Author: annwyndean1

Book Making, General, Printing, Uncategorized

Adapt and Alter – 30th October 2023

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Lately life has been a bit complicated and not quite under my control, but that’s OK, however it has meant that time in the studio has been short and unpredictable. I have found that I have not been able to devote enough time and thought to a body of work, so I’ve been jumping around with all sorts of things. In many ways it has been quite liberating but now I find that I need to gather all those thoughts and experiments together and present myself with a rational plan about it all and where to go next.

There were ideas about prescribed stationery sizes that we all use and recognise, after my memory cards and loom cards, I have found myself drawn back to postcards and I have a set of those printed and not yet dry. More next time.

There were experiments using Hosho lightweight paper and coverless book formats.

Ideas around loose threads stitched into the antique textile fragments. Fragments always have interesting edges, they could be ripped, cut, worn out or have unpicked seams.

Old seams

Dart stitching

Two different weights of thread, mending, or an adaptation?

Many of my thoughts are moving towards adaptations of the past to meet the needs of the present. Whether it be darning a sleeve, shortening a hem, or creating postcards!

We all adapt and alter.

Book Making, Printing, Uncategorized

Book Five – 9th October 2023

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The fifth book in the collaboration with Fiona Dempster has just taken place. There is one more when the books will be posted off early in January 2024

Within my bundles of papers from Fiona was a piece of card 25 x 30cm with bold calligraphy all over one side.

This book took a lot of thought and I wondered how I could use this piece of card, making use of its properties. Of course it came to me – I treated it as a piece of cloth, I folded, manipulated and cut the whole, just as we would for dressmaking, not a scrap was wasted! In the C17th and C18th, a length of cloth was called a piece, the yardage was variable and it was so expensive that every bit was used. It was also a time when sewing thread was not as strong as it is today and when gathering of the cloth was needed, small pleats were made and then oversewn to make it flat.

The card was divided into two, half for each of us, then folded into eight, laid flat, folded the other way so dividing it in two, top and bottom. Then I cut along this folded line leaving one section uncut and the concertina was folded into shape. I backed the card with painted tissue paper. It is a book format that I like, it achieves a long length and there is an opportunity for a flash of colour from the reverse.

The cover is a collagraph print with inserted text and the inside is calligraphy using the title words and silver pen.

The book is 4.5cm x 7cm and secured with red elastic.

Fiona’s book was stunning, she used the Indian cotton rag paper which I often choose to use and folded it to create ripples extending out from a single pebble in the centre. She will be writing more about her book in the future.

I have found lots of joy in the collaboration, so often we are thinking similar thoughts about construction, ideas and about materials and also the huge distance between us provides a different understanding of community.

Book Making, General, Printing, Uncategorized

Following up Ideas – 11th September 2023

annwyndean1

Although I am retaining the idea of Alterations I have found myself following up ideas fairly randomly. It has been relaxing just going where an idea takes me without the focus on presenting a body of work. I did however in this haphazard fashion complete three books between playing with folds of paper with an eye to future projects.

Sample Book 2022

I had worked a sample book dated 2020 – 2021 last year and I thought that I would make one from 2022, so I printed 2cm fragments from plates designed and printed in that year and constructed this book. I shall try and do another book  for 2023, next January, with a different design and shapes of printed fragments. I like this idea and wonder why I hadn’t thought about it years ago! Too late now.

Unpicked Pleats

Here I took my favourite printing plate and printed it onto Hosho paper, that I had been experimenting with lately. Its a small book which sits in my hand.

Altered Messages

This set of five books began with the idea of predetermined sized stationery that many societies use, postcards, A4, A3 etc. I found a small envelope and it was a short jump to the messages that we place within them. I again used the Hosho paper as it folds down easily, made the envelopes from Indian cotton rag paper and designed a plate the correct size. I printed a series of five, each time removing a part of the plate so that the fifth print was just the bare bones of the design. 

Altered, until there was little left.

The envelopes were lined with painted tissue and the editions were printed to the covers.

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