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Posts Tagged ‘erin fletcher’

  1. Tutorial // Petal Fold Book

    July 12, 2020 by Erin Fletcher

    In this video for North Bennet Street School, my co-host Colin Urbina shows me how to make a Petal Fold Book using simple folding techniques similar to the Turkish Map Fold. Even though this video is geared towards kids, this technique is great for any age group. You can find more online content created for NBSS here.

    If you are looking for even more instructional content, I have a growing list of tutorials and I also teach live workshops in-person and online. Check out my list of Upcoming Workshops.

    SUPPLIES:
    – 5 square pieces of paper, plain or decorative (any size, but should be the same size)
    – Glue Stick
    – Bone Folder (optional)
    – Coloring and decorating supplies (markers, colored pencils, or crayons)

    The Petal Fold is a simplified version of a fold used in origami by the same name. By reducing the number of folds from the origami technique, it can be used to create pages that can easily condense into an artist book.

  2. Upcoming Workshops // June to August

    June 15, 2019 by Erin Fletcher

    June:
    Single Signature Variations
    June 23 – 29 (Sunday – Saturday)
    Maine Media Workshops + College
    Rockport, ME

    There are still a few spots left! Books come in all shapes and sizes. Some may span only a single signature, while others become a thick tome. In this workshop, we’ll explore the former as we create a multitude of models with both soft and hardcovers.

    Students will begin this workshop by making a series of simple softcover pamphlets using a variety of sewing patterns before moving on to hardcover structures. Finally, we will create a modified version of the Bradel binding using a stub at the spine. This will give our books an elegant rounded spine, which will be covered in leather and sided up with decorative paper. All of these structures allow the book to lay flat and are perfect for chapbooks, presentation pamphlets or short stories.

    July:
    Fundamentals of Bookbinding I
    July 15 – 19 (Monday – Friday)
    North Bennet Street School
    Boston, MA

    This workshop is sold out. Students will learn the foundations of bookbinding by combining hands-on exercises and discussion. The class starts by exploring non-adhesive structures: soft cover pamphlet, Coptic, historical longstitch and link stitch. The class ends with a look at case bindings, with the creation of two hardcover flatback bindings. Students also learn different structural elements, sewing variations, covering and cutting techniques using various materials, tools and equipment. Throughout the course discussions will cover terminology, paper grain and folding, selecting proper materials and tools, and adhesives and their properties.

    The Shrigley
    July 20 – 21 (Saturday – Sunday)
    North Bennet Street School
    Boston, MA

    The Shrigley is an innovative way to house loose ephemera, postcards, photographs and more. The pages are folded into frames, allowing you to easily add or remove pieces from the book. In this workshop, students will learn the folding technique to create the frames with various corner styles. Once the pages are assembled and sewn, students will finish their project by making a hardcover case with a ribbon tie.

    Embroidery on Leather
    August 17 – 18 (Saturday – Sunday)
    Pattison Paperworks
    Otisfield, ME

    In this workshop, students will learn a few basic embroidery techniques that are best for decorating leather, ways to transfer a design and prep the leather for covering. In addition to these simple embroidery stitches, demonstrations will also cover ways of creating texture and depth to a design by incorporating onlays and other decorative techniques. Students will use these techniques to design and embroider a simple cover for a miniature blank book.

    To register please click the contact me button to the right. ->

  3. My Hand // 2001: A Space Odyssey Part Two

    June 13, 2019 by Erin Fletcher

    In my previous post, I went through the various enclosures crafted to hold my binding of 2001: A Space Odyssey and how they represented different parts of the Clarke’s text and Kubrick’s film. This post will focus on the binding itself, the inspiration and the process.

    Sitting inside the clamshell box is a binding decorated with a burst of color that plays homage to one of the most iconic scenes from Kubrick’s film. It is at this point, that the protagonist Dave flees the now inhospitable spaceship that was intended to carry him and his crew safely to Saturn. To recreate these star streaks, I bound the book in black buffalo skin with a range of back-pared onlays in goatskin, suede and handmade kozo paper. Additional embellishment is created through hand embroidery. Many times I create a template for my embroidery work. For this design I worked more spontaneously.

    Each stitched line was first marked out by scoring with a thin bone folder against a ruler in the desired spot. Then I pre-punch holes along this line in preparation for the embroidery. You can see my progression below as I was building up the design with both the onlays and the embroidery.

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

    Tucked in between the section of pink onlays is a segment from Verdi’s Requiem Mass (Dies Irae) which is achieved with couching the embroidery floss and French knots for the notes. After narrowly escaping Hal’s attempt to kill him, Dave dismantled the computer and spent time in the ship contemplating his next move. He played a range of music to combat the silence. Verdi was blasted across the ship at the height of his loneliness and despair.

    Dave finally flees the empty ship and enters the final stages of his evolution. This is communicated by the interior side of the boards, flyleaves, edge decoration and endpapers. In his escape pod, Dave enters a space with gaping black shafts filled with squares, triangles and polygons before emerging into a white space peppered with a myriad of tiny black specks overhead.

    Dave ends this portion of his journey in a room where the objects seem familiar but at closer inspection deemed poor replicas. Dave calls out how two paintings hung on the walls are quite blurry yet recognizable. These two paintings are Van Gogh’s Bridge of Arles and Wyeth’s Christina’s World. I altered and cropped these paintings for the endpapers to be the final visual representation of the book before getting to the actual text.

    And that’s my rendition of this iconic science fiction story. You can see more images of the binding and boxes at my website.

  4. Upcoming Workshop // Limp Vellum Binding at Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland

    April 23, 2019 by Erin Fletcher

  5. My Hand // 2001: A Space Odyssey Part One

    April 22, 2019 by Erin Fletcher

    If you ask a binder what book they would love to bind, I’m sure they would have a list of titles at the ready. I’ve had 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke on my list for sometime now. After working on the binding on and off for over a year, I can finally check it off my list.

    I was first enchanted by this story not by reading the science fiction novel by Clarke, but through the film by Stanley Kubrick. It’s one of my favorite films and I see it on the big screen any chance I can. It wasn’t until after I read Clarke’s telling of 2001, that I began to investigate the unusual collaboration that produced both the film and the novel. Kubrick and Clarke wrote the story together, yet parts of the story don’t appear in the film and vice versa. Each respective storyteller put their own unique spin on the tale.

    The film actually debuted before the novel, which makes me feel better about not reading the book before watching the movie. In fact, I think the novel enriches the film, expanding on the story in a way that could not be visualized in the film.

    When I embarked on binding a copy of 2001, I had all of this history in the back of my mind. I read the novel again, this time through the lens of a designer, pulling out segments and phrases I found inspirational. Unconsciously, I was also visualizing imagery from the film; scenes that were so impactful and had influence on my design. I could not separate the two when working on the design.

    One other hurdle I came upon, was the sheer volume of inspiration from the novel and film. There were too many significant moments; which do I highlight? So, I came to the conclusion that I needed to create a design that would represent each major moment of the story.

    In this multi-part post, I will describe each aspect of the piece, going into detail about the inspiration for the design and how I chose to execute it through various materials and techniques.

    Let’s start with the outermost enclosure: the storage box. The entire collection of enclosures and binding are housed in a standard full cloth clamshell box. I don’t really view this box as part of the overall concept, it merely serves the purpose of storing the contents safely. However, this is the only piece where the title appears as a label on the spine. The title is embroidered in a futuristic font on handmade paper from Hook Pottery Paper.

    Sitting inside the storage box is a paper wrapper, which is meant to represent Part I: Primeval Night. The story begins at the dawn of humankind, witnessing the moment that our primitive ancestors develop tools to be used for killing animals for consumption, but soon this same tool becomes a weapon against an enemy tribe as it is used to murder the leader of a neighboring group. The 4-flap wrapper is made from yellow ochre St. Armand paper, which is a nod to the vast desert setting for this incident. A coyote foot bone aids in opening the wrapper and is an obvious cue to this significant part of the story.

    Unfolding the wrapper reveals the interior clamshell box, which includes the elusive monolith. A symbol that appears throughout the novel. This transition from wrapper to clamshell is referencing two moments: the monolith first appears to the primitive humans at the precise moment described above and then not seen again for centuries until it is unearthed on the moon. So the action of unfolding the paper wrapper to reveal the monolith underneath speaks to these two moments in the story and moves into Part II: TMA-1 and Part III: Between Planets.

    The monolith onlay is constructed according to the 1:4:9 ratio described in the book. I used black calf skin wrapped around 20pt. museum board. After attaching the leather, I pressed the piece with mylar to create a shiny surface on the leather. Depth is created through the simple addition of three blind tooled lines at the left side and bottom edge.

    The monolith is surrounded by a frame of handmade moon paper from Hook Pottery Paper and paper from Moth Designs with a scribble design.

    The case is covered with black buffalo skin and the same moon paper is used to cover the trays. The purple paper, which I used for the label on the storage box lines the interior of the box.

    That covers all of the enclosures for the binding. In my next post I will go into detail about the concept and construction of the binding and how I worked in the remaining portion of the story.

  6. Teaching at Paper & Book Intensive 2018

    August 28, 2018 by Erin Fletcher

    In May of this year, I had the honor of teaching at the Paper & Book Intensive which was held at Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuk, Michigan. If you aren’t familiar with PBI, it’s a two-week intensive camp where participants take three workshops on topics related to bookbinding, printmaking, paper-making, conservation and book arts. Everyone stayed in lodging on the grounds at Ox-Bow and ate together during mealtimes. During off-hours, people spent their time creating, mingling, making toast from the 24-hour toasting station or roasting marshmallows at the fire pit near the lagoon.

    I had been invited to teach my 2-day Introduction to Embroidery on Leather workshop during the first session. In the first session, participants take two different workshops, one in the morning and the second in the afternoon. This meant, as an instructor, I had two different groups to teach over the span of four days. I had 13 students in the morning and 12 students in the afternoon.

    My workshop took place on the second floor of the print building. The space was wonderful. It is a newly constructed building with high ceilings and tall windows on all four sides that looked out into the woods. After getting settled and going through materials, we embarked on our first task of poking lots of holes into leather through a paper template. The room was so quite and still, that a unique soundtrack began to play out. The ping from the pin vise and crunch of the paper template mixed with birdsongs and swaying trees.

    The participants were working with buffalo skin for the samplers. It’s a leather that I love to work with and is very forgiving with embroidery work. Although certain challenges presented themselves with the darker skins. After we finished punching, we went through each stitch one by one. Students were invited to bring their own threads to play around with, so there was a nice mix of materials being used on the samplers. Some worked and some didn’t.

    At the end of the first session, everyone convened into the painting studio for a show and tell. I had been so distracted teaching by my workshop, that I didn’t get a chance to visit the other studios. So it was really great to finally see what everyone else had been working on.

    Above are samples from Letterlocking with Jana Dambrogio (left) and Vasaré Rastonis’ Conservation Binding Model for a 13th Century European Manuscript workshop (right).

    Above are some pieces from Velma Bolyard’s Paper Threads: North Country Shift (left) and Rebecca Chamlee’s The Printmaker as Naturalist (right) workshops .

    Many of my students had little to no experience with embroidery work, but everyone was determined to master each stitch. Threads were sewn and then torn out to make second and third attempts. I was really impressed with everyone’s ability to navigate through diagrams and hard-to-see demonstrations. In the center of their samplers, I asked each participant to design a letter in whatever stitch or stitches they preferred. Some students also began embroidering into bookcloth and paper. The participants in my workshop definitely felt the intensiveness of PBI!

    After session one was complete, everyone had a day off to recoup and relax. I went into town with some PBI pals to shop the local antique mall and each some local grub. Afterward, we walked to Oval Beach at Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful beach and view of the lake. We even made a couple of duck friends along the way.

    As an instructor, I was able to take a workshop during the second session and I chose John DeMerritt’s The Prototype: An Exploration of Edition Binding. I had met John a few years back during my second year at North Bennet Street School and have admired his work and ingenuity, so I was really excited to pick is brain.

    The structure of John’s class was informal, which freed everyone up to work on their own projects. We had materials to play with in order to develop prototypes. As someone who rarely gets a chance to spend time on personal work, it was very welcoming to have these 4 days to work out the details of an artist book that has been lingering in the back of my brain.

    On our final day of John’s class, we were commissioned by Mary Hark (papermaking instructor) to build a box for a paper quilt.

    We devised a design for the box and chose materials as a team. Mary let us choose from a selection of her papers for the box and we choose a beautiful crinkled indigo paper for the tray that proved to be rather difficult and pulled many of us together to trouble shoot. And without proper weights, we had to use body weight after attaching the tray to the base.

    photo credit (right): Cristiana Salomao

    photo credit (right): John DeMerritt

    I was tasked with creating an embroidered paper label for the box. We chose to use the coordinates of Ox-Bow and the dates of the second session as the title, as it represents the time and place of both creations. In the end, the box and quilt were put into the auction and was finally sold to the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

    At the end of session two, we assembled once again in the paint studio for another show and tell.

    Above are examples from Béatrice Coron’s workshop From Book Shelves to Cat Walk: Wearable Papercuts and Artist Books (left) plus Chela Metzger’s workshop Early Modern Record-Keeping Book Structures: Model Making and Investigation (right).

    Just a few pieces from Bridget Elmer’s workshop The Typographic Print (left) and Mary Hark’s workshop Papermaking Informed by a Sensibility for Textiles (right).

    Post show and tell, people began to wind down and get ready for the festivities ahead. That evening included a silent auction followed by a studio tour to see the various work created by the artists in residency. Along the tour, I savored some local Ox-Bow brews and chatted with a very talented artist about her brightly colored macramé sculptures. Check out the work of Noël Morical.

    On the following day, everyone gathered at the meadow under the theme of Renaissance in Space. We ate hors d’oeuvres and cheered on the jousters. Afterward we filed into the painting studio for one final dinner, which included lofting balloons from table to table until they popped. A mighty group effort.

    The evening quickly turned into night and people began to say their farewells. PBI was a truly incredible experience and one that I will never forget. Despite the pressures of teaching, my time at Ox-Bow was relaxing and inspiring. Being surrounded by creative and talented people who are both encouraging and supportive for two weeks can be life changing. It’s an experience that I would recommend for anyone that is apart of or wants to be involved in this community.

  7. My Hand // The New House

    August 21, 2018 by Erin Fletcher

    If you’ve ever visited your childhood home as an adult, you were probably flooded with emotional memories and feelings of nostalgia. These experiences are at the center of David Mamet’s poem in The New House. Printed in 1989 from Rebecca Press, this miniature text also includes wood engraving by Sarah Chamberlain.

    For the design of the binding, I wanted to reflect the warm nostalgic feelings felt by the poem’s protagonist. Something as simple as a color, texture or pattern could bring those memories to the fore front of your mind. I choose a floral patterned wallpaper as my inspiration and reimagined it in a soft color palette of light blues and a range of yellows.

    To create the design, my first step was to paint the branches. I wanted the design to exist on multiple planes, so I chose to paint the branches rather than create them out of leather onlays. So to do this, I hand cut a template out of frisket film first, then laid that onto the light blue goatskin. After burnishing down the edges, I painted over the entire skin with a mix of pale blue grey fluid acrylic paint.

    The frisket peels away from the leather rather easily once the paint is fully dry. It’s now time to adhere the onlays. Due to the quantity of onlays, I drew out the shapes in their exact location on both the lighter and dark yellow skins, placing them on the blue leather as I cut them out. I didn’t want to risk losing any pieces or adhereing them in the wrong place. After both yellow skins were in place, it was time to back pare the leather and prepare the embroidery.

    I always pre-punch the holes before sewing, but this time I wasn’t working off a separate template, I used the edges of the painted branches and the floral onlays to guide my pin vise while punching. Everything is outlined in a simple back stitch with cotton floss. The stamen are stitched using French knots with tails. I added additional texture and a bit of shimmer with tiny gold tooled triangles that are scattered amongst the blossoms.

    The use of wood grain as a design element is inspired from Mamet’s reference to nicks in the wooden floors of the house. All three edges of the text block are hand painted to resemble wood grain in warm brown and pink tones. The leather wrapped endbands in mauve have additional wraps in a darker mauve cotton floss.

    In the image below, you can also see that the painted branches and onlays wrap around the board, but the embroidery stops at the edge.

    The interior side of the board is covered in the same light blue goatskin doublure with a sunken walnut veneer panel that is framed with handmade paper from Katie MacGregor. The same paper is used for the fly leaves. The endpapers are comprised of additional handmade paper from Katie MacGregor, but in an ochre yellow. Working further into the binding is a folio of soft yellow unryu which has a fabric-like feel. This material is designed to continue the feeling of comfort.

    This edition includes a loose wood engraving depicting the entrance of the home. The print is mounted in a paper frame covered in the same ochre Katie MacGregor paper as the endpapers. Both the print and book live inside of a house-shaped telescoping box.

    The base of the box includes two compartments; the compartment for the binding sits within and under the spot for the print. I first cut the shape of the base tray and then cut out a cavity to fit the size of the loose print. Within the base for the print, I cut out another cavity for the box. Then I supported all the pieces with walls. The entire base is wrapped in paper, a combination of handmade Katie MacGregor paper and Bugra. The book sits on a lining of cream suede.

    The base tray is attached to a leather wrapped board and a step of walnut veneer runs the perimeter to support the lid and add an additional accent of tone and texture.

    The lid is covered in the same medium brown goatskin as the base board. The raised design on the lid is pulled from the embossed design on the title page.

    To create the delicate design of the raised structure, I first laminated a piece of 10pt. museum board to the millboard I was using to build the box. I then drew out the design and carefully cut through the 10pt. board. Then I pulled away all of the waste, leaving my complete design on the board.

    The leather was edge pared to match the pentagon shape of the box and the title was embroidered before attaching. The addition of foam was used while pressing in order to work the leather down around the sides of the 10pt. board and around the embroidered stitches. In order to do this, the walls were assembled after the leather was attached and dried. I could then proceed to attach and cover the walls on both sides and line the interior.

    The box was rather challenging to construct. My main issues were figuring out how to cut the turn-ins, particularly around the corners, and the overall fit of the lid to the base. I will admit that I made the lid twice as the fit on my first attempt was just a bit too snug for my liking.

    Overall, I’m really pleased with this little gem and it’s unique presentation. The delicate design and soft color palette offers the feelings of warmth and comfort that I was hoping to convey.

  8. Upcoming Workshops // August to October

    August 15, 2018 by Erin Fletcher

    AUGUST
    I have no workshops scheduled for the month of August. Go outside and enjoy your summer!

    SEPTEMBER
    3-Part Bradel Binding
    September 7 – 10 (Thursday – Sunday)
    San Francisco Center for the Book
    San Francisco, CA

    Register here. 

    The 3-Part Bradel binding offers a unique aesthetic over a traditional case binding. As the name suggests, the binding is assembled in three parts, which encourages the binder to use different materials to cover the spine and covers. For this workshop, students will use leather to cover the spine and cloth or paper for the covers. Students will be guided as they pare their own leather.

    Students will also be using a variety of bindery equipment such as a sewing frame, job backer, plow and Kwikprint to complete their structure. We will also cover how to create a simple painted, decorative edge and stamp a custom label.

    Millimeter Binding
    September 23 – 29
    Maine Media Workshops + College
    Rockport, ME

    Register here.

    The millimeter binding came about during the first World War when leather became a scarce resource for binders. Still wanting to provide an elegant leather binding to their clients, binders would use a minimal amount of leather to cover the spine, putting a millimeter or two of leather onto the boards. In this workshop students, will be creating a Rubow-style millimeter binding, learning how to make paste papers and work with leather. Each student will finish the course with a book wrapped in their own paste paper and with a thin strip of leather running across the top and bottom of the binding. This class is open to all and a great introduction to book arts!

    OCTOBER
    Fundamentals of Bookbinding I
    October 1 – 5 (Monday – Friday)
    North Bennet Street School
    Boston, MA

    This is a great workshop if you are interested in the full-time program at North Bennet or wanting to learn a new skill. During the workshop students will explore the basics of bookbinding through a variety of non-adhesive structures and finish the week by making a flatback case binding. We will discuss materials, adhesives, tool use and students will have access to traditional bindery equipment.

    Bookbinding 101 
    October 9, 16, 23 & 30 (Tuesday evenings)
    North Bennet Street School
    Boston, MA

    ​In this two day class, students get a quick introduction to various bookbinding techniques by exploring three different book structures. The class begins with a simple pamphlet and continues with constructing two multi-signature books known as a flatback case binding and link stitch binding. Finally, students construct a box to house all of their creations. This class is a great way to familiarize yourself with bookbinding and is perfect for those who are curious about the craft.

  9. Upcoming Workshop at SFCB

    July 15, 2018 by Erin Fletcher

    In September I will be heading to the west coast to teach a 4-day workshop on the 3-Part Bradel binding at the San Francisco Center for the Book. I really love making and teaching this structure. Constructing the book in three parts expands the design possibilities and material combinations. You can find out more about the workshop here.

    Workshop Description
    The 3-Part Bradel binding offers a unique aesthetic over a traditional case binding. As the name suggests, the binding is assembled in three parts, which encourages the binder to use different materials to cover the spine and covers. For this workshop, students will use leather to cover the spine and cloth or paper for the covers. Students will be guided as they pare their own leather.

    Students will also be using a variety of bindery equipment such as a sewing frame, job backer, plow and Kwikprint to complete their structure. We will also cover how to create a simple painted, decorative edge and stamp a custom label.

    Dates:
    September 7 – 10 (Friday – Monday)

    For more information and to register, click here.

  10. Upcoming Workshops // July to September

    June 15, 2018 by Erin Fletcher

    JULY
    Cross Structure Binding
    July 14 – 15 (Saturday – Sunday)
    North Bennet Street School
    Boston, MA

    This workshop is currently sold out. The Cross Structure binding is a non-adhesive structure that offers much freedom to the text block. This 20th century design is greatly inspired by the Long Stitch bindings of the medieval era. It is suitable for conservation or new bindings, such as travel journals or decorative bindings. The structure is uniquely constructed by interlocking the front and back covers at the spine. In this 2-day workshop, students will work on 4 variations of the Cross Structure, creating models in both handmade paper and leather. If time permits, students will have an opportunity to decorate their covers.

    Bookbinding 101
    July 28 – 29 (Saturday – Sunday)
    North Bennet Street School
    Boston, MA

    ​This workshop is currently sold out. In this two day class, students get a quick introduction to various bookbinding techniques by exploring three different book structures. The class begins with a simple pamphlet and continues with constructing two multi-signature books known as a flatback case binding and link stitch binding. Finally, students construct a box to house all of their creations. This class is a great way to familiarize yourself with bookbinding and is perfect for those who are curious about the craft.

    AUGUST
    I have no workshops scheduled for the month of August. Go outside and enjoy your summer!

    SEPTEMBER
    3-Part Bradel Binding
    September 7 – 10 (Thursday – Sunday)
    San Francisco Center for the Book
    San Francisco, CA

    Register here. 

    The 3-Part Bradel binding offers a unique aesthetic over a traditional case binding. As the name suggests, the binding is assembled in three parts, which encourages the binder to use different materials to cover the spine and covers. For this workshop, students will use leather to cover the spine and cloth or paper for the covers. Students will be guided as they pare their own leather.

    Students will also be using a variety of bindery equipment such as a sewing frame, job backer, plow and Kwikprint to complete their structure. We will also cover how to create a simple painted, decorative edge and stamp a custom label.

    Millimeter Binding
    September 23 – 29
    Maine Media Workshops + College
    Rockport, ME

    Register here.

    The millimeter binding came about during the first World War when leather became a scarce resource for binders. Still wanting to provide an elegant leather binding to their clients, binders would use a minimal amount of leather to cover the spine, putting a millimeter or two of leather onto the boards. In this workshop students, will be creating a Rubow-style millimeter binding, learning how to make paste papers and work with leather. Each student will finish the course with a book wrapped in their own paste paper and with a thin strip of leather running across the top and bottom of the binding. This class is open to all and a great introduction to book arts!

     

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  • My name is Erin Fletcher, owner and bookbinder of Herringbone Bindery in Boston. Flash of the Hand is a space where I share my process and inspirations.
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