Craftsy stuff
I've been reading up on handmade books, and gilding, and more calligraphy study. I really like this crafty-art. What I mean is, it's art in the execution of the script and the embellishments, and craftsy in the presentation and assembly. And it appeals to me in all sorts of ways. I've always enjoyed _making_ things that you could hold in your hand and put to use and that are beautiful. One of the most satisfying jobs I've ever had is when I worked for Valley Yellow Pages, simply because at the end of the day there was a physical object I could point to and say "I helped make that happen." Ok, yeah, it was a freaking phone book, most mundane of mundanities, but it was _useful_ (maybe not _beautiful_, but definitely _useful_).
So I've been thinking about handbinding some chapbooks of poetry, and while I can find simple straightforward directions for how to do so, the materials are a little up in the air. The middle ages, they used vellum and parchment - which are LEATHER. Yeah, really thin, high quality, specially treated leather, but LEATHER. As in, uh, leather. Not paper. Not brittle (if treated right), not porous (if treated right), flexible... you get the idea.
Papers heavy enough that I'm not worried about the ink going through - pretty much too stiff. Papers light enough to make sense as a book... not generally going to hold up, as far as I can tell, to having me handwrite on them in india ink. Although I could be wrong. I've only gone to one art store and looked at paper, and the whole darn place reminds me of a packrat's hole. It's dirty. Stuff is stacked higgidly-piggidly. All of the 'art paper' is in a back corner, where it's stuffy and crowded and there's no room to actually take the paper out and look at it it without worrying about crinkling it/creasing it/tearing it/dropping it on the FILTHY floor. You get the idea. And of course, because it's _art_ paper, for DRAWING on, the sheets come in huge to humongous. And I don't have a paper cutter at home...bleh. (Why do I go to this store if I find it so disgusting? Because the people are really, REALLY nice, and willing to make suggestions, and answer questions, and help me find The Perfect Thing. And, they're a free bus ride away.)
So, I'm not sure. I may try Papyrus over at the mall, although the last time I was in there, they didn't carry _paper_ so much anymore as Greeting Cards and stacks and stacks of cutesy preprinted stationary. Sigh. Maybe an actual printer? Someone that prints letterhead for people? They should be able to sell me a ream of rag paper (paper made out of 100% cotton... don't ask me how that's paper instead of cloth, it just is!) Letterhead paper would be about right, I think, but I'll have to do some inking tests to check porosity and the 'hand' of the paper - rag paper tends to have a neat texture, but it needs to be smooth for the dip pen to work on it really well. So probably a hot-pressed rag paper.... Well, I'll talk to the folks at the Scriptorium tomorrow night and see what they say; although my impression is that most of them focus on single page items (scrolls of award) for the most part, so they may not know much about modern day hand-binding.
I know too much. And not enough. And that's a pretty good summation of My Entire Freaking Life.
So I've been thinking about handbinding some chapbooks of poetry, and while I can find simple straightforward directions for how to do so, the materials are a little up in the air. The middle ages, they used vellum and parchment - which are LEATHER. Yeah, really thin, high quality, specially treated leather, but LEATHER. As in, uh, leather. Not paper. Not brittle (if treated right), not porous (if treated right), flexible... you get the idea.
Papers heavy enough that I'm not worried about the ink going through - pretty much too stiff. Papers light enough to make sense as a book... not generally going to hold up, as far as I can tell, to having me handwrite on them in india ink. Although I could be wrong. I've only gone to one art store and looked at paper, and the whole darn place reminds me of a packrat's hole. It's dirty. Stuff is stacked higgidly-piggidly. All of the 'art paper' is in a back corner, where it's stuffy and crowded and there's no room to actually take the paper out and look at it it without worrying about crinkling it/creasing it/tearing it/dropping it on the FILTHY floor. You get the idea. And of course, because it's _art_ paper, for DRAWING on, the sheets come in huge to humongous. And I don't have a paper cutter at home...bleh. (Why do I go to this store if I find it so disgusting? Because the people are really, REALLY nice, and willing to make suggestions, and answer questions, and help me find The Perfect Thing. And, they're a free bus ride away.)
So, I'm not sure. I may try Papyrus over at the mall, although the last time I was in there, they didn't carry _paper_ so much anymore as Greeting Cards and stacks and stacks of cutesy preprinted stationary. Sigh. Maybe an actual printer? Someone that prints letterhead for people? They should be able to sell me a ream of rag paper (paper made out of 100% cotton... don't ask me how that's paper instead of cloth, it just is!) Letterhead paper would be about right, I think, but I'll have to do some inking tests to check porosity and the 'hand' of the paper - rag paper tends to have a neat texture, but it needs to be smooth for the dip pen to work on it really well. So probably a hot-pressed rag paper.... Well, I'll talk to the folks at the Scriptorium tomorrow night and see what they say; although my impression is that most of them focus on single page items (scrolls of award) for the most part, so they may not know much about modern day hand-binding.
I know too much. And not enough. And that's a pretty good summation of My Entire Freaking Life.