cross Structure binding. Many thanks to Vicki for her expert tuition.
First up we painted the canvas covers to our liking - notice my favourite colours of green, gold and purple. Then we chose the thread - notice the purple thread. And then I couldn't resist adding some more gold! I am still thinking about if I will have a closure for mine or not and so it is not quite completed yet. Here it is at this stage of it's development. What an attractive binding it is. Just finished two Coptic stitch journals with eco leaf printed covers for friends. I just love the little cut out penny that I'm using for the button. I wonder if I will ever get sick of these beautiful mono prints... the great thing is that having used so many of the papers, I can now have fun making a whole new batch that will be different to the last prints. I have been busily collecting fallen gum leaves in anticipation. Spent a great weekend with members of the Canberra Bookbinders Guild and tutor Rosemarie Jeffers-Palmer attempting the Dos Rapporte binding. It is a form of binding that when opened, the spine flexes up allowing the centre of the sections to be shown. This is of particular interest to me as it is reported as being an excellent form of binding for artist's books. Rosemarie proved again what a great tutor she is, combining hard (and sometimes nerve wracking) work with fun elements while all the time being very patient and generous with her time. I found using leather for the covers was especially challenging. Although we had already made our book blocks before the workshop it still took the entire weekend to finish the binding itself. I used a lot of my eco prints for the pages and the front cover. I had a great time and was blessed with beginners luck and I was very happy with what I produced. Special thanks also to Vicki for being so patient in the workshop when I was forever asking 'what do we do next??' and to Wendy for helping me construct the book block. How exciting to be part of an exhibition in Queensland! For more information Fiona Dempster has details on her blogspot . This is the first time I have been part of an exhibition outside of Canberra. It is just lovely to be included in this six week exhibition that includes 29 artists from 6 countries. Fiona has worked so hard to get all these exhibits photographed, packaged and labelled.
I do hope that it goes well. My two pieces are a 'Book of Letters' and 'Letters in the Round'. The next part of the Canberra Bookbinders' Guild Binding Challenge was to depict (by making a book/object for the second of the four containers) of what you were wearing when you listened to the music chosen in Part Two. ' Good ' is still the word to focus on. I choose my blue jeans that I wore all the time in that time period. Jeans cut down to shorts after a growth spurt, embroidered material added to jeans at the hems for the same reasons, jeans embroidered with peace symbols - loved my jeans.
I have spent the last week making a large eco print clamshell box and a Coptic bound journal. It was a lot of work but very satisfying and I am pleased with the results.
Lee and I were lucky enough to represent the Canberra Bookbinders' Guild on 666 Radio. Melanie Tait who hosts the Canberrafile was delightful and put us both at ease. The message we wanted to get across was about our upcoming exhibition and the diversity of the exhibits from fine bookbinding to confronting art. Because my little eco book was chosen for the invitation I was invited to bring it along with me when we met with Melanie. I needed then to dress it up a little by presenting it in a box. What fun was that! This is the first time I had made a clamshell box and not only that, I was working from an instruction manual using my own measurements. Just the type of challenge I like.
I used eco printing paper to cover the box and I am very pleased with the final result. I have never participated in a round robin journal art swap before. Very exciting and also a bit daunting. What if the people I'm swapping with dislike my contribution. Probably I'll never know but still. There are 10 pages in all over 10 months by 10 different artists. My theme is cats. We have an indoor cat who is absolutely beautiful. She has never wanted or even tried to go outside even with the door open. I'm happy about that as cats don't seem to be environmentally sound when left to their own devices. I quite like the look of my pages as they go out. Hopefully what I have done won't be too restricting on the other participants.
I was reading through an old edition of Bound and Lettered and came across an article that resonated very clearly to me. Bound and Lettered is a great magazine. Nothing better than getting a new edition and having the luxury of curling up in a chair. The article is by Sandy Wagner. She is lamenting about the beautiful papers that she has created that are very carefully stored away, brought out every so often, sorted and then stored again. She goes on to write about how she finally liberates the paper and uses it in different projects. This is exactly what I do with my own paper and I was inspired by her article and her beautiful creations to at least use a little of my stash. I got so carried away with the project that I didn't take any photos on the progress. I made a miniature book so I could use the scraps of book cloth that I have collected and the concertina page was made from a small slice of calligraphy made in Massimo's workshop. It was lovely to remember Massimo as I worked. He has to be one of the most delightful people I have met and is so generous with his time and knowledge. And then! yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon with Bev and Vicki learning how to make slip cases to protect my books. This was perfect timing for this little book. Once the math is out of the way the slip cases are easy to construct and look lovely. Hmmm... must think of a way to decorated them.
|
LYNDELL DOBBS
Categories
All
Archives
February 2023
Inspirational People, Places & Blogs I follow |