{"id":4034,"date":"2013-02-24T01:00:56","date_gmt":"2013-02-24T06:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=4034"},"modified":"2025-09-15T16:28:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:28:41","slug":"bookbinder-of-the-month-hannah-brown-4-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/24\/bookbinder-of-the-month-hannah-brown-4-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Bookbinder of the Month: Hannah Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"locksoftheoxfordcanal_hannahbrown1\"<\/a><\/b>The Locks of the Oxford Canal: A Journey from Oxford to Coventry<\/em><\/a> was published by The Whittington Press in 1984 and includes fifty wood engravings by John Craig. In 2011, Hannah Brown<\/a> bound a copy for the Designer Bookbinders Annual Competition, receiving the Mansfield Medal for Best Book. The binding is full leather in a turquoise goatskin with various leather onlays and inlays of pink eel skin, turquoise shagreen and yellow, grey and cream goatskin. All embroidery is done over the onlays with colored silk and metallic threads. Two gold-plated, hand-shaped brass pieces were inserted through the covers and recessed into the boards. Tooling in carbon and gold.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doublures have been soft-plate off-set printed to include two images taken from the book and are hand-embroidered and tooled with gold foils. The book is housed in an oak box stained black with suede dyes. The front and back include recessed frosted acrylic panels with cut out sections, brass wire, gold foil tooling and sewn details.\u00a0
\"locksoftheoxfordcanal_hannahbrown2\"<\/a> \"locksoftheoxfordcanal_hannahbrown4\"<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>Can you go over the process of embroidering onto leather, when did you first introduce this technique into your fine bindings? How do you decide between machine-sewn to hand-sewn embroidery?
<\/b>Ever since my first design binding, \u2018The Somme: A Eyewitness History\u2019, I have added sewn detail to the leather. During the first couple of years of making fine bindings, the sewn detail was always done using my sewing machine. This method could however be a little hit and miss with fear of the sewing machine foot leaving marks on the leather.<\/p>\n

The first book that I decided to hand embroider was in 2010, \u2018Wildlife in a Southern County\u2019, as I felt the design would appear stronger with hand-sewn outlines. From this point on I have largely chosen to embroider the leather by hand as it gives me more control.<\/p>\n

My most ambitious embroidered binding to date has been on my Shakespeare competition entry, \u2018Flowers From Shakespeare\u2019s Garden\u2019, the embroidery alone taking me over one hundred hours to complete. I love the way that it is possible to build up depth of colour and different textures by using a variety of embroidery stitches. I have had no formal embroidery training but have taught myself by experimenting on sample boards.<\/p>\n

I begin by creating a base colour on the covering leather by adding coloured leather onlays. I then back pare these and build up the design by adding silk threads in a variety of colours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Locks of the Oxford Canal: A Journey from Oxford to Coventry was published by The Whittington Press in 1984 and includes fifty wood engravings by John Craig. In 2011, Hannah Brown bound a copy for the Designer Bookbinders Annual Competition, receiving the Mansfield Medal for Best Book. The binding is full leather in a […]<\/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":[12,68,13],"tags":[1867,574,659,658,660],"class_list":["post-4034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-binder-of-the-month","category-bookbinding","category-feature-book-of-the-week","tag-bookbinding","tag-hannah-brown","tag-john-craig","tag-the-locks-of-the-oxford-canal","tag-whittington-press"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-134","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4052,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/03\/bookbinder-of-the-month-hannah-brown\/","url_meta":{"origin":4034,"position":0},"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":4021,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/17\/bookbinder-of-the-month-hannah-brown-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":4034,"position":1},"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":[]},{"id":4010,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/10\/bookbinder-of-the-month-hannah-brown-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4034,"position":2},"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":1583,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/23\/bookbinder-of-the-month-sybil-pye-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":4034,"position":3},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Sybil Pye","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Another edition of Thomas Sturge Moore's\u00a0The Little School, this copy was also printed by Eragny Press in 1905 (but on paper instead of vellum). \u00a0Unlike last week's binding, Sybil didn't bind this edition until 1940, much later in her career. \u00a0Covered in a turquoise goatskin with inlays of jade-green, light\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\/2012\/09\/thelittleschool.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/thelittleschool.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/thelittleschool.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/thelittleschool.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4043,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/24\/bookbinder-of-the-month-hannah-brown-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":4034,"position":4},"title":"Bonus \/\/ Bookbinder of the Month: Hannah Brown","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"February 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin with illustrations by Simon Pemberton is a Folio Society edition published in 2010. Hannah Brown bound this copy in 2011 as a full leather binding in yellow goatskin with black back-pared leather onlays. Embroidery is done over the onlays with silk and metallic threads 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\/thesonglines_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\/thesonglines_hannahbrown3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/thesonglines_hannahbrown3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9402,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/29\/bookbinder-of-the-month-tracey-rowledge-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":4034,"position":5},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Tracey Rowledge","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"March 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"So far in this interview with Tracey Rowledge we've looked at her binding work and her works on paper, more specifically the work inspired by markings either found or interpreted. The leather panels presented in this post are a wonderful representation of art created using traditional binding and finishing techniques.\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\/2015\/03\/LeatherPanels4-TraceyRowledge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LeatherPanels4-TraceyRowledge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/LeatherPanels4-TraceyRowledge.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\/4034","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=4034"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4347,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4034\/revisions\/4347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}