Stenciling and the Set of 6

I use stenciling as a (sometimes) quick method for decoration in various components of the binding design.  It is generally very successful and allows for clean design and a lot of control for the coloring method of your designs.  However, there are a few things that I have noticed when using stencils and most of these have occurred in one of my attempts at customized endpapers.  These end sheets are part of a set of 6 journals that I was commissioned to make. Every part was customized, starting with the end sheets. A few things that should be kept in…

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One Book Many Interpretations: Second Edition

As mentioned earlier, I submitted an entry for Chicago's, One Book Many Interpretations: Second Edition, exhibit. I rebound Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, which is a compilation of nine touching stories of Indian people either living in India or the United States. While I was out of the country a couple of weeks ago, coincidentally in India, I found out that my entry was accepted into the show! I searched high and low for a sewn copy of the book, but couldn't find one, so I made do with the adhesive binding. Each chapter in the book is its own…

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Paste Paper and Paste Cloth

If you have been in the book arts world even for the smallest amount of time, you have probably seen an array of paste paper and paste cloth.  It is a great decoration technique that gives the artist complete customizing ability with color and design. This is a material that I revisit often because of all of its benefits because its only limit is your imagination. I was first introduced to the wonders of paste cloth and its potential by Martha Cole during her presentation at the 2008 Guild of Book Workers Standards of Excellence. Her work is absolutely stunning…

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Read more about the article Silver, Salt, Screen
brushed salt and silver

Silver, Salt, Screen

Sunday, I participated in a workshop as part of the College Book Arts Association conference in Bloomington. The workshop was given by Amanda Lee, a graduate student at IU. We assembled in the printing studios on campus and got to work right away. We learned about the chemicals involved with the salt printing processes. It is important that these ratios are precise or the results will be affected. We required a solution of salt and a solution of silver to make the prints. In this instance, the salt was to be mixed with gelatin as opposed to the usual way…

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New Year Goals

Happy New Year Everyone! 2010 was a bit of a blur for me, but this year I hope to really get a hold of things. Aside from gaining more training through more intensive workshops, I would like to regain a bit of organization as I try to be more punctual with deadlines and doing a lot more preparation work for the various projects or events as they come up. I would also like to improve my creative process. There always comes a point in a project when I find myself scanning my brain for techniques I've used in the past…

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