Cover to Cover

This book Rimbaud's Illuminations is one of three books that will be exhibited in 'Cover to Cover' held by the Moreton Bay Regional Council at the Bribie Island Seaside Museum from 4th October to 2nd December 2012.  The exhibition will be opened on October 6 at 11 am by Linda Douglas, who up until recently was the publisher and editor of the Australian Book Arts Journal.  Linda will also be giving a talk on artists books. 

The other two books on display are The Battle Within

and The River City

I've also had the good news that The River City (No 1) sold to a New York book collector and won't be coming home.

More Bookbinding

I've spent the morning sewing up a small edition of four books ready to be bound in a French Simplified binding.  The book is a story about the life of my father-in-law who is celebrating his 95th birthday.

In 2009 I bound a similar type of book written by my mother about her life.  The binding was a clean cut French simplified binding in pink and dark blue leather.

Revisiting 'The River City'

I've been working on a more traditional bookbinding version of The River City. 

I've been participating in The Australian Bookbinders Exhibitions since 2008 and my skills at producing a designer binding are slowly improving.

The first time I entered a book in 2007, I sent a very creative book which I thought I had bound extremely well, but it was rejected because it didn't have a 'proper' spine.

Since then I've managed to make the cut, and have been working hard on French Simplified bindings.  The binding I have used here is a Simplified binding with cover of Japanese paper and onlaid leather with a leather spine, leather headbands and onlaid leather title. 

I can't seem to get enthusiastic about rebinding a ready-made published book so every year I remake the content of one of my books into a binding suitable for this exhibition. 

I do enjoy trying to be more disciplined and skilled with making these traditionally bound books and trying to master the skills of working with leather.

The 2012 Australian Bookbinders Exhibition will be held in the Research Library of the Art Gallery of NSW from 31st October to 14th December 2012.