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Here’s a preview of what I will be working on when I get back to my bench
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Ohh man this year has been crazy busy but it doesnt seem like I have a lot to show for it. We spent the first several weeks of school gold tooling, all day every day until our eyes hurt and we all wanted to give up, go home, and pretend that books are made by machines. Then we got into hand titling and it got worse. We digressed to a bunch of red eyed shells of people wandering around the bindery mumbling to ourselves about how the letter “L” is never straight. I think you learn a lot about yourself when doing things that are really hard. As an aside, For encouragement we are constantly told that it takes at least 7 years of doing this all day to be any good at it, and even then you might still suck.
So this project is a sampler of some the leather work we have been doing. From the top down a quick explanation of what you are looking at. The diamond pattern or diaper pattern is a very old design dating back to the incunabula period and is very common. Worked with a line palette (a one inch long line of brass). Next are two decorative tools one in carbon and one in gold. Then three circles made by taking a small section of a brass curve and working around until the two sides hopefully (say a prayer) meet. From right to left is a gold tooled onlay, a blind tooled onlay, and a tooled surface gilt circle. An tooled onlay is a very thin piece of leather that is cut precisely to fit a tooled shape. Our instructor says when cutting them out, and pasting them on, “persevere, that is the only way to make it beautiful.” Under that is a very thin inlay made using a stylus tool. Finally a basic square pattern. Expect more work soon
Its a tragedy of the first magnitude that millions of people have ceased to use their hands as hands. Nature has bestowed upon us this great gift which is our hands. If the craze for machinery methods continues, it is highly likely that a time will come when we shall be so incapacitated and weak that we shall begin to curse ourselves for having forgotten the use of the living machines given to us by God.
Mahathma Ghandhi
I’ve been playing around with some techniques that may come into play later this year. Here is a lino cut pressed into suede. I’m really liking the texture and depth. Not sure how many impressions the linoleum can take.
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