  I don’t know why cut paper sculptures, especially involving books, are so fascinating to me — maybe because I’m in awe that anyone could do that amount of hand cutting! The specimen to the right is called “De Baudelaire au Surréalisme” by Georgia Russell, an artist in Scotland. See a gallery of her work here.
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The upcoming issue of Ampersand includes Debbie Kogan’s profile of book artist Tamar Stone. She makes one-of-a-kind books using antique corsets, linens and beds as substrates, then embroiders them with original texts from women’s stories and writings (many from the 1800s). She says
Inspired by my own experiences [with wearing a brace to correct scoliosis as a teen-ager], my books capture moments in women’s lives when issues of appearance, self esteem and assimilation become paramount due to physical restrictions placed on the body, either by fashion or by medical necessity.
Her website is a treasure trove of photos of her work, and you can also read the texts she uses. Be sure to check it out. Below is a detail of one of her works, …to make her look her best (the White Corset Book) from 2002.
Detail of …to make her look her best (the White Corset Book) c. 2002
Antique Quilted Vest Corset, with bone buttons
Height: 10 1/2” (16” with shoulder straps)
Width closed: 11”
Width opened: 18 3/4”
One of the last metal type foundaries in the US is here in San Francisco — M&H Type — now part of the Arion Press. If you’re in the Bay Area you can tour the press and type foundary. Or, without leaving your chair, you can watch these videos… The first one is an overview of Arion and especially the printing and binding of their Lecturn Bible. In the second one, you get a glimpse of traditional lead typecasting and Monotype composition, as well as letterpress printing.
What a wonderful thing the web is! The Abbey Library of St. Gall (in St. Gallen, Switzerland) has been in continuous existence for over 1,200 years and houses a vast number of old manuscripts. But until recently the only way to see the books was to go to Switzerland. That is until they got a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to digitize, index and describe their holdings of 355 manuscripts produced before 1000 A.D. And they have generously put their gorgeous high resolution images on their website for anyone to study. No plane ticket required!
While there’s lots of info on the library website, here’s a nice overview article about the project from The New York Times.
Susan Scott designs and prints her own fabric then turns it into bookcloth that she sells in her Yardwork Etsy shop. (She also sells books covered with her fabric.) In her Etsy profile, she explains her printing process and says this about making bookcloth:
To begin with, the time-honored glue of choice, wheat paste, must be mixed with water and cooked either in a microwave or on the stove. The printed, dyed and washed fabric is then stretched out onto a pane of glass. A thin layer of acid-free wheat paste is brushed over the damp fabric and a very thin sheet of Japanese Mulberry paper, which is cut larger than the fabric, is carefully placed over it. The paper becomes very wet from the wheat paste and can be rolled onto the fabric with a rubber brayer. I allow the fabric and paper to dry on the window frame for around 24 hours. When completely dry, the paper edges are cut away to reveal the fabric edge. The paper and fabric is then easily pulled away from the glass as one combined piece of bookcloth.
Here in Northern California, February is always the coldest, wettest, most winter-y month. We certainly need all the rain we can get this year, as we’ll probably have water rationing by summer. To celebrate the last week of very wet stormy weather, I’m giving away a copy of my book Winter along with an instruction sheet for making the crown and blizzard binding (Winter uses the crown version of the binding). To enter the drawing, just put a comment on this post about what you like (or don’t like) about winter by Wednesday February 25. I’ll pick a random name and announce the winner on Thursday February 26.