Very Small Vandercook Press

The Vandercook proof press was originally used in commercial printshops, but in recent years artists have been using the Vandercook to create wonderful letterpress work. There is even a Flickr group dedicated to the Vandercook -- you can see photos of real Vandercooks and examples of letterpress printing there.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Vandercook, the Pacific Center for the Book Arts sent it's members (including me) a cardstock scale model of the press. The pieces had to be assembled, and in spite of being not one who excels at poking tabs into their correct slots, I did manage to put the thing together.

This is the finished model, looking surprisingly Vandercook-like. It even has a tiny little foot pedal -- you can see it on the lower left side.

The Ampersand (pictured, with a photo of the model Vandercook on the cover) is the quarterly journal of the Pacific Center for the Book Arts.

The model of the Vandercook even came with the most excellent Vandercook logo on the side.

Cherry Wood Book

Just finished another Coptic book with wooden covers. This one is made from quarter sawn cherry wood, with a piece of mica inset into the cover.

I used an old time finish on the wood (thanks to Jim Croft, who brewed it up). It's made of beeswax, pine pitch, and raw linseed oil. I just rubbed it in with my fingers, then buffed it with a soft cloth.

When I got the piece of wood, one edge was rough (on the right side in the photo). I decided to leave it that way when I cut the book covers.

Several Ways to Keep Your Journal Closed

One of the things I like about the kind of leather journal/sketchbooks I make is that there are several ways to use the wrap-around strap to keep a journal closed, depending on how you want to use it.

One way is to simply wrap the strap around the journal...

....and on the back side of the journal, tuck the end of the strap under the length that wraps around.

I tend to be a bit of a magpie when I travel, picking up ticket stubs, postcards, pamphlets, etc. Because of the way my journals are sewn, there's room for expansion, so you can store lots of those irresistible little items in between the journal pages.

I make my journals with straps that are long enough to still go around the journal even when it's gotten quite fat. Here is one way to tie a knot in the strap to keep the journal snugly closed:

This is one of my little pocket sized leather notebooks. You can keep it closed by tucking the end of the strap under the rest of the strap from above:












Or below:

To make it even more secure, after you tuck the end of the strap under, loop it around and tuck it under a second time:

Ash, leaf, and twig book

It's been a while since I had a chance to post--hope you are all having a good start to the new year. Christmas was a busy time in my studio this year, so I've been taking some time to hibernate now that things have slowed down a bit. I got a chance to finish a book I've been working on for the past few months -- this coptic book with wooden covers (also pictured above):

It is made from spalted ash, and has fossils set into the front cover. Here is a detail showing the fossilized leaves and twigs, and, on the right hand side, the piece of driftwood I used for the closure:

The design reflects my interest in the Japanese aesthetic principles of Wabi Sabi and Shibui.

I'm planning to make a series of wooden coptic books. For me, they're a way to explore memories I have of growing up in the mountains of the Northwestern U.S. I spent a lot of time roaming around the woods by myself, so trees, rocks, fossils, mica, volcanic rock, and other suchlike things were (and still are) an important part of my life. (I wrote in a vague way about how I started on this book project in some earlier posts).

New Quote Journals

I designed a few new leather journals with quotes this week for my Etsy store. It's always fun to dig through my collection of quotes and clip art, plus the Oxford Dictionary of Quotes, and the Riverside Shakespeare, and ok, it's an excuse to sit and leaf through some of my favourite novels, too. I'm a sucker for those fat Victorian novels. There's nothing like spending an evening drinking tea and reading about the romantic and other entanglements of men with stiff collars and women in enormous dresses.

Speaking of which, one of my new designs is a Reader's Journal (pictured below), for people who share my addiction to books. It has a photo of a Victorian woman (in the aforementioned sort of dress) reading a book, along with a quote by Louise May Alcott:

"She is too fond of books,
and it has turned her brain."

That quote always makes me laugh, probably because it describes me too well....

I made another leather journal with a lovely poem by e e cummings:

"Here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)"

And a nature journal with a quote by John Muir:



And finally, a journal with a quote by Leonardo da Vinci ("The smallest feline is a masterpiece"), plus his sketch (not the original, alas) of a sleeping cat:

Little leather notebooks

I've been busy making lots of small leather notebooks for the local art gallery shop and for my Etsy store. I have a stash of really beautiful thin, shiny goatskin that seemed a bit too modern for my medieval style journals, and it's been sitting on the shelf, waiting patiently for me to grind through a few gears and figure out what to do with it.

I've been wanting to make some more smaller books (there's something really compelling about small book--I'm not quite sure why, but I just love little books.). So I came up with a pocket sized design that is traditional, but the stitching is simple and modern looking. The stitching pattern on the spine is sort of based on something called the "icicle stitch" in one of Keith Smith's books. You might call it a modified icicle. Or maybe slightly melted.

Moon Bindery, Here and There

Some excellent news this week--I entered one of my books (pictured above) in a book design competition held by The Bonefolder (a e-journal for bookbinders and book artists), and it was one of 25 books selected to be part of an online exhibition featured in the Fall, 2009 issue of The Bonefolder. If you'd like to see all the selected books, the fall issue is free and online now--You can find it here. The exhibition is called the Bind-O-Rama (page 54) .

Also, the Style Collective blog has kindly done a nice writeup about my books:

http://www.stylecollective.com.au/livingstyle.asp?idcontent=491

Ok, I'd better get back to work... :)