I would not describe myself as a bookbinder, but I do make hardcover books that are bound. I am always proud of a book that leaves my hands. I make many blank books for drawing, guest books, and journaling using a variety of beautiful handmade, mould-made, and machine-made papers. I have a deep belief in good craftsmanship and love what is beautiful, useful, and surprising. I have to fit in my photography, lettering, and gardening........somehow it all goes together. So, maybe I won't ever get to the land of the Incas (my secret romantic and adventurous dream) but in the meantime, I'll be content and happy and grateful I can do these things.
The paper and binding: A little history about the book and paper used. The binding is called a FROST BINDING or CASE BINDING. It is a binding with sewn boards rediscovered & reworked by Gary Frost via Barbara Tetenbaum and Walter Tisdale. The handmade paper in this journal was made for the Library of Congress and is the tested conservation paper from MacGregor and Vinzani Papermakers in Whiting, Maine. It has a pH of 7.6 after aging, very good tear resist, and is very lightfast (some of the testing the Library does for anything it uses). In 1990, MacGregor and Vinzani Papermakers were one of six papermills from the US and Europe selected by the Library to contract paper for their extensive repair projects. They also make other papers as well for this sort of work. Some of the general attributes of this paper can be found in the recently published The Book of Fine Paper by Silvie Turner, produced by Thames and Hudson.
The fiber is a blend of muslin rag and flax, and is the result of extensive trial and error in their shop. It has a calcium carbonate buffer added to the pulp, and is colored with pigment and natural fiber color. Since 1990, the paper has been used by many institutions in their conservation labs. It is sized with an internal sizing. The paper is excellent for a drawing and writing surface and embosses beautifully! The combination of muslin and flax makes a pretty tough surface, so repeated rubbing either with a dry medium or an eraser should be OK. During his early training as a sheet former and beaterman at Twinrocker Paper, Bernie Vinzani started collecting and studying old European and Islamic papers from the 15th through 17th centuries. This was the "golden age" of fine papermaking. Many of these sheets are still in very good condition and it is from this material and historical primary sources that he learned how to make an archival sheet. As in any craft, the formula for producing a quality product is in the attention to detail, getting to know your equipment as second nature, and in listening to your own intuitions.
Hand embossing - The book cover is Stonehenge and I protected it with Renaissance wax from Talas. The embossing looks a tad softer because of the wax.
This is my desert book - Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, NM. The black paper covering the inside the box reflects the night sky. The book cover is Stonehenge and I protected it with Renaissance wax from Talas. The embossing looks a tad softer because of the wax.
This is a small piece of Ray Tomasso's beautiful handmade sheets. He was a papermaker making paper two miles above sea level at an 1860's historic reenactment in Leadville, Colorado, 1984. Inter-Ocean Curiosity Studio. I have used and have a lot of his paper. The chop is my Indian name, Green Prairie, a special name given to me by a special young man back in 1970s. Mark Vezzola my facebook friend now. This is my Chinese chop with my Indian name - Green Prairie. I love the way it was presented with the Chinese characters.
Embossed
Back in my ultra-perfectionist days, 30 years ago, I created many wedding books. Here is a page of a letter net, as Nancy Leavitt called them, where I had made a mistake and left a letter out. So I scrapped the whole thing and did it over.
I embossed the letter net on a beautiful sheet of handmade paper by Ray Tomasso. The paper appears very dark. I can’t seem to get a nice white paper with my iPhone - it must be due to while balance which I can not figure out on the iPhone. Then after I placed it on a page of the wedding book with dried flowers as it would appear in the next attempt with the correction. It's tough being a perfectionist (you get to do a lot of work over and over) but I have overcome that now.