I have finished my book which took me on such
a wonderful wandering journey and taught me so much about working with a piece, being guided by it, being open to new ways of presenting it; and which gave me confidence in my intuition as an artist.
Each of the pages was printed with a map image, then folded in half and the cutouts or additions added. Unlike most books or pages that are folded in half; the fold is the fore edge here. This is because I thought that each page would have a cutout or two and I didn't want people to see the back of them. So I popped the back of the cutout inside the page so to speak.
That meant that in order to bind it, I had to treat each folded page as a single page and do a single sheet binding - altho each single sheet was in fact made of two. Not a great description but hopefully understandable. The folded fore edge meant that the book 'bowed' a bit - was narrower at the spine than at the fore edge, so I put a strip of extra paper at the stitching edge/spine to bulk that area up.
Towards completion,
Barry also suggested I 'seal' the top and bottom of the pages. I had originally thought I would leave them 'open' so that people could peak inside, but I am really glad I did seal them - they look more professional and finished.
The covers are more of Barry's handmade paper and the inner cover is made from a spare map sheet. Perfect. Here it is happy and proud.
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| ©Fiona Dempster - 2662(a) |
If you look carefully you can see the clean edge of the inserted paper sandwiched between the printed pages...
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| ©Fiona Dempster - 2662(a) stitching detail |
A couple of page spreads...
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| ©Fiona Dempster - 2662(a) page spread |
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| ©Fiona Dempster - 2662(a) page spread |
and the view from in front...
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| ©Fiona Dempster - 2662(a) |
I'll tell the story of the two most recent books soon...
This looks so beautiful and I love what you say about your process, of being guided by it and open to new ways. Congrats and thanks.
ReplyDeleteWOW! This is amazing. It's very professional not to mention beautiful.
ReplyDeleteSimply beautiful!
ReplyDeleteFull of mysterious journeys and anticipations of new horizons.
ReplyDeletevery nice Fiona ... clean, neat and crisp! it looks really sturdy too. i always have a problem with coptic binding in that, the cover and the pages slide up and down. i don't know if the thread i'm using is too thin and did not provide enough support as the spine or i've been sewing it wrong all this time ... your book looks really good!
ReplyDeleteoh, very very nice. i like the layering, and the sealed edges and the tidy presentation. this book is meant to be studied closely, i think.
ReplyDeleteNow that is a truly wonderful book.I have a large atlas in the studio, perhaps I could.........
ReplyDeleteyes, you could trace!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, perfectly executed, with the "Fiona" handwriting/style very well defined. Congratulations!!!
ReplyDeleteBrava! I like both the journey and arrival of this piece! It is so simple yet so full of detail and fine touches, and seems both unusual and utterly natural. Good work.
ReplyDeleteThank you again - for your time and your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteLiz - thanks for stopping by and for your congrats. It has been a wonderful process to experience.
Jane - thanks as ever!
Robyn - thank you - sometimes things work our right...
N - yes it allows for personal wanderings and ponderings I think.
Luthien - thank you - it is nice and sturdy because of the double pages I think. I agree re coptic stitching; it often feels loose to me. This is a single sheet binding which links back from each sheet to a previous page which makes it much stronger. Also - tough threads help (waxed linen is best I find).
Velma - Glad you like the sealed edges - it really does lift it to a higher standard than my initial approach!
Trace - oh yes, do explore the atlas and what it/you can do! Thanks for your comment.
Thank you Anna - I feel like these couple of books are really beginning to show 'me' - my style/signature/handwriting...
Gabriella/TT - Grazie mille! A good combination - the unusual and utterly natural (a great descriptor for a person too).
It looks beautiful and that binding is gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI got behind on the blogs again, alas and missed this post yesterday! What a fine finished book this is! Your description made perfect sense and so glad the journey was as interesting as the final piece! Congratulations on another beautiful piece!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Patti- I'm glad you could follow the description and enjoyed both the journey and the destination.
ReplyDelete