Strange Journals
Ramblings on Bookbinding, Photography, Journaling and Art424
Like many others who keep an art journal, I tend to work in several at a time. One is usually a larger book I’ve bound, think of it as the mothership — it rarely leaves the house. Each year around this time I bind a new one to take me through the year,
I began by tearing down 10 sheets of Fabriano Artistico to for the book block, I didn’t want any waste so I quartered the sheets for a book block that measured 7 1/2″ X 11″. I wanted the cover to look like it had been made from some salvaged wood so I began by edge gluing some poplar to a strip of walnut to get the 7 1/2″ width I was going to need.
Once the glue was dry, I ripped the board down to 7 1/2″ and then cut it down into to 11″ pieces.
Because I wanted this to look like reclaimed wood id decided to use several coats of milk paint. Milk paint can provide a nice hard, smooth finish but you can manipulate it to look distressed by applying it too quickly which can cause it to crack. I started with a base coat of black and followed that up with a two coats of white.
My goal was to get some hairline cracking of the white paint to reveal the black underneath, there wasn’t as much cracking as I had hoped but it was good enough for what I had in mind. I sanded the white coat a little and then applied a mask to create some lettering under the final coat of paint.
Once the paint was dry I sanded it down until I cut through the layers of paint and looked well worn. I followed that up with a couple of coats of clear Danish Oil to protect the finish. Once the covers were done, I attached them to the book block to wrap it up. Here’s a shot of the finished book, 424.
PLAY Sketchbooks
In mid-November I wrote about the PLAY Retreat rolling around again and showed a prototype of the small journals I was planning on giving as gifts to the other attendees. In early December I actually hand bound 50 cahiers, I really didn’t think it was important enough to post about so I let it pass. Since then, I’ve exchange email with a couple of the people who normally attend and they asked about the small sketch books I make each year.
I just finished them up tonight and you can see a shot of them below as they wait to be signed and belly banded to the matching cahiers. The cover is French Paper Company’s 140 Lb. Kraft Muscletone. The book block is Wausau’s 57 Lb. Exact Vellum Bristol which is hand-sewn to the cover with 4-ply Irish Linen thread.
Small Leather Scrap Book
Here’s another small book created from paper scraps. The dimensions are 2 1/2″ X 4 1/4″, the book block is created from 90 Lb. Fabriano Artistico sewn to the leather cover with 4-ply Irish Linen. The mask on the from is molded from polymer clay. The closure was created by boring a recess into the back of the mask and inserting a neodymium magnet, a second magnet was glued into the leather to keep the book closed.
Small Turquoise Scrap Book
Since I had all my polymer clay tools out to make the covers for my Small Jade Scrap Book, I decided to continue working with the clay and make a few other covers for my scrap books. Next up was a book block that measured 3″ X 4 “. These scraps were 140 Lb. Fabriano Artistico so I limited the signatures to 3 pages, when you’re working at a small scale like this adding too many pages will make your book impossible to close.
I ended up with 10 signatures and decided to continue down the simulated stone road and whipped up a batch of polymer clay turquoise for the covers. In this particular technique you chop the clay up in a food processor and then re-integrate it into sheets. I had some concerns about the integrity of the covers over the long haul, so the interior of the covers are just a sheet of solid black polymer clay.
The binding itself is straight forward. The signatures are and sewn to the leather spine with 4-ply Irish Linen. I liked the color variations in the turquoise, so to emphasize that, I used three different colors of blue thread for the sewing.
Small Jade Scrap Book
Over the holidays I decided I was going to tidy up and I began by cleaning out the bin where I keep my paper. I had a healthy pile of scraps and given that I use Fabriano Artistico for almost all of my journals I wasn’t about to throw any of it out. I sorted the scraps by weight and size, and then tore them down into into book blocks. When the carnage was over, I had 13 book blocks ranging from very small to what I would consider pocket size. I began binding them a few days ago and first out of the gate was this small Faux Jade book with skulls and bone chips. The covers were created from polymer clay using a faux jade technique. I applied some polymer clay “bone chips” along the fore edge just to make it a little more interesting visually. Frankly, I used these techniques because I had scrap polymer clay laying around and wanted to clean up the clay bin too.
The book block is 90 Lb. Fabriano Artistico sewn to a leather spine with 4-ply Irish Linen thread. This is small book and the dimensions are approximately 3″ X 3″ Here’s what it looks like:
Dear Field Notes
Field Notes have received a lot of press over the past couple of weeks. First, they were declared to be “all the rage” on the Today Show. A day or two later Reuter’s featured Field Notes on their site. This promoted me to look at the Field Notes site again, and as I was going through some of the older editions from the Colors series, I noticed that most of the colors they’ve featured are derived from things in the temperate north.
Nice enough, but out here in the Southwest, we don’t see the golds of Mackinaw Autumn and it’s generally to hot to grow the marigolds that came with the Spring 2010 Packet of Sunshine edition. I decided to pitch my own color scheme for Spring of 2011 and send it on to the staff at Field Notes. I called it Spring in the Desert and the color scheme is derived from a cactus flower typical of the ones you see in the desert Southwest as we move through spring. I used Adobe Illustrator to mock up the covers and sent the image on to them, if you like this, give them a shout and let them know.
Here’s the image that inspired the color palette.
J. Herbin 1670 Ink
I scored a bottle of J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink for the Goulet Pen Company last week. J. Herbin who is probably the oldest ink manufacturer in the world formulated this rich red ink to commemorate the company’s 340th anniversary. The color also echos the past by serving as a reminder of the wax seals used by kings and courts throughout history.
I loaded the ink up in a Lamy accent and took it for a spin on a Rhodia pad. The ink itself has a wonderful color with excellent shading and tone. I could go on and on but Lady Dandelion has already provided an excellent review that’s amazingly complete. Give it a read at http://ladydandelion.net.
Just a Plain Journal
I dig through the pile of boards I bought over the summer and decided to put a fairly simple journal together. This journal is 4″ X 6″ and was bound using Bloodwood, leather and 140 Lb. Fabriano Artistico. The Bloodwood was simply sanded and finished with clear Deft Danish Oil. The book block is sewn on to the leather spine with 4-ply waxed linen thread. Not much else to say, just a simple journal.
PLAY Prototype
I bumped into Tracy Moore online a few days ago and it reminded me that the annual PLAY Retreat is just around the corner. There’s an informal custom of bringing a small giveaway and each year I create a sketchbook for all the other attendees, they’ve been so well received that I’ve kept the form factor each year I just change the design. In 2009, I gave out a matched pair, a sketchbook and a cahier bundled together with a printed band, but I waited until the last minute to make them last year so it was just the sketchbook.
This year, I decided to start early for a change and I’ve created a prototype for the cahier. I’ve decided to go a little larger with the artwork on the cover this year and after tinkering with several different paper combinations, I’m going with some earth tones this year. Here’s a shot of the prototype:
Field Notes – County Fair Edition
I have a certain fondness for small works of art, their size draws you in and conveys a sense of intimacy. That fondness extends to my bookbinding and I often do multiple edition bindings. More than likely that’s what drew me to the County Fair Edition of Field Notes. Fifty books in a custom box, each book representing a different state, what’s not to like? Last week was a little busy and I didn’t want to rush through opening the package so it got put away until today. The county Fair Edition comes in a cardboard box with a map of the United States printed on the top with the familiar Field Notes logo printed on top of the map. The Great Seal of Field Notes Brand is printed on the lower left corner of the lid. The whole package is tied up with some sisal twine.
Opening the box reveals 50 Field Notes books each one representing one of the United States. The stock used for the covers is blue, yellow and red which represents the win, place and show ribbons given out at the fair. Ot the back of each cover, you’ll find details about the state that book represents. For example on the Arizona book, you’ll find out that the state bird is the Cactus Wren, and that Arizona was admitted to the Union of February 12th, 1912. Ironically, the Arizona book is blue.
Finally, the set also comes with six of their click pens, a Field Notes General Purpose Band of Rubber, a special County Fair button and a Field Notes Blue Ribbon.
Will I ever write in these? Who knows — I bought them chiefly as a bookbinding curiosity that I can sit on my shelf as art object. That said, it’s possible I might have to use them someday if i every use up all my other pocket notebooks, possible but given the number of notebooks in the house unlikely.