Starting
from basics:
our first meeting of 2015 began with a workshop led by Clare Nias,
facilitator of flying
books (www.flyingbooks.net)
on a cold Saturday morning. We started slightly earlier than usual at
10.15. (Normally we meet Saturdays between 10.30 and 12.30 in the
Green Room, Phoenix Studios, Brighton every 2 months. New members
always welcome!)
This
was the first practical workshop our Collective had organised and we
started right from the beginning, learning about Concertina Books
(also known as Zig-zag books). Clare showed us examples of this type
of book from her collection, often small and made by her students,
one fitting inside a matchbox, another even smaller one bought from a
supermarket in Chinatown, London.
She
showed us that from this very simple structure it was possible to
elaborate in different directions: adding end boards to form covers,
and how the concertina structure could evolve into dos-a-dos books
(where two or more books are bound together within the concertina).
There were different types of papers and card for us to experiment
with during the workshop, as well as stencils and stamps. We saw how
it was possible to add 3D details with foam card and how the subject
matter could inform the shape of the book, for example St.
Bartholomew Church, Brighton. There was also an example of a double
Zig-zag book for us to look at. In this structure the pages are slit
so that a second concertina can be threaded through.
Clare
then took us through the practical basics: making the fold. We were
each given about 12 inches of till roll paper and shown the folding
sequence starting in the middle and then making a series of “valleys
and mountains”. Then we were left to experiment and play.
Dorry
(Smallman) showed us a book: “Magic books & Paper Toys” by
Esther K.Smith, published by the fantastically named Purgatory Pie
Press in New York City, a book brim full of ways to manipulate paper
and card to make mind-boggling paper structures that I could happily
use myself and with my daughters (who attended the meeting and by
this time were having a great time collaging, folding and sticking
with all the interesting scraps of paper provided.)
Dorry
also introduced us to the Hougie board (www.hougiecrafts.com)
a “double sided plastic scoring board that gives you accurate
measuring in centimetre and inch increments” and seems like an
important tool for crafters working with card and thicker paper, “as
it really helps to get a good clean fold exactly where you need it”.
By this time I was deep into the activity, Paddington Bear style, so
there was nothing neat or clean about my folds. But I’m sure that
with time and less frantic behaviour (looking through books, finding
paper/card/tools, photographing other people’s work, writing notes
for the blog, keeping my girls away from the biscuits) I too would
master the Hougie board and the concertina book structure. I already
have an idea for a piece inspired by the concertina/Dos-a-dos
structure brewing in my head as I write this blog.
Here
are some images of work-in-progress created by members of the
Collective:-
The
workshop was followed by a talk by Vanessa Marr, a Graphic Designer,
who has completed the MA in Sequential Design and Illustration at the
University of Brighton and previously worked for the publishers
Dorling Kindersley. She talked us through her work, her interest in
sewing and fairy-tales, poetry and domesticity.
She
showed us pieces that she had made during her MA, her work based
around Cinderella evolving into her latest project, a series of
yellow dusters with text embroidered on to them by herself and
members of the public. The piece is called “Women &
Domesticity: what’s your perspective?” and will be shown in a
pop-up space in Eastbourne to coincide with International Women’s
Day, on 28th February.
Alice
Lunt is a practising interdisciplinary Artist working across Live Art
and Installation boundaries using anything that fits her vision
including text, image, film and objects. She studied at Brighton and
Chelsea and is a keen member of the Book Art Collective, sporadically
making books, sometimes to document her performances.
No comments:
Post a Comment