{"id":9497,"date":"2015-04-20T01:00:29","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T05:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=9497"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:47:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T19:47:49","slug":"book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/20\/book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Artist of the Month: Natalie Stopka"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Specimens1-NatalieStopka\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Up until this post, Natalie Stopka<\/a> has shared her techniques for natural dyeing<\/a>, as well as her methods for marbling and suminagashi<\/a>. In the last two posts for the month, we’ll look at two artist book projects starting with her 2011 book Specimens<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Can you talk about the concept behind this work and your inspiration for the book\u2019s structure?
\n<\/strong>I\u2019m very interested in the notion of fabricated histories, including artifacts of dubious or bogus provenance such as the Voynich Manuscript<\/a> or Cottingley fairy<\/a> photographs. In creating Specimens<\/em> I bound together the textile fragment collection of the (fictional) Dorcas Little, seemingly a phony collection that she had created and catalogued in the mid-1900s. Each textile fragment was hand sewn from vintage materials to look as if the fibers were is some aspect growing or reproducing. Mounted in a petri-shaped window, each piece is visible from both sides.<\/p>\n

\"Specimens3-NatalieStopka\"<\/a>\"Specimens4-NatalieStopka\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have a love\/hate attitude towards album structures, which are very useful for a book such as this, but generally inelegant and tedious to bind. I elected to use a double guarded album binding, which has the institutional appearance I was hoping for, but a somewhat more graceful movement. As if, in order to augment the appearance of authenticity, the collection\u2019s owner had commissioned the housing.<\/p>\n

\"Specimens2-NatalieStopka\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Up until this post, Natalie Stopka has shared her techniques for natural dyeing, as well as her methods for marbling and suminagashi. In the last two posts for the month, we’ll look at two artist book projects starting with her 2011 book Specimens. Can you talk about the concept behind this work and your inspiration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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}},"categories":[677,68,681],"tags":[680,678,1867,1742,1761],"class_list":["post-9497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-artist-of-the-month","category-bookbinding","category-feature-artist-book-of-the-week","tag-artist-book","tag-book-art","tag-bookbinding","tag-natalie-stopka","tag-specimens"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-2tb","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9511,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/27\/book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":9497,"position":0},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Natalie Stopka","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In this final post with Natalie Stopka, we continue the\u00a0discussion\u00a0on her\u00a0techniques that employ\u00a0natural pigments for dying and image making by looking at\u00a0her 2012 artist book Botanica. This binding consists of a series of eco-prints that are brilliant in both color and detail. Can you discuss the process behind eco-printing? Eco\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Botanica5-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Botanica5-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Botanica5-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Botanica5-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9463,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/06\/book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka\/","url_meta":{"origin":9497,"position":1},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Natalie Stopka","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"As a continuation from last week's post, I extended the conversation on natural dyes with book artist, Natalie Stopka.\u00a0During her time at the Center for Book Arts\u00a0as a\u00a0Van Lier\/Stein Scholar, Natalie also completed a collection of case bindings, where each component beautifully represents the subtleties of natural dyes. The variation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"CompleteDye-NatalieStopka","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/CompleteDye-NatalieStopka-1024x636.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/CompleteDye-NatalieStopka-1024x636.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/CompleteDye-NatalieStopka-1024x636.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9472,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/13\/book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":9497,"position":2},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Natalie Stopka","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Then & Now: Ten Years of Residencies at the Center for Book Arts is an upcoming exhibition celebrating two of the Center's core programs. Among the 50 exhibiting artists who participated in these programs over the last ten years is Natalie Stopka. Some of her recent suminagashi work, like those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Sumi2-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Sumi2-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Sumi2-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Sumi2-NatalieStopka.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9435,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/01\/april-book-artist-of-the-month-natalie-stopka\/","url_meta":{"origin":9497,"position":3},"title":"April \/\/ Book Artist of the Month: Natalie Stopka","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"April 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Natalie Stopka has conducted\u00a0extensive research and experimentation with natural dyes, which is partly what drew me to interview her on the blog. I've long been interested in incorporating natural dyes into my own work. So it's fair to say that I'm quite inspired by Natalie's work. At the end of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/ACuoreAperto3-JaniceGordonNatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/ACuoreAperto3-JaniceGordonNatalieStopka.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/ACuoreAperto3-JaniceGordonNatalieStopka.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/ACuoreAperto3-JaniceGordonNatalieStopka.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10296,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/31\/best-of-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":9497,"position":4},"title":"Best of 2015","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"December 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow, this has been a busy, busy year and I can't believe that 2015 is coming to end. I want to extend my gratitude to the people who have helped contribute to the blog this year: I also want to thank everyone who reads the blog, subscribes to the blog\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "best of"","block_context":{"text":"best of","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/best-of\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/bestof2015e.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/bestof2015e.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/bestof2015e.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/bestof2015e.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6370,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/05\/book-artist-of-the-month-jody-alexander\/","url_meta":{"origin":9497,"position":5},"title":"Book Artist of the Month: Jody Alexander","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"August 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"If She Thought It Would Help, Zelda Would Use Her Antediluvian Curse Cache to Attain Her Revenge\u00a0is the title for a 'boxed book' project that Jody Alexander created in 2004. The wooden box is packed with books on the left and found objects in compartments on the right. The exposed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "book artist of the month"","block_context":{"text":"book artist of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/book-artist-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/zeldadetail-jodyalexander.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/zeldadetail-jodyalexander.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/zeldadetail-jodyalexander.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/zeldadetail-jodyalexander.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9497","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=9497"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9509,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9497\/revisions\/9509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}