Small steps making books

 The small steps needing to be taken along the way of this small edition are happening. Slowly. I am making a book about silences, and it is hard to come up with thinking and thoughts and design ideas that support silence and make the book feel silent in a way. It's an interesting struggle.

I was testing out a couple of white pens here, to see how they performed on the chosen cover paper.

And then seeing how they perform on the white Magnani Map paper for the inside pages. White on white can be hard to get right, but this gel pen feels close to what I am trying to achieve.

And so I spent more time in the studio today cutting pages. I am now up to 200 sheets ready to become folios and pages. Only 125 to go. Spending extended periods of time bent over cutting and trimming paper isn't great for your back, so I stopped after a while and turned my mind to how the words might print.

I will try to set up a chase so that all I have to do is slip the text in and out whilst the remainder of the furniture and leading stays in place for easy printing. Hopefully as easily done as said!

And so I began setting the first silence.

Either I grabbed the wrong letter or I had put it in the wrong part of the case, but this is why we proof!

Got it right this time I think.

Now I am thinking about the spacing between the words, and the lines and wondering if they all need to breathe a bit more. A problem for later in the week!

It has felt like Spring on more days than not this week, and the flowers are beginning to really burst in the garden, and in the house...