rainy + cold = perfect day for making books!

the photo collection. I just love these images. I am not sure how/if they will be incorporated into the journals, but I like to have them around while I work and they are so great with my fabric scraps...


I am all about decorative stitching lately...(rose colored decorative end-bands below). not entirely functional (though I will argue that they strengthen the book structure overall) and incredibly time consuming...but lovely!

I will be heading off this coming weekend (road trip to Michigan to visit Dad and run around Detroit/Ann Arbor) until mid-July when I will begin a month long artist residency in rural Pennsylvania. That being said, I am going to try to spend every waking moment this week in my bookbinding studio (aka corner of my bedroom) because it is oh so hard to make books while driving cars and the residency will be all about drawing. 

Oh, and a side note: I finished the summer newsletter...all printed and ready for the post office bright and early Monday morning. Watch your mailboxes. And for anyone interested in receiving the seasonal newsletter, just send me a quick e-mail with your postal address. ( I love snail mail.)

hannaclark@gmail.com

Ooh La La

Moses the cat posing with the new books...Be sure to check the tangible etsy shop!
Here are some process photos..stitching and covering wooden boards with fabric. Please forgive the poor lighting! (A lot of this occurs rather late in the evening and I have just not mastered color settings.)

my fabric collection...There is a little town nearby called Palouse. They have a wonderful antique store that I spend far too many hours exploring as well as a quilt fabric store in town that has a huge bucket of fabric scraps...I believe it is $3 to fill a brown paper bag (lunch size). I so often find the greatest little pieces of fabric and I love the challenge of finding the perfect project for a small piece.

Old Ways

For the past few months I have been studying traditional bookbinding methods with Jim Croft, a former instructor at Penland, and local Idaho resident. With Jim, the focus is not just on the making of the book, but also on the making of the tools and all materials from scratch. He harvests his own flax to make paper and thread and makes all of his tools from found bones and scrap metal. I recently made a paring knife for leather from scratch with him (which could explain the interest in making leather books lately). He guided me in shaping the metal using a hand grinder and sand paper to fit my hand perfectly and it has been so wonderful to work with new tools that fit the contour of my palm. 

In the summer Jim leads various intensive bookbinding workshops at his place in Santa, Idaho. This year the first workshop begins on June 10th. Click here for a link to his website or contact me for further info. If you are even remotely near northern Idaho or willing to travel this summer I really suggest you wander up to Santa and join the workshops! The website goes into much more detail about the skills offered through the workshop, but who gets a chance to harvest flax for paper, split logs for wooden boards often..? I will unfortunately be missing the big July workshop, but hope to stop by during the wooden board and clasp intensive (June 10th-20th, 2009). Yes, that's right...you get to make your own metal clasps for book closures from scratch! Oh, and he will be in Portland, OR for a short workshop later on this month...(Jim is pictured here with Rachael, another MFA student here)