North Redwoods Book Arts Guild

If you are interested in more info or joining, please email to no.redwoods.bag@gmail.com

Sunday, August 25, 2019

HEDI KYLE RECORD POCKET BOOK



On August 10, we were introduced to a new book structure by Dolores Guffey. This structure took a bit of a journey to get to us. It is a Hedi Kyle structure that does not appear in her BOOK, The Art of the Fold.  A book artist and teacher, Erin Sweeny, gave a workshop where she taught this modular book. Our NORBAG member from Pennsylvania, Mary Elizabeth Nelson, attended that workshop. Mary Elizabeth then shared this book (using her eco-dyed papers in the pockets) with Dolores, along with a diagram of the structure. A workshop was born and 15 more of us now are familiar with the structure.

This is a delightful little modular book. Each module is a single piece of paper that makes a pocket and and a page that will act as the base for the next pocket. The structure can be as brief as two pages or as long as your content demands. It can be a miniature book or as wide or tall as you have materials to make it. You can make it with all kinds of papers remembering that both sides of the paper will be displayed. And it is neither restricted by ratios for height and width nor specific measurements to work.

Dolores started the workshop with a great instruction sheet.
 We started with several soon-to-be pages sized 4"x 11".

Each of us did some marking, scoring and clipping.


We ended up with a total of four pages (modules) for our books.


The module, when scored, clipped and folded, made the pocket
 on one page and the support for a second page.

This photo shows how the orange and blue modules fit together. The orange pocket is affixed to the blue full page. The back cover will be a single module without the pocket portion.

This is a fun structure because the modules can be of a singular color or different colors or designs on one side. The pockets can be trimmed or punched or even collaged.

Take a look at our finished books:
These are the samples that Dolores brought to the workshop.

This is a completed structure with each module being a different color and the cards inserted were plain colored also. The first module is blue, the pocket is adhered to the second module which is orange, the pocket insert is purple. Each page displayed a different color combination.

This is a simple version of the structure with a window cut out to show part of the insert.

The front cover of this book has collage elements on it.

Both of these books have an opening in the pocket.

In this book, both the inserted card and the pocket have been cut to display various shapes.

Text is in this book.

This structure is really fun to work with. If you have paper with two different sides, it will look entirely different. The proportions of pocket to page can differ as well as the overall size.






Monday, August 19, 2019

BOOK ART AT THE LIBRARY

The kiosk inside the Humboldt County Library in Eureka is once again displaying a wonderful show of book art by NORBAG members. Hedi Kyle is one of the most recognized book artists in the world. She is noted for introducing dozens of different book bindings and folds, many of which are described in her book, The Art of the Fold. Collaborating with her daughter, Ulla Warchol, they have produced one of the best "how to" books for book artists. This book is available for check-out at the library.

The current kiosk display features books made in the style of Hedi Kyle. One Panorama Book features the art of local murals, and another has two-sided Asian art. One of the Piano Hinge books was taught by Lara Cox at our March workshop and is made with hand marbled paper, Mylar windows, and decorative fibers. Also on display are examples of Sling Fold and Star Box books that are challenging to make, but fun to operate; colorful Record Pocket Books; Flag Books and Interlocking Loops; a Fish Fold on thirty inch paper; and Tree Folds on hand painted paper and Tyvek. One special book titled “Around the World with Itsy Bitsy Spider” features the familiar song in many languages on the pages of a Spider Book. If you're in the Eureka area, be sure to check out this great display.













Thank you Dianne Byington for this creative display.

Sunday, August 11, 2019

BOOK ART ACROSS THE POND


Have you ever wondered how other book art groups get started and how they operate? Our member from York, England, Margaret Beech, recently shared that her local group, Quarto, just created a blog. Along with that blog address (https://quartobookarts.blogspot.com/) we asked Margaret to share how Quarto came about.

“It grew out of a calligraphy group meeting in Newcastle who were interested in making small books after taking one of my workshops. The group was founded in September 2001. There were 14 original members and around 20 now, but more like 14-16 regulars. Seven of those original members are still involved. We do have a postal member in Melbourne, Australia. She was visiting a calligraphy exhibition in Durham and met one of our members and took an interest.

Quarto meets from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. four times a year. Every meeting starts with a morning ‘workshop’ from a member, then a packed lunch, usually followed by the book exchange. We do all consider the heart of the meeting to be the book exchange. We sit round a very large table and everyone is expected to talk about the how and why of the making of their book. In the afternoon we will have another ‘workshop’ (from a member) – something not very challenging as we begin to run out of steam. Very occasionally we have brought in a workshop tutor for a whole day session. Paul Johnson has been twice to inspire us. One of the original ‘rules’ of Quarto was that if you attend the meeting, you should bring a book for the exchange. That still applies although not so strictly adhered to as at the start. We have a shared lunch annually during the meeting. This year it will be in October to celebrate our 18th birthday.

We don’t have officers or fees to pay as we get the room courtesy of one of our members who is a prof at the University.  We have always had one member willing to co-ordinate meetings, keep in touch, and bring tea/coffee etc. In the future we are hoping that that job will be shared three ways. Our membership covers a wide geographical area, by UK standards. We meet in Sunderland (northeast coast of England) and people travel from 30 miles to the north, from York 75 miles to the south, and one member comes by train from Leicester which must be 150 miles or more. On the whole, most of our members live in and around Sunderland and Newcastle.

Several of us teach workshops in our own right and some may participate in exhibits with their calligraphy group although many fewer of our members are calligraphers now. In the past we have been invited to exhibit as a group at calligraphy festivals. Over the years we have had various collaborative projects where everyone contributes to a finished book for each member. Because we only meet four times a year these collaborations could take several years to be completed.

I organized a transatlantic exchange with NORBAG members in 2008. Twenty-six book artists took part and we were given the full color treatment in Bound and Lettered in the Dec. 2009 issue. It’s quite natural that over 18 years we have become friends and we do consider that the connections and friendships we have made are just as special as the things we have learned from each other.”

The photos below are examples of some beautiful exchange books created by Quarto members.



Four Map Fold


Accordion with signatures and cutout embellishment


Accordion with cutout tops

Castle book

Circular book


Double accordion


Exploding box


Flag book


Hermit crab


Layer book


Origami fold book


Tag and pocket book


Tunnel book

Thank you very much Margaret for the information about Quarto and Jo Duncan for sending the wonderful photographs from your very talented book artists.