A how to diagram for Guerilla Bookbinding which will be happening at Spike Island in February. I’m going to produce a whole booklet like this with the 6-10 different bindings I’ll be teaching.
Click the picture to see at higher resolution (look for ‘all sizes’)
(Hugh Bryden and Andi McGarry)
At the London Artists’ Books fair at the ICA this weekend. I had a really good, productive time 9even though I was surrounded by a superabundance of tempting artworks and all the expense that the metropolis can throw to a man with my modest tastes (I even order a cheap curry on a boozy night out)I took a lot of notes and made contact with a number of people whose work I’d like to find out more about. I came up with a couple of ideas whilst there, too, but they await a bit of further thought before I write them up. I was a bit disappointed in my own books. They looked a bit sad and unloved, and not really up to the standard I’d like to reflect. For the moment I’m putting it down to a bit of a flirtation with trying to make commercially-viable work, and a bit of aridity arising from too much computer work. Suffice it to say that at the moment my fingers are mucky with charcoal, and though I’m still a bit timid about feeling that my books are getting better, it felt good.
a mock up of the book I’m currertly working on.
This photo relates to The Remembrancer, an artists’ book I produced several years ago, with the assistance of Richard Asplin, who salvaged these photos, (along with the invitation to the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, 1933) from the trash.
This little stone comes from the shore in South Queensferry, where I grew up. I’ve had it on my desk for several years, reminding me where I come from. I use it as a sort of meditation aid and "worry bead". I know its contours and composition so well I can handle it in my imagination almost as well as real life. It’s partly quartz, so the light shines through, it’s cool and smooth. It means a lot to me.
