Part way there

I’ve managed to move two projects further on

The 20:20 print exchange is half way through printing. The prints are drying under weights at the moment so posting pictures have to wait until later in the week.

And I’ve started on a book for the next meeting of the North West Book Artists. The theme is Tracks

I decided to use this as a reference to music tracks. Specifically those tracks that may not be your ideal choice of music but which take you back to a time and a place.

Tracks from my youth were on vinyl records so I started making a mock up based on circular pages.

I decided that the spine was too prominent in this version so I stitched it together. This has the advantage of making the structure circular.

Given that this will involve a lot of text I’m making the pages on the computer. Some are easily identifiable....

some more obscure.

20:20

I’ve signed up for the 20:20 print exchange at Hot Bed. I missed lasts years exchange because I left it all until the last minute and the collagraph printing plate fell apart after eight prints.

This year I’m starting earlier and I think I’ll use a more robust plate. I’ve been etching.

A deep bite on top of a failed plate from a few months ago. I wish I could reproduce that texture.

 An attempt at etching zinc without an aquatint. I wanted a deep bite bit with not much tone so I could try viscosity etching. 

The plate didn’t behave as I expected and the etch wasn’t deep enough.

 I  reproduced the composition on aluminium so I can play with it more.

I’m going to try colour inking on this plate and I think I might try another plate developed from this composition incorporating text.

Finally Finished

I’ve finally finished “Voices from the Lockout”

I had been intending to make a box covered with white cotton book cloth to house it in but decided instead to make a wrap out of recycled cotton cloth. I thought that the mills girls would probably carry their sewing wrapped in a similar fashion in order to keep it clean. 

My husband turned the scroll rods for me. The ends reference cotton bobbins from the mills.

This weekend I’ve also been to the September meeting of the North West Book Artists. We made miniature fishbone books and discussed future projects. There was a train strike and it turned into a bit of a trek getting back but it was worth it. It’s good to meet and share with other book makers. 

I also spotted an interesting book structure whilst browsing pinterest. I can’t find it again but I think it was called an Australian reverse piano hinge binding and I think it was credited to Alisa Golden (if I’ve got that wrong I appologise). I had a go at making it using some gelliprints I made last summer. 

The double spreads are cut in the middle of the centre fold and put over the mountain folds of an accordian pleated spine. They are locked in place with a strip of paper pushed through the accordian pleat.

 I like this structure. I'm thinking of adapting it for one of the NWBA projects. 

(I have no idea what blogger is doing to my font sizes!)