Knotting Issues

Weaver’s KnotI’ve tried to teach myself to knit several times — using a kit I bought (at Target of all places), youtube videos, a book my friend Kate lent me. Nothing took, all I ended up with were cramped fingers and a pile of yarn. Then Kate gave me an in-person lesson, and now I can knit a couple of basic stitches. So when someone posted on the Books Arts list asking how to do a Weaver’s Knot (used to join 2 pieces of bookbinding thread together), I followed all the suggestions (and then some I found on my own) to see what worked best for me. Turns out that a youtube video using a very big piece of rope was the one I would return to first. Here’s some more that were useful.

  • Very cool site with lots of animations and instructions for all sorts of knots. The
    sheet bend is apparently the same as the weaver’s knot
  • To the left is a diagram from David Foster’s Connecting Thread tutorial. It has more photos and instructions and is part of a longer set of book tutorials.
  • And for those that like to read instructions rather than use pictures, here is a written step by step explanation.

    Know anymore that you’ve used?

    • Lizanne van Essen’s Medical Books

    Osteoporosis by Lizanne van EssenLizanne van Essen makes cut paper artists’ books with surprising subjects. She’s recently made a set of “medical books” in which she is

    endeavouring to incorporate medical conditions into a body of books. Humans have ailments and diseases and conditions, and for centuries books have passed on knowledge about the illnesses and their cures. Some illnesses can be passed on by touch, so the book itself could spread disease as well as possible cures, thus books used by victims would be destroyed. At the same time books themselves often suffer from their own variety of ills — some akin to human ones — breaks and tears; insect and fungal infestations; spots and blotches; missing or amputated parts. Inspired by my daughter I wondered what it would be like if, instead of informing the reader about human medical conditions, the books themselves displayed these actual conditions.

    The book above is called “Osteoporosis.” You can see more, with titles like “Measles” and “Parasitic Worms,” here. And all her artist’s books here.

    Book Collecting: Warwick Press

    A Flowing printed by Warwick PressFor my birthday this year I got another letterpress printed poetry chapbook for my collection. It’s one I saw at the Codex Foundation Book Fair, from Warwick Press. Peter Fallon’s poem “A Flowering” starts

    They were not on the maps.
    Notes of their known habitats
    recorded nothing here
    or hereabouts.

    and is about looking for evidence of bears on walks in the woods. It’s beautifully printed, with small bear tracks across the bottom of the page and cover.

    Winter 2009 Ampersand

    Winter 2009 AmpersandIt may be almost spring, but the Winter 2009 Ampersand has just gone into the mail to subscribers. (I edit this quarterly journal for the Pacific Center for the Books Arts). In this issue:

    • Profile / Tamar Stone (I wrote about her here)
      Tamar Stone creates bookworks that present narratives from the lives of women from the 1800s to the present day. Deborah Kogan describes how Stone has developed two major bodies of work.
    • Connections / A Poem in Your Pocket
      Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day — April 30 — by making a small poetry book to share. Cathy Miranker explains how. Included in the issue is a template for the book, and a library pocket to store it in.
    • Techniques / Papermaking
      In the second of three articles on papermaking, Ginger Burrell talks about artist’s books using embedded objects in handmade paper.
    • Techniques / Double-Fan Adhesive Binding
      Quick and easy, the double-fan adhesive or millennial binding is a great solution for turning single sheets into an extremely durable paperback book that opens flat and stays open. Susan Angebranndt tells how.
    • Book Review / Magic Books & Paper Toys
    • Appreciation / Steve Woodall
      Last fall, Steve, long active in the PCBA, moved from San Francisco to Chicago to become the Director of Columbia College’s Center for Book & Paper Arts. He’ll be much missed by those of us in San Francisco.

    The Guerilla Poetics Project

    When I teach beginning letterpress at SFCB, I start the class off by asking everyone why they want to learn to print. Many are graphic designers wanting to get their hands dirty by doing non-computer typographic work. But occasionally I get a student like Kim who has no type design background but wants to print for other reasons. Kim learned letterpress printing in order to participate in the Guerilla Poetics Project — a group dedicated to propaging a love of poetry. They letterpress print small (4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″) poetry broadsides that they then insert (smuggle is their term) into books in bookstores & libraries, to be found and enjoyed by the unsuspecting reader. (They encourage you to report finds to their website.)
    Last Sunday I gave Kim a private lesson, teaching her the ins and outs of a floor model platen press. Since her first class with me on the tabletop press, she’s taken more letterpress classes and on her own hand-set and printed a small poetry broadside for the Obama inauguration. She brought her broadside to show me along with some other examples, and we spent a lovely morning printing.
    Do check out their website… I particularly like the poem and broadside below (the geometry of relationship on the rocks by Justin Barrett).

    the geometry of relationship on the rocks