{"id":10991,"date":"2017-04-02T01:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-04-02T05:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=10991"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:46:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T19:46:16","slug":"catching-up-with-hannah-brown-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/02\/catching-up-with-hannah-brown-no-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching Up With Hannah Brown \/\/ No. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first interview on the blog<\/a> was conducted back in February 2013 with the very talented Hannah Brown<\/a>. Over the past four years, her work has really matured in both design and technique. So over the course of April,\u00a0I’ll be catching up with Hannah by featuring work made over the past four years. Let’s start with one of my favorites, bound in 2014 is Hannah’s copy of Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Bound in dark blue goatskin with a variety of leather onlays in grey, black, brown, green, blue, cream and orange. The design is then amplified through the use of machine and hand embroidery, as well as areas that are sanded and painted with acrylics. Texture has been added to the binding\u00a0through the use of blind and gold tooling.\u00a0Hannah received the Mansfield Medal for Best Book in Competition in the 2014 Designer Bookbinders Annual Competition.<\/p>\n

The design on the binding for Breakfast at Tiffany’s<\/em> combines a range of techniques that include machine and hand embroidery, painting, onlay work and tooling. I would love for you to speak about working through such a complex design. Are you planning each stitch and every painted element beforehand or are you working in a spontaneous way?
\n<\/strong>For every binding I do I make a sample board of a small section of the design. I have done this since my very first binding and now have a extensive physical archive of all my books to date. I started making these sample boards for a few reasons, mainly it was to test out colours, but given I now have quite a collection they are an invaluable aid for teaching purposes and for showing to clients.<\/p>\n

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The sample board tends to be the spontaneous part of my working process as I use it to test out colours and stitches ahead of working on the binding itself. I certainly don’t plan every stitch but do try and work methodically through the design when it comes to the embroidery work, executing the outlines first before filling in the gaps with more intricate embroidery.<\/p>\n

With Breakfast at Tiffany’s<\/em> I worked through the same method as with all of my bindings. The onlays had to be applied first so the leather could be back-pared ahead of the embroidery. The next step was brushing on the paints and the whole thing was then brought to life with the needlework by adding the outlines, adding tonal colours and securing down the onlays with stitches. I have different tracing paper templates for each stage of the process to ensure everything gets put in the correct place. The last thing is the tooling as of course this is done once the leather is on the book.<\/p>\n

I am not a huge fan of drawing people so for this particular binding I thought a good way around this was by just depicting the legs. Because this book was for the Designer Bookbinders Annual Competition I was working to a tight deadline therefore I incorporated a lot of machine embroidery for the outlines of the legs first (for speed) and then hand-whipped these stitches afterwards. I was very happy with this method for this particular binding as I was able to put the cover design together more speedily.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first interview on the blog was conducted back in February 2013 with the very talented Hannah Brown. Over the past four years, her work has really matured in both design and technique. So over the course of April,\u00a0I’ll be catching up with Hannah by featuring work made over the past four years. Let’s start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[240],"tags":[1843,574,1877,2147],"class_list":["post-10991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","tag-breakfast-at-tiffanys","tag-hannah-brown","tag-interview","tag-truman-capote"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-2Rh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11055,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/23\/catching-up-with-hannah-brown-no-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":10991,"position":0},"title":"Catching Up With Hannah Brown \/\/ No. 4","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year, Hannah Brown created this impeccable binding of Shakespeare's The Tempest. Bound in full leather, Hannah first dyed the fair calf in a mottled effect, which provides the perfect stormy backdrop. The rest of the design is comprised of a variety of colored onlays, silk embroidery and blind, carbon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "bookbinding"","block_context":{"text":"bookbinding","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/bookbinding\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/TheTempest3-HannahBrown.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/TheTempest3-HannahBrown.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/TheTempest3-HannahBrown.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11000,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/09\/catching-up-with-hannah-brown-no-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":10991,"position":1},"title":"Catching Up With Hannah Brown \/\/ No. 2","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Randall Davies and His Books of Nonsense\u00a0is bound in yellow goatskin with a hexagonal honeycomb pattern. Hannah Brown used a variety of techniques to adorn the honeycomb, which include embroidery, gold, carbon and blind tooling, leather onlays and inlays, impressions and cut-outs through the boards. There are sixteen embroidered bees\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "interview"","block_context":{"text":"interview","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/RandallDavies2-HannahBrown.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/RandallDavies2-HannahBrown.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/RandallDavies2-HannahBrown.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11060,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2017\/04\/30\/catching-up-with-hannah-brown-no-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":10991,"position":2},"title":"Catching Up With Hannah Brown \/\/ No. 5","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"For the final installment, I asked Hannah Brown about her binding of Love is Enough by William Morris.\u00a0Just like The Tempest, shown in the previous post, Hannah used fair calf and an array of colored leather onlays. The design includes four\u00a0beautifully embroidered birds and five beetles. At the points of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "bookbinding"","block_context":{"text":"bookbinding","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/bookbinding\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/LoveIsEnough3-HannahBrown.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/LoveIsEnough3-HannahBrown.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/LoveIsEnough3-HannahBrown.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4052,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/03\/bookbinder-of-the-month-hannah-brown\/","url_meta":{"origin":10991,"position":3},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Hannah Brown","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"February 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Somme: An Eye Witness History\u00a0is a Folio Society edition published in 2006 and bound by Hannah Brown in 2007. Boards are covered in pale turquoise goatskin with a dark grey goatskin spine piece. The covers were machine-sewn with red thread and hand-tooled in carbon and Moon gold with handmade\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/thesomme_hannahbrown2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/thesomme_hannahbrown2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/thesomme_hannahbrown2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4010,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/10\/bookbinder-of-the-month-hannah-brown-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":10991,"position":4},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Hannah Brown","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This edition of Daphne Du Maurier's\u00a0Don't Look Now and Other Stories was published by the Folio Society in 2007 and bound by Hannah Brown in 2008 for the Designer Bookbinders Annual Competition, receiving the Mansfield Medal for Best Book. Bound in a dark grey goatskin with miscellaneous leather bird onlays\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/dontlooknow_hannahbrown3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/dontlooknow_hannahbrown3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/dontlooknow_hannahbrown3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4021,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/17\/bookbinder-of-the-month-hannah-brown-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":10991,"position":5},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Hannah Brown","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"February 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Words to Live By\u00a0was bound by Hannah Brown in 2009 in a cream alum-tawed goatskin with various leather onlays in green, black, grey and turquoise. Additional leaf pieces of acid-etched stainless steel are hand-sewn onto covers with metallic thread; leaf outlines are machine-sewn. Various hand-pierced leaves and plant details in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/wordstoliveby_hannahbrown2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/wordstoliveby_hannahbrown2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/wordstoliveby_hannahbrown2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10991"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11009,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10991\/revisions\/11009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}