Worktable Wednesday

I’m so excited that I now have my very own sewing frame! This awesome piece of equipment allows you to sew on cords or tapes. You can also use it for sewing several books at a time.

Just look at my little lovely:

I’ve wanted a sewing frame for a while. Several years ago, I took a sewing over cords workshop at the Focus on Book Arts conference and I loved it. For whatever reason, I couldn’t (didn’t) figure out a way to justify buying one. It seems that I had no trouble justifying it now!

The funny thing is that I bought tape keys back in October of 2007.

For a non-existent sewing frame.

4.5 years later and I can finally use them!

Many thanks go to Barbara Parker for deciding to give her sewing frame a new home. The best part is that she’s from Vermont – I believe that makes my sewing frame a native!

Worktable Wednesday

This morning was spent much like last Wednesday – I glued coptic journal covers using two more sheets of the paper I got from Chena River Marblers.

I was bummed to find that the purple marbled paper was grain short, so I could only get one journal out of it. Poo.

Things got more exciting once I went on a field trip.

I’ve mentioned that my new bookboard is too large to fit in my Kutrimmer (argh). In order to get my board cut, I had to travel to a friend’s studio to use her Kutrimmer. She has a 1080.

Me? Jealous? Yes. Very.

The thing is beauteous. In addition to having a larger cutting length (31.25″), it has a rocking foot-operated clamp. My foot never gets to help when I cut board at home.

17 boards later…

I didn’t cut the boards all the way down to finished sizes – I didn’t want to kill the blade and I can finish the rest at home on my inferior 1071.

I think I’ve become a bad Kutrimmer mommy.

There was a fun and gross discovery while cutting the bookboard – a smushed, bloody bug.

I performed several Google searches to determine whether smushed bugs are either archival or acid-free, but had no luck.

If you have any knowledge on the subject, please share!

The Awesomeness of Peter and Donna Thomas

Peter and Donna Thomas are awesome.

There, I said it.

I first met them when I attended the Focus on Book Arts conference in 2009. I was fortunate enough to attend one of their miniature book workshops.

Loved it.

Then they came to Vermont to lecture at UVM Special Collections and to teach a workshop for the Book Arts Guild of Vermont. It was then that I fell in love with one of their editioned books, but stupidly didn’t buy it.

I thought about that book for a year. It conveyed a message that was so perfect for the time in my life when I saw it. I missed it.

So I did something about it. Now mine.

The book measures 1 5/16″ x 1″ x 1/4″. It’s bound in leather and all of the pages are letterpressed. The copyright date makes me laugh – the book’s sentiment was probably appropriate back then too.

I love it.

There was a post on the Book Arts listserv today that mentioned that Peter and Donna had taped an interview with Park City Television. You can watch it below.

Did I mention how awesome they are?

Marketing 101 for Book Artists with Laura Russell

I had the pleasure of attending the Focus on Book Arts conference last month and one of the highlights was Laura Russell‘s keynote, Marketing 101 for Book Artists. She is not only the owner of 23 Sandy Gallery, which has book arts as the focus of gallery exhibitions, but is also a book artist herself.

Laura gave lots of good advice during her keynote. The point she couldn’t stress enough – be good at shameless self-promotion. The only person you can count on to be your biggest fan is yourself.

Marketing isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s necessary if you want to get your name and your work out there. There are a number of ways to gain exposure:

• Submit your work to juried shows: Galleries will often produce an exhibition catalog, which will include your work. The great thing about this is that you gain exposure long after the exhibit closes. In addition, a gallery will advertise their shows and this could have a larger reach than your marketing efforts – they will get your work in front of a new audience.
• Sell to organizations with special collections: This includes public libraries, university libraries, and museums.
• Self-marketing: Use your blog, Email newsletter, listservs, press releases, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, etc. to announce anything new – new work, events, awards and recognition, important acquisitions – who just purchased your work?

Delving further into self-marketing, if you like writing – share what you know. Your experience and knowledge may be of great value to others in the field. Show others that you’re an “expert” and you’ll gain exposure.

There are several ways to do this:

• Write articles for journals, such as the Bonefolder or the GBW Journal.
• Start a blog.
• Write guest posts for others’ blogs: Not only do you have a presence on the other blog, but you will likely earn traffic for your own website. It’s a win-win proposition for everyone involved. Alyson Stanfield wrote a great blog article about this: Promote Your Art by Writing a Guest Blog Post.
• Write for a trade newsletter, such as the Guild of Book Workers.
• Write for other publications, such as The Crafts Report.

Paid and/or free advertising is another way to get exposure. With print media, you can take out ads in magazines, newsletters, or directories. There are also online directories where you can list your business, such as Google Places. Book arts-related options include Artist Book News, Artist Book Yearbook, Miniature Book Society, Moveable Book Society, or the Book Arts Newsletter.

Laura said something that I’m sure most of us already know:

The book arts world in underpriced for what we have as original art.

Pricing is a sticky issue! She suggested that when you set your prices, take your experience level into account – until you have made a name for yourself, it will be hard to sell your work at high prices. Try checking out work that is similar to yours – what are those books selling for?

Start low and increase your prices as needed – it’s hard to go down and those who have already purchased your work will be angry that they were charged a higher price. For the same reason, you want to keep your pricing consistent across all venues – it’s unfair to undercut your galleries and no one wants to feel like they’ve been overcharged.

Some options on how to sell new edition work:

• Pre-publication discounts: If someone buys your work in advance, they get a special deal. Once the work has been completed, the price goes up. This is a great way to help institutions (universities, libraries) to stretch their budgets.
• Standing order plans: Libraries and other institutions will sometimes get a “subscription” to your work, meaning that they will automatically receive every new piece you produce.

Laura recommended that for every book you create, you write a book information sheet. Librarians find this document useful because it’s used for their cataloging system. This document includes anything relevant to your work, including:

• Artist statement
• Biography
• Directions on how to set up your book for display
• Colophon/technical details
• Photograph

You can view a pdf sample book information sheet on page 11 of Artists’ Books Creative Production and Marketing by Sarah Bodman.

Laura had some suggestions on how to approach dealers, galleries, and libraries. Be sure to look for submission policies on website, including who to contact, how to contact them, and how to submit your work. Make sure you are sending them everything they ask for – artist statement, resume, slides/jpegs, etc. You don’t want to irritate anyone just because you failed to do your research.

Whenever possible, schedule an appointment, don’t just drop in – be respectful of others’ time. For more information, check out Laura’s great blog article, The Business of Being an Artist: How To Get Your Work Into Art Galleries.

I hope this information has been useful to you. Laura Russell has such a wealth of knowledge that I wanted to share it with you.

Below you will find a number of resources to help you with marketing your work. If you have any other resources you’d like to share, please send me an Email and I’ll write a follow-up post.

 

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Resources:

Listservs:

• Artist Books 3.0
• Book Arts listserv
• Book-Arts Yahoo group
• College Book Art Yahoo group
• Handmade Books Yahoo group
• Miniature Books Yahoo group

Book shows and fairs:

• Bay Area Book Artists Book Arts Jam
• Codex International Book Fair
• Oak Knoll Fest
• Portland letterpress Printers’ Fair
• Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair

Artist Book dealers:

• Booklyn
• Joshua Heller Rare Books
• Printed Matter
• Priscilla Juvelis
• Vamp & Tramp

Retail book stores:

• Art Metropole
• Book Arts Book Shop
• Minilibris
• Printed Matter
• Reading Frenzy
• Wessel & Lieberman

Art Galleries:

• 23 Sandy Gallery
• Abecedarian Gallery
• Central Booking
• Donna Seager Gallery

Book Arts Resources:

• Artist Book Marketing Survey by Sarah Bodman
• Artists’ Books: Creative Production and Marketing by Sarah Bodman
• The Blue Notebook by Sarah Bodman
• Photographing Your Artist Books – Part I: What Makes a Good Photograph for Submission to a Juried Show or Gallery by Linda Kiley
• Photographing Your Artist Books – Part II: How to Photograph Your Artist Books by Linda Kiley

General Resources:

• 8 Tips for Stronger Art Show Submissions by Michelle Davis Petelinz
• 9 Reasons Why Every Artist Should Have Their Own Art Blogby Dan Duhrkoop
• Art Biz Blog, blog of Alyson Stanfield
• The Art of Selling Art, book by Zella Jackson
• Art Marketing 101, A Handbook for the Fine Artist, book by Constance Smith
• The Business of Being an Artist, book by Daniel Grant
• How to Get Started Selling Your Art and Promoting and Selling Your Art, book by Carole Katchen
• The Quick and Easy Guide to Photographing Your Artwork, book by Roger Saddington
• Self Promotion for the Creative Person, book by Lee Silber
• Starting an Online Presence for Your Art by Alyson Stanfield
• Tweetable Art: 10 Twitter Tips for Artists by Natasha Wescoat

 

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Note: This post was originally published on the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team blog.

If you’d like to learn more about Laura Russell, here’s how you can connect with her:

Website: www.23Sandy.com
Blog: www.23sandygallery.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/23sandygallery
Twitter: www.twitter.com/laurarussell23

Worktable Wednesday

I can’t say that much happened in the studio today because I still haven’t finished unpacking from my recent trip to the Focus on Book Arts conference.

Since I have to unpack, I figured that now would be a good time to show you the awesome goodies I bought while I was away. Almost everything I bought was from Colophon Book Arts Supply.

Nancy Morains, Colophon’s owner, had a basket of hand painted linen thread by Kinglet Cottage Designs. This stuff is so beautiful! I must have studied those skeins for at least 10 minutes before finally settling on 8 different varieties.

I bought two Anza glue brushes, which are great because each has a built-in brush rest/cup hanger thingie. No more rolling brushes! A friend of mine has some of these and in the past I’ve experienced brush covet – I covet no more!

I got a 1/4″ steel rule, even though I already have a 1/4″ brass rule. Apparently the steel is more durable. The microspatula is different from the one I already have – this one has a squared-off end, which has already proven useful for scraping PVA out of tight spots.

The bone folder was a total impulse purchase (sorry for the glare). I wasn’t in the market for one, but I picked it up because I liked the shape. It felt as though it had been shaped for my hand and no one else’s. Unfortunately, I don’t know what kind of bone it’s made from.

I seriously, super-love Duo bookcloth. I bought 1/2 yard pieces of 8 different colors. I just want to eat them.

Top row, left to right: Chili, Laguna, Sunshine, Nile
Bottom row, left to right: Barley, Henna, Berry, Cinnamon

I have a Duo sample book that I got from Bamberger Kaliko and I like their color names better, so I’m going to do that again:

Top row, left to right: Peperoni, Libelle, Sonnengelb, Fango
Bottom row, left to right: Herbstlaub, Klinker, Traube, Abendrot

I bought 2 packages of black photo turn mounts at the Accidental BookMaker (a.k.a. Green Heron Book Arts). I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with them, but they seem like a good thing to have around.

Last, but not least, is the book that I won in the scholarship raffle.

I haven’t read it yet and I know a whole lot of nothing about it. All I can say is that it was an old book in a raffle and I wanted it. Intriguing-sounding chapters include The American Conchology: A Venture in Backwoods Book Printing and The Pursuit of a First Folio.

If you’re interesting in getting your own copy, there are several available on Amazon.

Wood Shop Basics with Susan Collard – Day 2

It seems that I am sufficiently recovered from my red eye flight home on Sunday night to write about my last day of the Focus on Book Arts conference.

Sunday was day 2 of Wood Shop Basics for the Book Artist with Susan Collard. I haven’t yet mentioned that Sue started working with wood via working with cardboard. This makes sense, considering that she works both as a book artist and an architect. Her written instructions reflect her dual vocations:

We started out with some free time to continue work from the previous day. I drilled circles into one page…

…then added veneer to another page to fill in unevenness at the top.

I loved working with the veneer. After gluing and clamping, I sanded it smooth and it was as if it had always been there.

I also worked on attaching a mirror. The holes you see in the mirror aren’t drilled through – I used my Dremel to remove the paint from the back of the mirror so I could reveal the glass underneath. Later in the day, I glued painted watercolor paper to the backside of the mirror and you can see the painting through the holes. I’ll show that to you in another blog post – perhaps when the book is completed.

By the way, this was the point at which I got a stupid Dremel injury. Note to self: Do not touch rapidly spinning Dremel parts with body parts.

After a bit, we reconvened and Sue showed us how to create a magnetic closure. We inset 1/4″ rare earth magnets into the wood frame of one of the pages and drilled a screw into the facing page to create the catch.

Next we learned about various ways to bind together wood pages. First was the stiff leaf binding, in which the pages are hinged together using bookcloth:

Next was the drum leaf binding, developed by Timothy Ely. In this binding, a pair of pages is joined together with a material such a bookcloth or Tyvek – this creates a folio. These folios are then glued together, back to back. If this doesn’t make sense, you can find instructions for the binding in the Fall 2004 issue (vol. 1, no. 1) issue of The Bonefolder.

Then we learned about the Mongolian Book, a Hedi Kyle binding inspired by a book from Mongolia she saw (many thanks to Andrew Huot for the details). This binding used one piece of Tyvek that was wrapped not only around the covers and spine, but also the top and bottom of the text block – it was one continuous piece. Each page is attached to the rest of the book with a thin strip of Tyvek.

 

After looking at her models, we learned the process we’d use for binding our wood pages – we used usu mino, a Japanese repair tissue.

Using one piece of tissue, you glue it to the back and spine of one page, then to the back of the neighboring page. You repeat this process for each pair of pages, creating folios in a manner similar to the drum leaf binding. When your folios are finished, you wrap tissue around the entire text block, gluing it to the front, spine, and back sides.

Once the text block was dry, we attached it to the covers. We glued our painted Tyvek to the spine of the text block. When that dried, we glued one end of the Tyvek to the inside of one of the covers, creating an end page. After that dried, we repeated the process with the other cover.

And that’s as far as I got. Other folks were able to do a lot of work on content, but I was slow. I decided that I was fine with finishing it up at home and just focused on enjoying the process as it was.

At the end of the day, Sue treated us to a personal look at her piece A Short Course in Recollection. The book had recently toured with the Guild of Book Workers exhibition Marking Time. When I saw the exhibit last November, I was only able to see the book inside a case – seeing the book in person (and in action) was a great treat.

The book includes ramps through which steel balls could travel. Here’s Sue showing us how it works:

The case for the book had slots on the outside in which the bottom of the book could rest. Brilliant.

I’m so glad I took this class. I feel like something in my creative brain shifted just a bit.

I’d like close this post with some inspiring words from Sue:

I’m not concerned about my bottom.

I guess you had to be there.

Wood Shop Basics with Susan Collard – Day 1

Today was day one of Wood Shop Basics for the Book Artist with Susan Collard. It involved much more physical activity than the past two days.

Sue has great energy, which seems to match my own. That is it matches my energy when I’m not jet-lagged and subjected to inferior coffee (I miss you Green Mountain Coffee Roasters).

I learned pretty quickly that one good rule to live by is to not do anything stupid. Don’t cut off your fingers. Don’t chisel towards another person. Don’t take the cool tools on the table and stick them in your pockets.

Sue started out by demonstrating how to use the tools and equipment needed to do the day’s work. In the past, I have never really been a master of the miter box. I now realize that I have to be more mindful about keeping the saw level and to make the cuts as I push the saw, not pull it.

We got to use this fabulous setup (manual miter saw) that was much easier to use than your run-of-the-mill miter box:

When you used it, it looked like you were shooting a bow and arrow. There was mucho cutting. By hand. People used to do that once.

First, we cut pages out of different thicknesses of wood – we used both plywood and poplar. Next, we cut up strips of oak to be used to add mitered frames to our pages.

I was having a complex about my inability to get my pages cut straight. I started with the self-flagellation – “What? You’re screwing up today too?” Ah, but then the culprit was revealed:

I was working with an injured miter box!

[self-blame ends here]

Lastly, we cut wood for the covers of our book – this was 1/2″ poplar.

Before I continue, I have to start the “I want that tool” roll call:

1. 4 ” Mini ratcheting bar clamps: This little peanut of a clamp seems to be able to get into all kinds of tight spaces. I already have a larger set of these at home, but I could definitely use these too.



2. 12-Inch Incra Rules Marking Rule: This thing is genius. You can mark off measurements in the integrated slots to help ensure accuracy. Measurements go down to 1/64″. And it’s flexible – you can use it to measure curved surfaces. Genius I say!

After our wood pieces were cut, we glued the mitered frame pieces onto one of our pages (yep, that’s a page):

Next we moved onto the construction of another page which used butt joints instead of mitered joints. There’s a small ledge in the middle of the page that will serve a purpose later – it involves a mirror.

We worked on more today than just wood – we got to play with color as we painted pieces of Tyvek and watercolor paper:

The paper and Tyvek will bring all of the wood pages together in an adhesive binding. The blue/wood block came from an old letterpress studio. I’m hoping to incorporate it in my book…I just need to figure out how.

Sue told us that we could mix together sawdust and wood glue to fill in the spaces in our joinery. I slathered it on and will sand it flush tomorrow – that’s why it looks like there’s natural peanut butter smeared on the corners of my pages.

I’m feeling itchy to get back to work tomorrow. I know what decorative elements to use, but I’m not sure if they’re all going to be doable. We’ll see…

And as has been the format of my last two posts, I will leave you with some awesome quotes:

Turn that liability into an asset, something that will make someone say, “Hey, that’s cool!”

You want to be able to hold a book.

The companion to Karen Hanmer’s “We have achieved end sheetitude”:

It lost its clampitude.

And the last quote, which may have actually come out of my mouth at some point in time:

If I don’t seem absurdly human by the end of this class…

Biblio Tech with Karen Hanmer – Day 2

I just finished day 2 of the Focus on Book Arts conference. I’m still jet-lagged and generally overstimulated. I think it was the opening night of the vendor fair that did me in – it included a reception with the biggest pile of angel food cake I’ve ever witnessed.

Today was day 2 of Biblio Tech with Karen Hanmer. We completed three more bindings: Laced-on Boards, Split Board Binding, and German Case (Bradel) Binding.

Unfortunately, I have to say that today was not one of my better binding days. I was the slowest person in the class and that’s not something I’m used to.

For the past two days, my hands have been off. It was after a conversation with Jill Timm that I realized that it’s likely due to the Dremel work I did earlier this week on my found object book (post coming soon) – I think the bamboo cutting did a number on my hands. Thankfully, I was able to complete all of today’s projects – Karen is a very patient teacher.

When I arrived at my workstation, I was greeted by a peanut of a sewing frame (loved the postcard):

We dove right into the sewing, using cords as supports. The image of Karen’s demonstration should give you a sense of just how small the sewing frame was (hence the peanut comment):

After the sewing was completed, we MacGyvered the sewing frame into a backing-ish press:

And thus began the great rounding and backing fail:

By the time I got to the backing hammer, the PVA on the spine was too dry and I couldn’t get the spine to behave.

It’s a learning experience…it’s a learning experience…

Here are some shots of the completed book:

Yesterday I forgot to mention that every time we started a new book, we got a goodie bag full of all the necessary supplies:

As you may have guessed, the next binding was the Split Board Binding, which started off in a similar way as the previous binding (using linen tapes instead of cords):

The cover is made with two layers of board – you create a pocket when you glue three edges together. Then you make a stub using paper from your text block by folding it in half towards the spine and gluing it. The stub slides into the pocket in the cover and you glue it in.

I hope this makes sense – I did my best to take pictures that helped to illustrate the technique:

And thus began the great rounding and backing fail. Oh wait, I already said that. But it happened again. Glue too dry, spine won’t round, blah, blah, blah…

It’s a learning experience…it’s a learning experience…

Here’s the finished model (you can slide one of the pocket cover thingies off to see how it’s put together):

Then on to the last book of the day – German Case Binding. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures during the binding process. I chalk it up to end-of-the-day fatigue. And jet lag. And while we’re at it, global warming.

We started off by doing a double fan adhesive binding. I enjoyed this more than thought. I think that I’m just easily amused by fanning pages. We then created a case using bookcloth and cased in the text block.

And here’s the final product:

As you can see, there’s a space between the spine edge and the text block – that’s why it was important that we avoided getting PVA on the spine edge when casing in.

I feel like I’ve eaten 3 ginormous bookbinding meals for the past two days. I’m excited to start a new class tomorrow.

But before I go, I’ll leave you with some more wise words from Karen:

You can train yourself to be accurate enough.

We have achieved end sheetitude.

And my personal favorite -

When you are with me, I am the only book artist in the world.

Remember that dry sense of humor I told you about?

Biblio Tech with Karen Hanmer – Day 1

I just finished my first day at the 2011 Focus on Book Arts conference.

I am so very tired – here’s the math: Elissa + 3.5 hour flight delay = getting to the conference at 2:30 a.m. Many thanks to the magical power of caffeine.

Today was day 1 of a 2-day workshop with Karen Hanmer – Biblio Tech: Reverse Engineering Historical and Modern Binding Structures. The focus of our work was on board attachment.

I have to tell you – Karen is a riot. She has this really dry sense of humor that’s right up my alley. She also has a very human presence, meaning that she doesn’t have that “you’re in the presence of greatness” air. Of course, she is pretty great.

Karen started out the class by passing around around 2 dozen cutaway models of historical and modern bindings:

I took pictures of most of the bindings, but I’ll save those for another post.

We completed three bindings today: Tacketing, Crossed Structure, and Sewn Boards (Gary Frost).

Tacketing started with folding 20 sheets of paper into one mega-signature – this made for a very boingy book. Someone has a date with a press when he gets home:

It was a pretty straightforward binding. Inside the signatures were little pieces of leather called stays – the stitches went through the stays to the outside of the book when sewing the signatures to the leather cover.

Here are some shots of the outside of the completed book:

Next we worked on the Crossed Structure binding. I really enjoyed this one and I can totally see myself doing it again.

Here’s Karen doing a demonstration for the class:

Lastly, we worked on the Sewn Boards structure. I’m embarrassed to admit that until today, I never knew that this stitching was known as the French Link. I’m not sure if others would agree, but I think it looks elegant.

After attaching the text block to the covers, we attached only part of the end paper so you could see how it looked underneath. I am already appreciating how useful these models will be in the future.

And the finished book (it doesn’t look that exciting when closed):

I’m really looking forward to my second day! I’ll leave you with Karen’s super quote of the day:

Bookbinding is an interesting combination of measure, measure, measure, measure, slap it down and hope for the best.

Worktable Wednesday

Yeah…I was up late last night.

I waited until the last minute to finish my entry for the Bamboozled contest and soon after that began Insane Conference Packing 2011. As you can guess, 1:21 a.m. is not the best time of day for thoughtful packing.

And things didn’t get less chaotic after having slept for several hours…different crap, same worktable.

Thankfully, I did manage to get everything packed up. I had to pack all of my bookbinding supplies in my suitcase as X-Acto knives don’t make the cut (snicker) with airport security. I put labels on everything so they’d know what was in the bags.

And here I am in Newark, miles away from my worktable. I’m excited for the first day of the conference tomorrow!