{"id":9256,"date":"2015-03-08T01:00:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T06:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=9256"},"modified":"2025-09-15T16:02:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T20:02:35","slug":"bookbinder-of-the-month-tracey-rowledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/08\/bookbinder-of-the-month-tracey-rowledge\/","title":{"rendered":"Bookbinder of the Month: Tracey Rowledge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SatyrAgainstMankind-TraceyRowledge\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The two bindings featured in this post are earlier pieces\u00a0from Tracey Rowledge<\/a>, but I think they represent her core interests in melding simple marks into complex gold tooled designs.\u00a0The binding above is an edition\u00a0of A Satyr Against Mankind<\/em><\/a> by The Earl of Rochester, which was bound in a chestnut brown goatskin in 1999.<\/p>\n

Below is one of two bindings Tracey has completed\u00a0on\u00a0Ulysses<\/em><\/a> by James Joyce. This particular one being the earlier binding done in 1996. Also bound in a chestnut brown goatskin; the majority of the design is gold tooled with subtle touches of blind tooled lines.<\/p>\n

\"Ulysses-TraceyRowledge\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a sense of exploration in the design these two bindings. The execution itself is awe inspiring and I set out to discuss Tracey’s technique and process for creating such expressive tooled designs.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0gold tooled design on these two bindings is reminiscent of Ivor Robinson\u2019s work; the style is very free and uncontrived. Do you execute this form of design directly on the book in a spontaneous manner or are you tracing out the design from a planned drawing?
\n<\/strong>Thank you for the compliment of writing that these two bindings are reminiscent of Ivor\u2019s work, for me what we have in common is leather, gold leaf and the drawn line. Ivor\u2019s work is majestic in its rightness, the tooled lines have a tension and a stillness, which in some works causes the image to reverberate. My interest is to capture the energy of mark-making via the non-gestural process of gold tooling, I\u2019m interested in the play between how something looks and how it is made. How can something that was made intuitively with a pen or pencil be transcribed by the painstaking process of gold tooling \u2013 and yet it can. To gold tool a gestural image you need to transfer the image onto the cover by blinding it in through a hand-made paper template, then you blind-in direct to ensure the grain is crushed in the impression and is of the correct depth; then you paint two layers of BS Glaire into all the impressions and then you gold tool each impression with up to nine layers of gold (this is done by gold tooling three layers at a time). This means that I will go into each impression up to five times.<\/p>\n

For something to look spontaneous it needs to have been painstakingly planned and meticulously executed \u2013 Ivor and I certainly had that in common!<\/p>\n

You have been noted to incorporate several shades of gold in your tooling. What are the qualities to mixing different tones of gold?
\n<\/strong>The different golds are my pallet of colours. Using a gold that is more yellow or more grey will alter the balance of the image and will take it away from being what I think of as standard gold tooling. Using Moongold<\/em> can make an image appear playful and delicate, using Caplain<\/em> can give an image a solemn feel. It depends on what I\u2019m wanting to convey as to what colour leather or paper I use to cover the book and what type of gold leaf I use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The two bindings featured in this post are earlier pieces\u00a0from Tracey Rowledge, but I think they represent her core interests in melding simple marks into complex gold tooled designs.\u00a0The binding above is an edition\u00a0of A Satyr Against Mankind by The Earl of Rochester, which was bound in a chestnut brown goatskin in 1999. Below is […]<\/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":[1721,1867,1722,1707,866,75,1720,867],"class_list":["post-9256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-binder-of-the-month","category-bookbinding","category-feature-book-of-the-week","tag-a-satyr-against-mankind","tag-bookbinding","tag-earl-of-rochester","tag-ivor-robinson","tag-james-joyce","tag-leather","tag-tracey-rowledge","tag-ulysses"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-2pi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9317,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/22\/bookbinder-of-the-month-tracey-rowledge-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":9256,"position":0},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Tracey Rowledge","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"March 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The prior posts on Tracey Rowledge's work have focused on her designs mostly inspired by abstract\u00a0markings. However, there are a few pieces in her portfolio that stand out for their sheer difference in design. The above binding of The Essence of Beeing\u00a0by Michael Lenehan with illustrations by Alice Brown-Wagner\u00a0is bound\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\/TheEssenceOfBeeing-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\/TheEssenceOfBeeing-TraceyRowledge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/TheEssenceOfBeeing-TraceyRowledge.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9291,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/15\/bookbinder-of-the-month-tracey-rowledge-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":9256,"position":1},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Tracey Rowledge","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"March 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is one of my favorite bindings from Tracey Rowledge; the tooling is brilliantly executed and in such a way that is perplexing. Which is precisely why it was included in the interview. Tracey bound this edition of Auggie Wren's Christmas Story by Paul Auster in 1997 using native red\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\/AuggieWrensChristmasStory1997detail-TraceyRowledge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9412,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/31\/extra-bonus-bookbinder-of-the-month-tracey-rowledge\/","url_meta":{"origin":9256,"position":2},"title":"Extra Bonus \/\/ Bookbinder of the Month: Tracey Rowledge","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"March 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"To finish off the interview series with Tracey Rowledge, I wanted to present one final binding (or two really). Just last year Tracey bound two copies of A Little Treachery\u00a0by Libby Houston, one in full leather and one in paper. It can seem challenging to push the envelope with a\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\/ALittleTreacheryLeather-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\/ALittleTreacheryLeather-TraceyRowledge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/ALittleTreacheryLeather-TraceyRowledge.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":9256,"position":3},"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":[]},{"id":9325,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/26\/bonus-bookbinder-of-the-month-tracey-rowledge\/","url_meta":{"origin":9256,"position":4},"title":"Bonus \/\/ Bookbinder of the Month: Tracey Rowledge","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"March 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"To continue with the same theme from the prior post, I wanted to discuss another unique binding from Tracey Rowledge's portfolio. The binding is of a 1929 edition of\u00a0Vathek by William Beckford published by the Nonesuch Press. Bound as a fine binding in biscuit colored goatskin and feathered onlays. This\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\/Vathek3-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\/Vathek3-TraceyRowledge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vathek3-TraceyRowledge.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vathek3-TraceyRowledge.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9201,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/01\/march-bookbinder-of-the-month-tracey-rowledge\/","url_meta":{"origin":9256,"position":5},"title":"March \/\/ Bookbinder of the Month: Tracey Rowledge","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"March 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Tracey Rowledge bound her first copy of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets\u00a0in 1997 (shown above) years\u00a0before she would revisit the text again with a parallel\u00a0binding in\u00a02014. You have created two very similar bindings for T.S. Eliot\u2019s Four Quartets; bound in black goatskin with gold tooled markings. The gold tooled design on\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\/2015\/02\/Imperatoris-TraceyRoweledge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Imperatoris-TraceyRoweledge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Imperatoris-TraceyRoweledge.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Imperatoris-TraceyRoweledge.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9256","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=9256"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9261,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9256\/revisions\/9261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}