Child Of God - complete

Done!
Onlays,tooled in black and gold.

The Kitchen Sink Design Method

......AKA the Spaghetti method - good for use when you find yourself in a tightspot.In the case of "Child Of God", "A" thought the face was too scary, so I resolved to fragment it somehow, tool over the top.
So....

Directions :

1. Make numerous templates for cover,
drawing in spine.

2.Make colour copies of given material or designs to
be featured, or onlaid.
3.Complete as many covers as possible withing a given time frame
(in this case denise and I gave ourselves 3 hours..)

I also tooled some of the lines in foil, so you could see them better.

This should put yourself in a better position to envisage a final result, and choose which sketch or idea to persue, and or develop.

Any input from any of you out there would be welcomed, but "A" has the final say!!

Its like throwing a bowl of spaghetti against the wall, and seeing which strand is going to stick!!

Sketches are numbered 1-7 in the bottom right..comments welcome, but a decision will be made tuesday latest regardless.

*I missed off some of the no.s but it should be pretty easy to tell how it goes......

Block printing on Dyed Goat

It was an exciting day in the bindery today,pure enjoyment!I had set aside today for block printing some dyed goat ready for use in designs.The blocks were carved from a plywood,the goat pared,all I needed was some ink???!!!
My friend and colleague Amber Mccmillan of Post Editions was able to help me out, so jumped on the bike, through flushing, bed-sty,to her new studio, a pleasant space with vandercooks ,a platen press with an amazing flywheel, and a hand operated guillotene.More about Amber and her work in later posts.
The artwork is for "Waterfront", and "Child of god", and both will be completed forthwith......
uhum...yes, that is my face!!

Design en masse, or.....painting by numbers

"1.Mathematics is the language of numbers.
2.Everything around us can be represented and explained by numbers.
3.If you graph the numbers of any system, patterns emerge.

Therefore, there are patterns everywhere in nature."


I am currently involved on a work order that requires design on a large scale, all of which is completed in fine bookbinding leathers,hand-lettered, and hand-tooled.
Volume dictates that I commence and complete a number of designs at the same time, deliver, and start the new batch.The brief dictates, that I must have designs that use the expanse of the front and back covers,concentrating interest on the spines,incorporating art-work form dust jackets, and or my take on the given subject.
Templates are made of the covers, with the spines drawn in , and the designs are penciled onto a lightweight paper.Where necessary the template is tooled over, and blind impressions made, in preparation for onlays.
If there is no Graphic lettering onlaid, care must be taken to leave enough room for the title and author.
Gravity`s Rainbow is a good example of the procedure I now follow.
I started as always with a vague concept(gravity`s rainbow=parabolic trajetory ....so something involving curves, scientific, mathematical drawings etc....)On the first one I made a very basic spiral pattern, using a grid of concentric circles.
Making a design using parabolic curves would be too technically demanding for the time frame.
After looking at a lot of mathematical drawings etc...I decide to do segmented circles,with tooled lines that cross in the shape of a curve(poor mans parabolic curve!!`ish).
I knew the materials and colours I was going to use - the craqueled goat from the last post.
Once I`ve got my idea, a template is made and the pattern drawn out, and tooled onto the cover using my basic set of fillets and gouges.
However, as is wont to happen occaisionally, I came unstuck half-way through,didn`t like the way it was going and didn`t think I could save it.
I begrudgingly continued, and then realised that it kind of worked.The lesson I learned then is that in that situation, it sometimes pays to just grit your teeth and see it through to the end,despite what your instinct might tell you.
It is not finished yet......
Gravity`s Rainbow (no.2), is part of a batch of 10-15 I hope to have ready shortly
I think its probably enough of the craquele though...right??

If you are interested in Divine Proportions, golden sections, rectangles, and spirals...or Pythagoras,Archimedes and Fibbonacci...you might try

"Geometry of Design" (Kimberly Elam)

It examines the existence of divine proportion in many things from seashells, to the human body, and some architecture.I have found it usefull.

They call it Crack-uele

...no, they don`t really, but it is addictive and very easy to do as explained in the posting "design on the fly".It is easy, a lot of fun, and a quick way to transform a uniform coloured onlay.You will find denise and I carrying out the demo via the link below.
Future demos will be found listed in the categories marked 'Demos",one of three so far, with many more on the way.

There are demos on woodblock printing, and basic onlay to follow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCA5fhjUMfA&feature=channel_page