Artists' Books Bookbinding Papercraft Calligraphy
Volume 6, Numb er 3 $8.50
ARTISTS’ BOOKS BOOKBINDING PAPERCRAFT CALLIGRAPHY Volume 6, Number 3
2 Mary’s Star Book. Mary Conley FRONT COVER 4 We Love Your Books: ABC Exhibition 2007. Emma Powell with Melanie Bush Clockwise, from top left: Miniature Metal Book. Gennady Safronov. 8 Works on Paper. John Cutrone and Seth Thompson His miniature metal books are solely 10 Ruling Pen Basics. Matthew Coffin handcrafted; a skill that requires incredible patitence and attention to detail. 12 On Your Own Terms. Photo by Evgeny Abramenko. 14 Mobile Books. Florence Miller “Small Books, Large Talent: Miniature Metal Books,”page 30. 16 Hidden Bookbinding Cloths. Catherine Burkhard 17 Calligraphy and Handmade Paper: Equally Beautiful When Sea Laps Land. Ann Alaia Woods. Charcoal/graphite pencil on handmade 20 American Fine Bindings: Book of Origins paper. Suminagashi on Asian brush 24 Eugenie Torgerson: Thinking Outside the Box. Eugenie Torgerson calligraphy paper embedded in handmade abaca paper. 2007. 8" x 10". 26 Exchange of Ideas. Julie Gray “Calligraphy and Handmade Paper: 30 Small Books, Large Talent: Miniature Metal Books. Yana Safronova Equally Beautiful,”page 17.
32 Quilted Books? John Cutrone Tool Room Box and Journal. 33 Pocket Full of Surprises. Pat Pleacher Eugenie Torgerson. Lidded box holds artist’s journal. Binder’s board, cloth, paper, glass, 34 WWC Painted Books. Annie Cicale hardware, original digital illustrations. 38 First Class Mail. Debra Glanz 13" x 10" x 4". Photo by Bukva Imaging Group. 39 Teeny Tiny Cards. Jane LaFerla. BOOK REVIEW by Rona Chumbook “Eugenue Torgerson: 40 The Monument to Ephemeral Facts. Douglas Holleley Thinking Outside the Box,”page 24. 41 Subscription information 42 Magazine information BACK COVER Top to bottom: 43 Contributors / Credits Dolmades. Ashley Ioakamides. watercolor and graphite on Lanaquarelle 90# CP,Pilot Parallel pen. Photo by Annie Cicale. “WWC Painted Books,”page 34. CORRECTIONS. Bound & Lettered exists send me an e-mail at Eugenie Togerson’s name is misspelled on Sit at Cafes. Annie Cicale. Photo by Annie thanks to its readers and sub- [email protected]. the caption for Year of Days,on the scribers.What makes Bound & We are always looking for new inside back cover of 6.2. Cicale.“Exchange of Ideas,”page 26. Lettered different from many ideas from expert and novice other magazines, however, is its bookbinders, book artists, and In the previous issue, (6.2) we neglected to mention that Victoria Lee was the reliance on its readers for article calligraphers. Bound & Lettered photographer for the “Kalligraphia” arti- ideas and submissions.We want is a partnership between its cle.You can contact her through e-mail to hear from you! If you have editors and its readers. Let’s work at [email protected] developed a how-to project, together to make sure talented organized an exhibition, or creat- artists gain the recognition that ed a piece that you feel deserves they deserve. recognition in Bound & Lettered, –Paul McNeill, editor RULING PEN BASICS BY MATTHEW COFFIN
Traditionally, drafting rul- Adjusting your ing pens have been used to rule ruling pen lines of varying thickness on blade gap mechanical drawings or illus- trations. In the 20th century, Hold the pen so lettering artists discovered that your index finger these ruling pens while explor- presses against the mechanical screw ing options for creating expres- Holding the pen with the barrel above the palm of the hand. sive lettering.Artists soon head (bottom of the viscous inks require a much almost up to the thumb screw. learned that they could create nib), while the thumb and fin- wider blade gap.Experiment with This depth allows ink to flow dramatic letterforms with the gers grasp the pen barrel. Make pen and ink and you’ll discover between the blades (where they pens. These drafting and tradi- sure you can clearly see the all you’ll need to know about separate) and fill the reservoir. tional ruling pens were not well blade gap.With the opposite proper blade gap adjustment. Once the ink fills the reservoir, suited for calligraphic lettering, hand turn the adjustment nut remove the nib and dab clean therefore they needed to be either clockwise or counter- Filling your ruling pen the top and bottom nib sur- redesigned for calligraphic pur- clockwise to close or open the There are two main ways to faces. I use paper towels or toi- poses. The shape of the ruling blade gap. The appropriate fill the pens: 1) dipping let paper to clean nib surfaces. pen changed dramatically, blade gap depends on the 2) eyedropper or syringe filling. Another simple way of remov- quickly taking the form that we thickness or viscosity of the ink Dipping is simple and easy. ing excess ink from the nib sur- find today.Gottfried Pott, a that you want to use. Thinner, You’ll need an inkwell with a faces is to touch the surface of German calligrapher, was instru- free-flowing inks work best mouth wide enough to fit the the nib to the mouth of the mental in this transformation. with narrow blade gaps nib and thumbscrew. The inkwell. Even though the nib Calligraphic ruling pens (approximately the thickness of inkwell also must be deep surfaces may still have ink on create thick or thin strokes by a piece of standard writing enough for the nib to submerge them, this will remove excess tilting the nib relative to the paper), while thicker, more that could drip off during nor- writing surface. Thin strokes mal lettering.A gentle touch will are written with the pointed tip do the job. Please be sure to not of the nib, while thick strokes touch the writing edge when come from the wide edge. How removing excess ink! you hold the pen is important Eyedropper or syringe fill- because it determines how eas- ing keeps ink from getting on ily the pen can be tilted, and the nib surfaces, but this tech- the ease of tilting determines nique requires extra equipment the ease of changing the and cleanup. Squeeze ink into stroke’s width. In addition, the space where the nibs sepa- hand and finger muscles must rate until ink is visible in the be relaxed; otherwise tension pen reservoir. If the blade gap is creeps in and restricts hand set correctly for the type of ink and arm movement. If you like you are using, ink should not to create very rough-edged drip from the pen as the pen is lines, the pen must be extreme- filled. Overfilling can cause the ly tilted on its edge close to ink to spill onto the outer sur- where the blades separate. face. If this happens, clean the nib surfaces. Showing the proper hand position to adjust the blade gap. It is possible to achieve Rotate clockwise to close. Rotate counterclockwise to open. 10 BOUND & LETTERED EXCHANGE OF IDEAS BY JULIE GRAY PHOTOS BY ANNIE CICALE
In November 2006,Virginia Meltzer served as host to a cre- ative and exciting idea. Nine book artists from different backgrounds exchanged hand- made books. The idea seems simple on the surface, but the variances of the artists’ experi- ences, training, talents, and modes of expression made for wonderful interactions & result- ed in handmade books that the artists will always treasure. There was no theme to the books, adding great diversity to the pieces. Some of the artists never met in person. Some, however, were very close friends.What they all have in common is a love of bookmak- ing. This passion will keep The Journey by Elizabeth Simmonds.“Text is very important to me, so I chose to make a T.S. Eliot quote them tightly bound forever. as the central theme of the book. I ran the quote across all the pages of my accordion text. I decided on gel pens and a simple monoline hand to help with the text’s readability.”
Linocut Printmaking by Arlene Lane. Leather spine and binding make up the structure. Pages made from Davey board mounted with hand printed Linocuts printed on handmade paper with inclusions using Speedball water-soluble green ink.
26 BOUND & LETTERED