Weaverly

Rain, Fog & Ice

The first of the two books in the Rain, Fog & Ice edition is completed. Here's the cover, metallic silver paper with machine-stitched lines, glued onto boards:

 

…and a view of the spine, with coptic stitching in waxed linen:

 

The endpapers are a deep eggplant color, to reflect the aubergine toning Bruce uses for his black and white photographs:

 

A peek inside:

 

…and a handwoven lined pouch to protect the book:

 

The second book is on hold because I didn't like the way the cover looked after the glue dried, and I'll make a new cover before binding.
 
 

 
 
 

A Booklover's Trio

Thank you, Jim, for sending me the link to this video. Be sure to stay for the summing-up at the end. It will make you smile (or maybe cry). 

In the studio, we're at work on another collaboration. Bruce assembled a collection of photographs called Rain, Fog & Ice, printed it on an Epson printer, and I'll be binding it after the covers dry (they were pasted up this morning). So far it's an edition of two; the covers are different. I can't stand to do the same thing twice. I guess that's why I'm not a production weaver.

 

And how do you get comfortable when reading a good book? Perhaps like this.

Trillium Exhibition Opening December 5

Everyone within driving distance of Travelers Rest, SC, is invited! Lecture and demonstrations at the reception. For my virtual friends, I'll post pictures after the event. Click to enlarge.

 
 

Shadow

At the Museum of American Folk Art.

At The Cloisters

After a long bus ride from midtown Manhattan (my favorite way to see New York) I'm at The Cloisters. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Guests

We have some houseguests this weekend. Yesterday morning they were up at 6:30, and when I arose at 7:30 to make breakfast they had already built this:

 

They love doing paper constructions with scissors and scotch tape:

 

 

…and they also threw a few picks on the Cricket.

Canal Drawing

I'm reworking a  little drawing I did at the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (in Chesapeake City, Maryland) a few weeks ago, to make it into a weave file. Here's a possible treatment in double twill, shown as a color-and-weave simulation:

 

Trains: A Collaboration

Bruce has amassed quite a collection of train photos and I suggested that we collaborate on a one-off handbound book on this subject.

I prepared a Photoshop layout in which to "drop in" photos, so that we could print two folios at a time on a single sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 paper (front and back). Bruce supplied me with 72 of his gorgeous black and white train photos on disk. I winnowed these down to 69, composited the photos and title page onto the layout, and Bruce printed the composites on his Epson printer on Aurora Fine Art Natural, a heavyweight matte paper from Red River Paper. The result was six signatures of 3 folios each, or 72 pages.

For the cover, I wanted something elegant and understated, so as not to detract from the photos, and selected black Tyvek. I machine stitched undulating lines on the cover material in shades of white and gray thread, to suggest train tracks. I then glued the Tyvek to boards, and for the endpapers I selected aubergine drawing paper to pick up the aubergine cast of the toning Bruce uses on his prints.

 

 

 

 

Here's a spine picture, showing the coptic stitching:

 

…and of course there's a little jacquard slipcase to protect the book in Bruce's briefcase during journeys to and from Photoshop classes.

 

Finished size of book: 4-1/2 x 5-3/4".

 

Open Studios

Twenty-six years ago I signed up for Open Studios, and the experience was less than wonderful. First of all, my newly-installed computer-assisted dobby loom failed (for the first and only time in its life) during a weaving demonstration in front of 30 people. I know that all looms have their good days and bad days, but I was disappointed that this loom chose this particular day to fail. Second of all, one of the visitors to my studio suffered a health emergency, and the rest of the afternoon was spent in seeing that she was taken to the appropriate medical facility. It was not a good day. After that, I was never very enthusiastic about taking part in another Open Studios day, even though my friends always report that it's a great thing to do. I do, however, enjoy visiting other studios, and yesterday Mimi and Catalina and I made the rounds. 

A four-year-old tends to focus on certain things in an artists' studio:

 

At another studio she found a secret cubby-hole under a staircase, complete with children's books, and she entertained herself there while we looked at Art.

 

I saw lots of art, but for some reason my favorite impression of the day is of the beautiful light streaming in through the windows of this particular studio:

 

Maybe next year I'll sign up for Open Studios.

A Broom of One's Own

I enjoy reading about writing. Some of my favorite books about the writing life are Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott; On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Steven King; The Alberta trilogy by Cora Sandel; and A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf.

Now I have another favorite, from a suggestion by Tommye in her blog post of Sept. 27: 

 

It's called A Broom of One's Own by Nancy Peacock. Nancy is a wonderful writer who supported herself as a house cleaner while writing her first two novels. She writes convincingly about finding time and space for one's art, and about listening to the authentic voice within. This book is by turns hilarious and deeply touching. And Ms. Peacock crafts a darn good sentence, too. I found myself reading parts of it out loud to anyone within hearing distance. Thanks, Tommye, for recommending this.