Cadbury Research Library

I have not been able to blog much of the material that I have sourced during my research for the Winterbourne Project as I am only allowed to photograph for my own purposes. This has included the letters, diaries and photographs of the Nettlefold family in Winterbourne's own archives. Yesterday I visited the Cadbury Research Library at Birmingham University to look at their extensive collection of books published by William Morris's Kelmscott Press. Although it wasn't possible to photograph the books on this occasion I wanted to record my thoughts on seeing them 'in the flesh'. The images here are sourced from a google search.

What struck me most was the intensity of the ink, the beautiful texture of the handmade rag paper and the impression made on the back of each page by the relief print. The use of spot red was very noticeable throughout the books - a device used in religious books from previous centuries. The binding of the books was also of great interest to me. Many were encased in limp vellum with ribbon ties- again another technique inspired by medieval bookbinders.

 I also saw publications inspired by the Kelmscott Press. Arthur Gaskin, an artist and jewellery designer from Birmingham,  illustrated 'Good King Wenceslas' for Cornish Bros. of New Street.

Making more books

Having spent some time making more prints onto book cloth - experimenting with different coloured inks and cloths, I have been making up more books in various sizes.

 The larger ones are quite tricky to glue together and I need to keep trying to perfect my technique.

Moseley Dovecote Garden Concertina Book

I have made a sample concertina book with an recessed cover. The front cover was made by glueing two 1mm grey boards together. The top board had a square cut out to create the recess. The back board was made in the usual way with 2mm board. Both boards were covered with book cloth. I placed a wood engraved print into the recess.

I am using the concertina book to record the Dovecote Gardens through four seasons. The first drawing is a panoramic view of the garden as it is now in May.

I plan to repeat the drawing each season, continuing the panoramic view along the length of the book.

'The Improper Book'

Following on from 'The Proper Book' course that I attended last Autumn at Hot Bed Press, this weekend I went up to Manchester again to learn more about bookmaking techniques. 'The Improper Book' was run by Elizabeth Willow and we made several more unusual book forms.

A beak book is a very simply book form that is made from one sheet of paper.

A Trouser Book is another simply one sheet book but this time with a pamphlet stitched cover.

 A concertina or accordion book is a very adaptable book that can be made any length. It can be folded or opened out and displayed.

The most complex book we made was a triple accordion star or carousel book.

New Book Cover Prints

I have been working on a three colour lino print of birch catkins for a square format book. As I will want to produce a reasonable number of these if they are successful, I didn't want to use the reduction lino cut method, as this would mean loosing the block once the prints are finished. I therefore produced three separate blocks, one for each colour.

I drew the image onto the first lino and cut the parts that would be green.

Once this was done I offset the image in black onto two more lino blocks. I did this by printing the image onto acetate, then quickly printing the still wet acetate onto the new lino. This meant that the image was still the correct way round to cut the other two blocks.

I cut the second lino for the yellow sections of the image (above) and the third lino was cut for the brown sections (below).

I have produced some proof prints onto book cloth. The colours are not right yet, but I am getting better at the registration. Still some work to do though to get the image as I want it.

After removing some areas of the green lino around the twigs and catkins, I then reprinted onto different colour book cloth. Being happier with the results, I made up a sample book.

Lino printed book cloths

I have been experimenting with printing 3 colour lino cuts onto book cloth and then using them to cover hand made books.

I have interleaved good quality cartridge paper with tracing paper to create a 'printmaker's sketchbook'. I will give some of these away to friends to try out.