March 2013
1 post
Big News
I have decided to cease trading at the end of this year!
This year has many events that will be my last.
WEST DEAN College June 21 - 23 - my final Marbling Course -
ART in ACTION July 18 - 21
Oxford Summer School July 29 - August 3
Herefordshire Art Week (H-Art) September 7 -15
Throughout the year I have marbling and bookbinding courses here at Presteigne and at The Grange. I shall...
January 2013
1 post
a hand written World Record
January 13th 2013
Last year I was contacted by Nick Dubois asking me if I could supply a book for a project based at the South Bank in London in connection with the up coming Olympics. After a long discussion about what might be suitable and an explanation of the original idea for the book I had made (see the Laurence Sterne entries below) this little book winged its way to London and a very...
December 2012
2 posts
Scrooge McDuck
Another on Boxing Day 2012
Scrooge McDuck came into our lives a few Christmas’s ago acquired from Andy at Courtyard Antiques in Presteigne. He unfortunately had a poorly foot which has now been operated on and is healing really well. He is able to put all his weight on the foot at last. We are waiting until a future date to finish off the cosmetic surgery, not that he will need...
End of 2012 news...very belated
Boxing Day 2012
Majorie’s daughter, Martha, when she came to visit us soon after we moved here to Presteigne in 1990, took a photograph of one of the first production runs of marbling that was possible in the undecorated bathroom. I know it isn’t a very informative picture but it sure does bring back memories of using pure pigments and gouache which since 1991 I haven’t used at...
August 2012
1 post
UP & DOWN 10th August 2012
Sunday last was out Ruby Wedding Anniversary. We had a lovely happy celebration with friends and the Sun. Thank you to all who came.
Tuesday Mig died, we put her to rest next to Barley under the Rowan. She had had a good day previously and thoroughly enjoyed Sunday hoovering up the tit-bits and saying hello to everyone. 14 and a half is good age and she certainly lived her life to the full.
...
July 2012
3 posts
Latest Evening Class work by Anita...and the new...
This is Anita’s latest creation, a non-adhesive binding without kettle stitches. The materials are interesting…Magnani broad laid paper for the pages, Colorplan burnt orange for the cover (sadly this paper is now discontinued), Harmatan fine goat together with some 19th century legal document vellum for the tapes and all sewn together with silk thread.
Anita has decided to make...
The Grange Open Day. 30th June 2012
Kris arrived in Presteigne at 7:25 and we were off by half past. Managed to get up the A49 quickly before the main daily traffic started and was ready and able after a welcome mug of coffee by 9:10. (The previous day had been a nightmare with a closed bridge at Leintwardine and silly faulty traffic lights in Craven Arms.) The day was very lively and a constant stream of visitors came through...
Latest Student work 2nd July 2012
On Thursday last Anne continued with her tooling practice. She is in the process of making a couple of sets of paper sample books of hand made papers from Ruscombe Mill. As she is a book designer as well as craft bookbinder she is very particular about the covers of these books. They will be covered in quarter calf and different hand made papers. Anne decided on blind tooling rather than gold...
June 2012
2 posts
Latest Student work completed. 27th June 2012.
On Monday nights I hold an evening class for bookbinders. Sue has been attending for a few years now and this year tackled the “big” book.
It is the National Holy Bible (circa 1890s). The condition was not good and long hours were spent cleaning before commencing on the forwarding. The state of the leather around the spine and board joints was very poor so rebacking was in...
Open Studio/Bindery/Printshop/Book Arts at The...
The Grange is having its first Book Arts Open Day.
Kris, Marion and I will be there looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible.
Kris will be marbling, please come and have a look at what she can do now, she has become a really good marbler. Marion will be sewing at least four different styles. I will be showing as many different repair techniques, casing and covering styles,...
April 2012
1 post
April 20th 2012 and "The Cats of Copenhagen" job...
The week after Easter saw the despatch of the final bound copies of The Cats of Copenhagen to the Ithys Press in Ireland.
It has been a full-on busy two months since the printed sheets came from Paris in two deliveries by Michael Caine (the Printer). This is him with the first delivery.
Each time he had two suitcases full, each weighing in at about 24kilos! Two days before the first batch...
February 2012
2 posts
The most beautiful anonymous project ever
Saturday 4th February 2012
Adam sent me an email with this link, go on, have a look, it is wonderful.
http://thisiscentralstation.com/featured/mysterious-paper-sculptures/
February 1st 2012 NEW...
At long last the newly discovered James Joyce story called “The Cats of Copenhagen” has been published. The previous posting shows the marbling and the slip cases in production. Have a look at The Ithys Press website for full details and good write ups about Michael Caine - the printer and Casey Sorrow - the artist and me.
Have a look at http://ithyspress.com
The...
January 2012
1 post
January 2012
Before Christmas 30 slip cases with their accompanying marbled paper wrappers and undercard covers were created for the deluxe edition of a book being published by the Ithys Press in Dublin. As yet I am not at liberty to say what the book title is due to copyright issues but I can show you some of the finished work. The marbling is on Wibalin Blue (Winter & Co) and is copper, silver and...
December 2011
1 post
Course updates for the time being.
Here is an immediate list of the courses I am teaching this year, if you require more detail go to COURSES in my website…
COURSES AT PRESTEIGNE 2012
JANUARY 28 - 29TH PAPER MARBLING
FEBRUARY 25 – 26TH PAPER & FABRIC MARBLING
MARCH 10 – 11TH PAPER MARBLING
MARCH 24 – 25TH BOOKBINDING (for beginners and experienced binders)
APRIL 14 – 15TH PAPER & FABRIC MARBLING
APRIL 28 –...
October 2011
1 post
31st October 2011.The Grange and Shandy Hall.
At last I have arrived back after a busy, very intense fortnight teaching away from home. It started with a attack by a sheep dog upon Mig, a nasty bite on her tummy with bad bruising. A trip to the vet to be stitched up and given a full course of antibiotics. At the same time as Mig’s trauma the water went off because we had a mains leak in the cellar, so no water for two days when I need...
September 2011
6 posts
Sarah's Visit - September 21st
Sarah, who has worked with me for 11 years before she moved to Australia last year, has been to visit the Bindery today. Kris was working and Lucy and Anne popped in too to get all the news.
We were able to see lots of photos of S’s house and garden, more a field, where she has planted grapefruit, lemon, orange, lots of other fruits and ornamental trees. The hydropnics is a brilliant...
Have a look at the other blogs on the right.
The History of England postings are continuing and needed their own page, click on the button to see the latest findings and pictures.
The other blog has gentle reports of my courses as well as a chance for me to show the skills and end products that come from the courses. The students have very kindly allowed me to use images of themselves.
TO GET BACK TO THE MAIN BLOG CLICK ON THE IMAGE OF...
h-Art week...open studios
Nine days of delightfully interested people…
THANK YOU to everyone who visited us…
New Product
The Rives Artist paper that I use to make my dumpy marbled edged journals is no longer available so these and another twenty or so are probably all I shall ever be able to make. This lot were finished last week and I call them my Harlequin range as they have 5 different marbles, 5 different bookcloths, 2 different cap bands and a register (bookmark) that doesn’t match. They are rather...
Whittington Press open day 3rd September 2011
John and Rose Randle again invited me to attend and demonstrate marbling at the Whittington Press open day at the Whittington Summer Show. The first Saturday in September is the date to remember. We were blessed with a dry day if a little windy, not the kindest of weather for marbling out doors. A few of the people I met were the Peter Allen, John Purcell, Dennis from Gloucester, and many...
The 250th Birthday of volumes 3 & 4 of Tristram...
Laurence Sterne’s novel, Tristram Shandy is celebrating it’s 250th birthday, or parts of it anyway. Two years ago, Volume 1 and the black page and this year, volumes 3 and 4 and page 169 in volume 3, are celebrating their 250th too. The marbled page, a hand printed piece of marbling, was created for Sterne on each page 169 to represent his style of writing, a random and unique...
August 2011
2 posts
Jane's Address Book
In previous postings mention has been made of Jane, one of my evening class students, who has been making a address book from scratch. She started by marbling her own piece of Aero-linen for the covering material and proceeded to sewing the bookblock and deciding not to round and back it, thus giving it a square spine. This enables the book to open completely flat for ease of writing. I have...
August 2011
A research and development job came in that took rather a long time. Three different sized game books for a well known gunsmith. The marbling brief was “pheasant” so I was able to finish up with two for the customer, “male pheasant” and “female pheasant”. A good excuse to use a lovely orange Zerkal Ingres paper.
Kris has made her third wedding book for...
February 2011
1 post
"Typo"
Whilst disbinding and cleaning a 3 volume set of “1001 nights entertainments” of 1841 I came across a lovely “typo”…
December 2010
1 post
In the first edition of “The Whole Art of Marbling” by C. W. Woolnough, 1851, are four examples of marbled cloth suitable for use in binding books. This is the Non-Pariel sample.
These are examples of my version of Bookcloth Marbling. I have used Drafting Cloth, sometimes called Drawing Linen, a very fine and sized linen used by architects and engineers for their plans and diagrams.
These...
