Bookmaking, Playing and Construction

After demonstrating lots of basic skills and a few need to know points like paper grain direction everyone created some wonderful experimental small books.
 

Inspired by the artist Jenny Smith I have been making 30 minute books as part of my practice. We decided to incorporate this within the workshop.  Although this was initially met with some protest of pressure I explained that this was like a mini deadline and the pressure encourages a dive into creation and an immediate engagement with process and materials that blocks out too much thinking.

 

 

The work is continuing with our book collaboration and I am amazed, given our non inspiring (to us) objects, at the prints we have created from a spoon and a glove.  We have designed the cover for the book which will flip open, to reveal an image of the two objects that have inspired the contents.  

Madeleines' print evolved through consideration of the absence of the objects

Moira embossed and monoprinted the objects, still work in progress....

And I have been busy with the cover images ...more photos to follow

We are now in the process of creating the cover and spine and hopefully will get most of it finished before Madeleines' return to Quebec

Workshops

Madeleine and I have just completed facilitating our first polyester lithographic workshop together.  This was an introduction to the wonderful world of lithography without stones.  You can even print the plates without a press using a baren or spoon.  Everyone enjoyed the immediacy of this direct process.. 

 

Paper Casting with Master Paper Maker Alison Newman
http://www.paperartsworkshop.co.uk/

Two days later and we have moulded cotton linters pulp into our casts.  Madeleines box plaster cast was a huge challenge to open but we all took part in its separation and eventually prised it apart.  We spent the whole day tapping, slapping and sponging and now have to wait one or two weeks for the moulds and paper to thoroughly dry out before we see the results.  

opening the box mould

 the box mould still refusing to open

 the box mould open

A sheet of pulp teased into shape ready to lay in the mould

 

The pulp has been pressed into each of these moulds and is now ready to be bolted together to create the final object

 

 The six stone mould covered with pulp which now has to be gently pressed into the cavities

 This is now complete and ready to be left to dry

 The object moulds all bolted together for fusing.  All we have to do now is wait!

Mould Making with Master Caster Stephanie Spindler

Casting stones, shells and boxes in plaster at Pulp Studios run by Alison Newman.

Madeleine wanted to learn paper casting to develop and extend her practice within book making, including objects and moulded boxes.  For myself the challenge is to find ways of taking my practice outside in nature and I see the paper casting process has great potential for this

So now the plaster casts are ready for us to use  tomorrow, I love the cast of the six stones above and can't wait to see what the sheet of paper moulded in this will look like.

The Great Collision ...Quebec and Glasgow UK 

It is an exciting time for me I am collaborating with the wonderful visual artist Madeleine Samson from Quebec City.  She is here staying with me for 5 weeks.  We are now in our 4^th week and we have been gathering source material from the beach at Dunure and Glasgow city in order to create some artists books and making small maquettes for our books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have been taking raw image photographs using Madeleine’s close up lens on her Nikon camera which unfortunately my Mac does not have the software to recognise … so whilst we sort out that hitch I will carry on regardless.

We spent last week in Wales continuing our search for imagery on Conwy Morfa and West shore Llanduno and the amazingly spooky quarry at Nantlle in Snowdonia.  The car was full to the brim on our return to Glasgow

The quarry at Nantlle

We now have a very full two weeks work ahead.  Yesterday we started a book collaboration with another Glasgow artist, Moira Buchanan.  So far it has been a very democratic experience.  We decided as time was precious that we would choose objects in my studio as a starting point and inspiration for our book. 

We all agreed that we needed to work outside our comfort zone to make it a challenging experience.  So we each selected two objects, one that we would naturally been drawn to work with and one that we would not dream of working with. 
  

We narrowed down the choice with a vote of 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd choice and ended up with this. 

 Although we took it very seriously I have to say that this was quite an hilarious part of the process.  We have ended up with two items that we all find extremely challenging to work with and is really going to push the boundaries.

 

 

 In between all this we managed to visit the exhibition 'The First Cut' at Manchester City Art Gallery, what a fabulous show of international work

Nicola Dale's work

We were at Manchester Artists Book Fair and the conference, Collaboration and the Democracy of Bookarts