My book Starry Starry Night suffered an injury as it was being packed up from the Pas de Deux exhibition.
It is never nice news too hear that one of your pieces has been injured, and given this book was based on a reduction lino print, I really really hoped it wasn't hurt too much, because as is the want with reduction lino printing, the block had been destroyed on the way through.
In some ways, the damage was minimal - it had been a bit bent and crushed and then torn. No damage to the actual artworks involved as such, but a delicate operation needed to restore it to its former self. The main issue being that the tear was about 8cm long, and along a fold that was critical to the concertina nature of the book. It has also torn across the page a bit, which would be easier to repair.
Barry and I worked on it together - two heads and two lots of ideas being better than one I figured.
The original tear from a few angles.
First of all we tried to iron some of the dents and creases out. Worked OK.
Then we tested a couple of glues with some black Japanese tissue type paper to see how they would go as backing for the fold. It was the torn fold that worried me most - so we decided to use these strips of black along the height of the fold to create a hinge from behind.
And so the first job on the book was to glue down the flap that had been torn/lifted.
And then we adhered the strips to the back. The second fold had a small tear at the top as well, but we reinforced the length of the fold for strength and so they looked tidier.
And then the job was done. And the book folds up well and you can hardly tell from the front at all. For some unknown reason I didn't take many photos of the finished product - here it is before the final fold was tidied up.
There are signs that it has been mended, but the integrity of the book still holds, as does the reading of it and the turning of the pages. Big relief.
It is never nice news too hear that one of your pieces has been injured, and given this book was based on a reduction lino print, I really really hoped it wasn't hurt too much, because as is the want with reduction lino printing, the block had been destroyed on the way through.
In some ways, the damage was minimal - it had been a bit bent and crushed and then torn. No damage to the actual artworks involved as such, but a delicate operation needed to restore it to its former self. The main issue being that the tear was about 8cm long, and along a fold that was critical to the concertina nature of the book. It has also torn across the page a bit, which would be easier to repair.
Barry and I worked on it together - two heads and two lots of ideas being better than one I figured.
The original tear from a few angles.
First of all we tried to iron some of the dents and creases out. Worked OK.
Then we tested a couple of glues with some black Japanese tissue type paper to see how they would go as backing for the fold. It was the torn fold that worried me most - so we decided to use these strips of black along the height of the fold to create a hinge from behind.
And so the first job on the book was to glue down the flap that had been torn/lifted.
And then we adhered the strips to the back. The second fold had a small tear at the top as well, but we reinforced the length of the fold for strength and so they looked tidier.
And then the job was done. And the book folds up well and you can hardly tell from the front at all. For some unknown reason I didn't take many photos of the finished product - here it is before the final fold was tidied up.
There are signs that it has been mended, but the integrity of the book still holds, as does the reading of it and the turning of the pages. Big relief.
