I have a long way to go, and a lot to learn. It took a while to get to this point, but I hope to become adept enough at printing and binding books that I might make a small contribution to the overall craft, or at least leave some physical objects behind as a legacy that might be considered beautiful, or at least ‘interesting’.
Remember – the book is mysterious and important.
Tuition to date (excluding seminars and conferences, in reverse order):
- Hakuchitsu boxes with Midori Cockram.
- Various online courses by Eduardo Tarrico (strongly recommended if you speak Spanish or Portuguese) and Susana Dominguez Martin (on Domestika).
- Karen Hanmer introduced me to various leather decoration techniques via some occasionally surreal Zoom workshops ending at 1:30 am. I strongly recommend her history of the codex course, where over a few weeks you build a library / treasure trove of maquettes of binding styles from the past 1200 years or so. Great fun. And involves chisels.
- Mark Cockram (Studio 5 @markbookarts) taught me for three ‘terms’ in 2019. Mark is a wonderful English eccentric with a world and punk mindset. More importantly a superb binder and very good teacher.
- As with many others, I lusted after Jeff Peachey tools so much i ended up doing a course with him. I have a ‘unique’ Delrin lifter as a result. Another great fun course.
- Arthur Green valiantly tried to get me to love a spokeshave.
- I’ve done a couple of one-day letterpress courses – one at St Brides with Mick Clayton, and one at London Centre for Book Arts with Simon Goode. Letterpress (or rather working with tiny bits of type) is a bit of an acquired taste. I’ve yet to fully get the bug.
- Peter Smith had the misfortune to introduce me to wood engraving – something I am simply too clumsy for. But from here I ‘progressed’ to linocut, which is a much more forgiving.
- I started innocuously enough. An evening class with Joe Dixon (@bookbindingjoe) at that cathedral of type St Brides making simple pamphlet books, flatbacks and a quarter bound leather book. I think the first evening course was in 2016.
More generally:
- Sonia Serrao and Mal Raggett and the wider Artists Book group have been instrumental in giving me the inspiration and confidence to exhibit in public.
- Being involved in the Society of Bookbinders and Designer Bookbinders has given me access to countless seminars and talks.
- I’ve bought and loved printed tutorials from Ben Elbel (Bookbinding Out of the Box)
- I’ve also followed many (many) tutorials online, mainly by Darryn at DAS Bookbinding, Sage Reynolds and Bep van Gasterden.
- Advice is often sought and received from Glenn Malklin, Mark Cockram, and others on various Facebook groups.
- The library of instructional books grows at a lesser pace nowadays, but includes manuals from eleven countries or so. They’re increasingly supplemented with pedagogical books from the likes of Paul Johnson and Herve Tullet.
The journey began when I started noticing various posts on one of my friend’s Facebook page, and curiosity led me to learn that he’d set up his own private press. Now, this friend is a trained typographer and designer, and so I shouldn’t have been surprised really, but it really struck a chord how he had chosen to set up a workshop and simply got on with it.
So a few years later, here I am. Thanks, Phil @MuttonsandNuts (Thin Ice Press/ Calf House Studios now).