Shawn Sheehy
July 26–28, Monday–Wednesday
Tuition: $375 Materials: $30
Enrollment limited to twelve.
This and the following images illustrate what you will make in this workshop.
This and the following images are of the model you will make.
Come enjoy a close look at treasures from the Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith College.
This and the following images are of vellum bindings by Peter Geraty.
Step-jointed, laminated-wall box construction is very useful for boxes ranging from standard to unusual shapes as is evident here in the box Daniel created for Investigations: The Four Elements: Water, a collaboration he did with Tim Ely.
Rubeus, another Kelm-Ely collaboration, also has an unusually-shaped box.
The box Daniel created for Surplus Value Books, a collaboration between Daniel Kelm and Chip Schilling, has many layers.
It contains objects essential to the telling of the story. (Surplus Value Books, detail)
Investigations: The Four Elements: Earth, a collaboration between Daniel Kelm and Tim Ely. Another example of how laminated-wall construction allows for the creation of compartments.
Mars, Daniel Kelm.
This and the following two images show how a book and a box can be integrated to create an environment. A Dog Story, Daniel Kelm and Nicolette Jelen.
A Dog Story, Daniel Kelm and Nicolette Jelen.
A Dog Story, Daniel Kelm and Nicolette Jelen.
Another example of complex box construction: detail of a folder in a slipcase under a book. The Jumping Frog, Daniel Kelm and Alan J. Robinson
Example of a damaged leather bound book in the hollowback style.
Before and after pictures of a set of hollowback books.
Detail of the repaired book in the above set.
Example of a hollowback repair on a full leather volume. The japanese paper has not been tinted so you can see the repair.
Example of a hollowback repair on a half leather.
Example of a repair on a tightback volume.
This octopus pops AND moves!
Movable samples that you will build in this workshop.
This is the model you will make in this workshop. Here you can see the extended spine piece, the laced-spine construction, and the attachments which include wrapping bands with bone slips at the head and foreedge of the upper cover, and a bookmark attached to the lower cover.
Detail of the decorated spine piece.
The codex closed with the wrapping bands in place; the scalloped leather at the tail of the spine imitates the broken or worn condition of the original binding. The endbands are simple and elegant.
Daniel bound this copy of Alan J. Robinson’s Chelonidae Press copy of The Jumping Frog. Front cover detail. The cover design was accomplished by stamping combined with leather onlay.
Daniel used onlay to create fields of color for the front cover design of Crossings.
Daniel Kelm bound this copy of Jan Tschichold’s Assymetric Typography. The cover design is done in leather onlay.
Detail of leather onlay, Jan Tschichold’s Assymetric Typography, bound by Daniel Kelm.
Donor's Book for Sacred Heart Church, binding and leather onlay by Daniel Kelm.
The process of leather onlay involves paring down the leather so that it is paper thin; applying it to glass along with the design drawn on paper; cutting out the pieces of the design; and transferring them to the background.
Detail of leather onlay, Daniel Kelm.
This and the following three images are broadsides made by Art’s students.
This is the binding you will make in the workshop.
You will sew silk endbands.
Your book will have leather joints reinforced by fabric sewn into the text block.
Kelm demonstrating during the Leather Intensive.
You will have the opportunity to explore the integration of text and illustration.
Experimentation is encouraged, as is evidenced in this image of a hallway littered with students' sample pages!
Slit leather strap decorated with inked designs.
Stitched leather tracery over gilded parchment and laced ribbons of parchment through leather cover.
More stitched leather tracery over gilt background and applied colored dot.
Cut out cross, circles, squares, and triangles backed with parchment with overall pattern of blind tooled lines and abraded leather lines.
Multiple blind tooled small designs integrated into larger blind pattern with cutouts of various shapes and backing material.
Fragment showing deteriorated papyrus cartonnage board and design of stitched tracery, laced vellum ribbons, and cutouts.
Cut outs in European shoe for inspiration!
Interlaced pen work on binding wrapping strap.
Fragment of binding with intricate geometric cutouts and geometric blind tooling.
Upper cover from a 10th century Coptic binding showing the survival of techniques from the 7th and 8th centuries—openwork stitched designs of leather (tracery) over a gilded parchment underlay.
True to Life by Julie Chen is about the subtle yet powerful influence that memory has on daily life. Personal history, while seemingly rooted in fact, may contain more meaning as narrative than it does as documentation of truth. In the form of a tablet with sliding pages, True to Life offers an innovative physical structure which corresponds to the shifting nature of memory, allowing the reader to create different combinations of text and image and thus alter the content of the piece, deliberately or by chance, with each reading. True to Life is the inspiration for Julie creating this workshop, and this is the structure you will make.
Daniel co-designed the concertina spine sewn on tapes binding for Anatomy Lesson: Unveiling the Fasciculus Medicinae, published by Robin Price. You will make this structure in the workshop, but using different materials (sorry, no holograms!).
Anatomy Lesson spine detail. The signatures are sewn into the valley folds, and connect to the covers through a linen tape.
This is an ideal binding for accommodating the thickness of the fold outs.
One advantage of this structure is the pleasing way that the book can open so flat.
This and the following three pictures are of the model you will make.
Loss of Language, by Pamela Moore. Artist’s book inspired by Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy. Brass pages hinged with wire. Steel box. 6 x 100 x 130 cm open.
Pyramid, by Pamela Moore. Sculptural artist’s book inspired by the short story “El Libro de Arena” by Jorge Luis Borges. Copper, paper, and binders board. 17 x 18 x 18 cm.
Obelisk,, by Pamela Moore. Sculptural interpretation of planetary clock drawn by Athnasasius Kircher. Copper, leather, and wood. 54 x 14 x 14 cm.
Spherical Alphabet Book, by Pamela Moore. Letterpress alphabet accordian book inside. Wood, leather, and paper. 3 cm sphere.
Agricultural Notations, by Pamela Moore. Sculptural design binding of Ladsilav Hanka’s etchings. Attached binding. Black lambskin, brass doublures. 52 x 43 cm closed.
Roman era woman with her wax tablets.
Roman wax tablets.
Wooden calendar.
Carved Norwegian calendar.
This 17th century Danish glazier’s pattern book is an example of one of the structures you will make in this workshop.
You will also make a wax tablet like this in the workshop. Binding by Pam Spitzmueller.
This image shows a multi-leaf binding and wax tablets similar to what you will make in this workshop. Bindings by Pam Spitzmueller.
An open multi-leaf, farm account book.
Detail of binding showing the pads that separate leaves.
You will make a variation of this journal with pages printed for the 2010 calendar year. Your journal will include foldouts, pockets, and other features to hold your own memorabilia in the coming year.
This image shows the colorful spines of a number of Linda’s annual journals.
Linda designed this set of field journals to accompany students’ outdoor studies of habitats. You’ll make a similar series of models that bring us back to appreciation of the value of the good old pamphlet stitch and the ways covers and text blocks can be varied for a user’s needs.
There may also be time to do one large, hardcover sketchbook similar to this one that Linda made to contain her notes for a class she taught at Saint Michael’s College. This structure is an alternative to traditional case bindings, is relatively easy to construct, and satisfactory to use.
The larger box, with its flip-top lid and multiple compartments, is home to a collection of objects.
The smaller box’s sliding door opens to reveal a single treasure. This and the following six images show you various views.
The Johnson New Testament arrives at the bindery for R & R, repair and restoration.
Another shot of the Johnson New Testament.
Another shot of the Johnson New Testament.
The Johnson New Testament ready to return home with a new clam shell box.
Day one: the Bryan Bible arrives at the bindery for a complete restoration.
More of the Bryan bible.
More of the Bryan bible.
The Bryan bible completed! Paper cleaned, repaired, signatures resewn, new muslin, endbands, hinges, and end sheets.
Bryan bible detail, renewed clasp.
Bryan bible and protective clam shell box.
Synesthesia, Terrance McKenna, published by Granary Books, NYC. Daniel collaborated with Tim Ely and Phil Gallo for this edition. Daniel bound the book in his wire edge style. Here you see spine and front cover details. The sections are sewn to one another by making square knots.
Religio Mathematica, model for an edition by Daniel Kelm. The red book cube is constructed in Daniel's wire edge binding style, and contained in a yew wood enclosure.
Religio Mathematica, model for an edition by Daniel Kelm. The book tells a creation story through the use of color and form. The book can be manipulated into many shapes.
Venus, model on left and finished copper book on right, by Daniel Kelm.
Templum Elementorum, detail, Daniel Kelm. Wire edge binding is used to engineer the pop-up. Wire edge binding is also used to attach the pages at the fore edges.
Daniel collaborated with Tim Ely to create Platonic Versus. In front of and surrounding the box, you can see wire edge accordion pages lying flat and configured as tetrahedrons and an octahedron.
Daniel Kelm bound this copy of Barry Moser's Arion Press Moby Dick. This is similar to the binding you will make, but the Moby Dick structure is single raised cords and you will sew a double raised cords binding. You will paint your ultrasuede covers with a simple undercoat of acrylics, and then spruce them up with a sponge pattern.
California Job Case.
This and the following are images of decorative papers by Leni Fried.
This and the following are images of Julia’s paste papers.
Damaged leaf.
Damaged leaf.
Jim washing a broadside.
op-up structures bring exciting dimension to the page. Movable structures engage the viewer kinetically with pull-tabs and wheels. Imagine how you might surprise and delight your readers with both dimension and movement!
In this three-day class, you will learn the fundamentals for building both pop-up and movable structures.
You will practice by building a series of increasingly complex structures that are set in motion either by lifting or moving the figure. As you advance you will combine both pop-up and moveable elements in order to create animated or articulated figures.
On the final day of the workshop, you have the opportunity to spread your wings while still under Shawn’s watchful eye as you mix, match and invent your own combinations of elements.
Throughout the workshop, we will view and discuss the pop-up and movable books of various commercial artists.
You will leave with a bound collection of samples that can be used for further study and practice.
No experience is necessary, but patience is a must!
About one month before the workshop, registrants will receive a tool list, directions to the studio, and any other pertinent logistical information via email. Workshop hours are usually from 9:30 until about 5:00. Please do not buy an airplane ticket or make any other non-refundable payment before checking with us to be sure the workshop for which you have registered has sufficient enrollment.