Working on books (summer school)

The final day - people fit in a few last-minute projects -Set up for display (the calm that follows chaos!) -



and being admired by visitors from other classes -

Along the Oxford Canal

Interventions, Allens Lock, Oxford Canal

Making books (summer school) - 6

At the end of the course I had half a dozen books about crayons, colours of crayons -
Among the crayons that I borrowed from the playgroup box was one in a wrapper - I copied it, actual size, to make a stamp, using both sides of an eraser, then had to figure out how to use it. Writing is tricky - it can so easily be backwards or upside-down -The end products include these two books in their slipcovers -
The larger one, the first I made, consists of a single section with alternate pages coloured with the wax crayons. The colours weren't as intense as I would have liked, but ironing the pages at least got rid of the flakes of coloured wax that otherwise would have smudged everywhere -
The story behind this book is that when you have a new box of crayons at the start of the school year, some colours are very appealing and get used first, or get used most - the nice bright ones, in my experience - and by the time the school year ends the crayons are well-used but some colours are hardly used, usually purples and browns and other dull colours.
So as you go through the book, the crayons get fewer (and if I'd had other colours, the colours would have got duller) - until only the least favourite is left. (Orange was the closest I had to brown.)
I wasn't happy with the obviousness of the alternating coloured pages, and soon thought of how to overcome this - a zigzag book. But first some more playing around with stamps and colours. Scoring the paper before colouring it leaves white lines ... could be useful ...
Making the zigzag book involved colouring alternate pages that would be hidden, just about, when the book was bound -Some of the colours show through the cutouts; others are stamped on (mixing colours from stamp pads) -
Again, the number of crayons gets fewer as you go further through the book -
The blizzard book structure opened further possibilities. This one is 10cm tall and has the crayons printed on, and cut through, cartridge. (You can see how the covers tuck into the spine.)

Between the plain pages are others that have been coloured with watercolour pencils, also from the bargain bin that yielded the glorious yellow bookcloth -
The back of the yellow inserted page, for instance, is coloured fuchsia - you can see it reflecting on the subsequent white page.

The other fuchsia page is on a separate sheet, with a different colour on the other side. You can see how they fit into the spine -
Unless you plan ahead you may find the spine showing through the cut-outs -
Two books use tracing paper - both are a double version of the cut-through (origami) book. I like how you can see the different layers -and the double-doors format is ok, but the other structure is a bit awkward -
This one uses different types of mark making/colouring -
I put the crayons any old where; if they had been carefully placed, the overlapping of the layers could have worked in an interesting way. Something for next time!

One of the smallest books, and the last one I made at the workshop, is my favourite. Each page is very simple, and the story is of the colours of crayons -the crayon colours are cut-throughs -
and inside are different kinds of mark-making -
When you hold it like an "ordinary" book, the pages feel a bit floppy and then fall out, inviting you to look "inside", and you discover the other story, that of the marks.

Another of the blizzard spines, one of the larger ones, has folded pages of tracing paper that hold my "notes" and experiments, and also the stencils used for cutting
I loved working with the bright colours - and reminiscing about the joys of new boxes of crayons at the start of the school year. Was the golden yellow in the 16-crayon box of Crayolas, or did you have to splurge for the 32-crayon box to get it? And wasn't it great when you could get silver and gold ... were those in the 64-crayon extravaganza box?

Next step is to buy some Crayolas and see if their colours are more intense, and perhaps to play with scale.

Picasso on Britannia Street

The current exhibition at Gagosian gallery, near Kings Cross, is "Picasso - the Mediterranean Years" - on till 28 August and very worth a visit.The gallery is in a yet-to-be-developed part of town - it's in an old warehouse and this dilapidated parking lot is across the street -
But there's lots of room inside and the low-lit rooms are invigilated by tall young men in suits with earpieces.

I was intrigued by the 2D (just about) works that weren't paintings - an almost-flat sculpture made of two sheets of metal, and the paper cut-outs, slightly folded, of birds, bull and toreador, faces -
You can just about see these in the display on the left (photo is from gallery's website) -
I might have to go back, not just to see the exhibition again, but to buy this poster -

Rescued (summer school)

After I went round various classes (at coffee time) peering in the bins for "bits of inspiration", people in the printmaking class started bringing me offcuts. Apart from playing with layout, I haven't done anything with these yet -
The pastels class was in the Orangery, so I didn't get to snoop in their bins till the final day - and found all these offcuts from their pads of paper -
They go together very easily - might end up as a book cover - or a printing block. Another bundle of thin strips might become a little "catalan platter" to sit within a little box - or it might stay as an idea waiting to happen.

Making books (summer school) - 5

I took with me to the class some starch-resist fabrics made years and years ago, intending to use them for covers....something to be getting on with, if inspiration failed. I did make these two - the lighter one has a slipcase. Both are zigzag books.
Underneath is a heap of greyboard cut for covers. I have lots of the fabric left, in samples of various sizes, and have started using it up at home -I haven't timed how long it takes to make a pair of covers, but it does take quite a while, drying time aside. (Instead of a nipping press I'm using piles of books - they do the job.)

The idea is to use the covers for either zigzag books or for coptic bindings - one day ...

Making books (summer school) - 4

This structure is called the "blizzard book" and it's folded out of a long piece of paper. A big sheet of thin Japanese paper (costing £2.25) made 7 books of various sizes. The largest uses half the sheet and ended up about 7" high. The folded triangles hold the sheets of paper, and covers can tuck into the spine.

I used a couple of the small spines for some of the "crayon" books, putting coloured paper between blank pages -
It's called the blizzard book because it was created by Hedi Kyle one morning when she couldn't get to work because of a blizzard. Instructions for making one with fewer pages and a different kind of cover are here; instructions for the 16 fold version (8 "openings") are here.

Quote for the day - Cynics

"A cynic is a passionate person who doesn't want to be disappointed again." - Benjamin Zander

William de Morgan tiles

Until last year there was a De Morgan museum in Wandsworth - being away from the centre of town, it didn't get many visitors and then lost its lease and is now looking for a new home. So I missed the chance of seeing his ceramics and the paintings of his wife Evelyn. Hopefully they'll find new premises soon.

William de Morgan (1839-1917) was the most important ceramic artist of the Arts and Crafts movement. Here's a sampling of his tiles - the V&A has many of his ceramics, especially lustreware, in its collection.


See many more here.