BookArtsLA, a new, nonprofit organization devoted to bringing the beauty of printing, binding and collecting artists’ and other hand made books to the public, has opened in Los Angeles. Its studio is located at 11720 Washington Place in westside area of Mar Vista. Our 1600 square foot space houses letterpresses, a bindery and workspace for up to 20 students. In our first few months we have offered classes in beginning and intermediate bookbinding, paste paper making, and have had guest lecturers Karen Hanmer and Rhiannon Alpers .
Rhiannon returns this weekend on June 13-14 to teach there different box forms to store books in. Over the summer, we will be presenting our popular paste paper making class and our One Day – Eight Books, an introduction to bookbinding structures. Michael Burke will be coming to teach a very special medieval binding. I will be teaching a one day introductory class in letterpress in July.
To learn more, visit their website BookArtsLA, and if you live in LA, do support them. If you can, please support this new and exciting venture in bookarts.
This year’s card (see next post) was not so much about printing as to remember a good friend. Phil was a general contractor and friend who helped me on technical issues with my presses. He would also devise any number of equipment that I dreamed up and had to have. We had many good times trying to figure out the solution to a problem. He also built a paper drying box for me, would put the die jacket on the press and alter tools, equipment and machines to my needs.
So maybe it was fitting that my Albion would quit on me while I was printing this year’s card. The leather straps that pull the bed under the platen finally gave out (we estimate they were around eighty years old). It should have been no problem to repair except there was no Phil. And no manual for a 100 year old press.
I consulted the books I had, including Gabriel Rummonds, Printing on the Iron Handpress. He gave a good solution but it didn’t work for me. I needed leather of a certain strength and thickness. I called my decorator, who rarely says no to me, and she called around.
She found the loveliest and amazing leather worker, Tony (http://www.yelp.com/biz/tonys-leather-goods-beverly-hills). After consulting together, he called around and went to the wholesaler early in the morning to get the leather I needed, then cut it to size and he got it to me within a few days. And with enough left over for a few belts.
Installation went smoothly and I had the press up and running within a day or two. It is wise to take pictures before you dismantle or remove parts and take a good hard look at what you are replacing. With the old presses, you need to be resourceful and bring a lot of ingenuity to the problem. And don’t throw anything away before successfully making the repair. You can see in the pictures, the new natural leather straps against the one original remaining. The surprising thing is that with the replacements the bed travels down the rails smoother than before.
Am I upset with Phil for not being here? A little, but through my solo repair job, I enjoyed wondering what his solution would have been. I bet it would have been ingenious.
Wonderful news. I have been invited to exhibit two books in the AJU’s latest exhibition, The Thread That Binds, in collaboration with the American Textile Society. The exhibition shows textile religious and cultural artifacts from all over the world, antique and modern textile art.
The books are shown to display their binding and the different sewings that attach books to text. Among the books displayed is my book A Shelter of Stars by Howard Schawrtz in an exposed Japanese sewing with an offset cover. The second book is my about to be released The Guide: Maimonides’ Journey by Michael Castro (announcement forthcoming). The binding is based on the early American binding called the Scaleboard. It is a single-sheet book with the sheets bound together with leather tabs. The binding was often used for books of a religious nature.
The exhibition opens September 21 and runs through December 18. Hope you can visit if you are in Los Angeles.
This is the blog to my web site. Thank you for taking a look. It is meant to accompany the web site: to add, to elaborate, to think. To display newer work, to show progress of current work and to highlight an older work in more detail than possible on the web site.
I am not sure what I will talk about yet. I have read many of your printing blogs out there and don’t know if I will follow their leads as to topics, whether to add the personal (probably not), and structure.
It might be a laboratory of the tried and experimental, maybe including the disappointments as well the successes. It might be a place to encourage sharing, to seek advice and solutions.
Welcome to my new site and blog. I look forward to reading your comments. Thanks, Sue
