#Designer Bookbinder Newsletter | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sindar-princeling · 8 months

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Hello! I have a question for you and your followers. First I love the newsletter - I even signed my mom up for it and I'm enjoying my second year read through! But I also want to get physical copies of the books. My mom kept our old copies and refuses to let me steal them back to my home, so I figure I'm ready to get my own set. I figure there must be some really pretty editions/publications of the series out there (and of the hobbit and silmarillion too). Do you know of any versions of the series - whether by fan creators or big publishing houses - that are really gorgeous editions of the books?

Hi!

Fist of all - thank you so much for your kind words! I'm so happy you're enjoying the newsletter (again!), and I hope that your mom does as well! 🥰🥰

As for the LOTR editions - I for example love the English edition I own, which I got from a very dear friend (the one I have is the left one in the tweet below). It has Tolkien's illustrations in it, the cover underneath the dust jacket is very minimalistic, and the sides have the One Ring inscription on them, it looks amazing. And it looks great inside, too, there's a tiny bit of color for example in chapter titles, which I really enjoy. And you actually get all of LOTR in one book like jirt intended.

There's also this one, also by Harper Collins, which I really like because it uses Tolkien's originally unused dust jacket designs which he made for the first edition of LOTR.

Then there are these pretty classic editions by Mariner, which have very minimalistic covers and I love that - I actually have The Hobbit from this series! They feel like a pretty obvious choice to show you, but I really do like them a lot.

And then there's this pocket-sized box set by William Morrow which I ADORE. It's so minimalistic and simple and small. I love it so much.

And there are also these STUNNING versions but I'm not sure you can commission the author because he does bookbinding as a passion project. But just look at them, they're gorgeous:

I hope you see something you like here and I definitely encourage others to share their favourite editions!

#no questions except on party business #anon #lotr editions

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dddots · 3 years

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The Unassuming Mighty Amphibian (Skin)

Time is flying by so quickly, and I have been overwhelmed with work and various things that are happening all at once that is taking away time from updating this blog. However, I foresee some time coming up soon that I can put together posts about work that I have been doing these past couple of months in 2021.

One of the greatest achievements for this first quarter of 2021 is the publishing of the second part of my article in the Designer Bookbinders UK Spring newsletter. This is a follow-up of my earlier article in the Winter edition of the newsletter about my explorations with frog skin. In this issue, I showcase 2 books I made, using the frog skin as covering materials, onlays and parts of a box.

I must say, frog skin is extremely versatile and despite its tiny size and thinness, it far exceeds the initial assumption that it is weak and fragile. The skin is flexible, tough and very malleable, making it extremely nice to work with.

I am hoping that the uploaded images are big enough for reading, if not, do drop me an email and I will send you the pdf of the newsletter.

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thedsgnblog · 7 years

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Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage

“Blue Calendar is a hand bound block-calendar. The simple design of the 365 pages show the date and day of the week and moon phases. Size A6: 14 x 10 x 4,2 cm. The calendar can be used on your desk or attached to the wall. Its glued spine, which comes in 6 different colours, will give a subtle reflection when placed on a white wall or surface.”

Studio Aboarrage is a independent studio for graphic design and bookbinding based in Amsterdam. The studio develops a different range of work such as branding identities, design and binding small edition of books, portfolios and mostly collaborates with artists, cultural and commercial institutions.

T D B: instagram • twitter • facebook • newsletter • pinterest

#thedsgnblog #design #graphic design #calendar design #calendar #hand bound #print design #print #studio aboarrage #typography #product design #cool products #Industrial Design

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guildofbookworkers-blog · 7 years

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Book Review: Just My Type: A book about fonts

Review by Gabrielle Fox

Just My Type: A book about fonts by Simon Garfield with a foreward by Chipp Kidd.

GOTHAM BOOKS Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Hardcover, dust jacket, 5¾ x 8½ inches, 356 pages, U.S.$27.50, Can$32.00. ISBN 978-1-592-40652-4

An announcement of the publication of Just My Type caught my eye (the dust jacket design is striking) and I found myself smiling because it was somewhere out there in the world and not in a book related publication. It looked to be entertaining and informative, so I requested a copy to review.

I was enjoying reading it enormously until I came across another review by Paul Shaw in ‘Inprint-The Online Community for Graphic Designers’ which pointed out, on many occasions, that some of the information wasn’t true. That rather spoiled it and I put the book aside for several weeks, picking it up now and then to read a few pages or a chapter out of order.

Maybe it was Garfield’s humor that got up Shaw’s nose. Most of the time I really enjoyed the way Garfield presented the information and told the stories associated with the design of type. I do though have to agree with Shaw in taking exception to the statement, “And calligraphy is virtually gone, a craft Prince Charles is said to be keen on, hanging on grimly behind glass on the qualification certificates of quantity surveyors and chiropractors.” Shaw’s description is “snotty put-downs.” I just think Garfield is ill informed.

Just My Type is entertaining and informative. Apparently not all of the information is entirely correct, but overall I would say it is enjoyable and certainly taught me more about type design and has given me added reason to appreciate the work involved. This is not a history of type design, but does give historic information through chapters on various designers and observations on major shifts that have taken place as a result of technological changes in print communication.

Through my work as a binder I am aware of type design, but the stories Garfield tells have made me even more aware and did get me thinking of those early days, studying binding. We did so much work then with brass engraved hand held letters which were so incredibly expensive to purchase. Oh the hours we all spent trying to decide what type face to purchase and then what size. And the greatest disappointment was to find that what seemed a fail safe way to title a book, in the type face it was printed in, didn’t always look right or read well impressed with gold on a leather spine. The chapters in Just My Type illustrate similar specific examples of use which explains different typefaces’ use and influence.

This is a great read and will spark your curiosity to continue research. You will find yourself smiling when you pass the next road sign, turn on the computer or go to the grocery. The endpapers are the The Periodic Table of Typefaces and there is a bibliography to begin the list for more information.

I enjoyed this book so much I think GOTHAM BOOKS should publish another version with better reproductions of the examples and double check on the accuracy of all the information!

Gabrielle Fox is a bookbinder trained in England and now based in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the author of The Essential Guide to Making Handmade Books and is now writing the history of Larkspur Press.

Thanks are due to the GBW Newsletter, where this review was originally published.

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sinrau · 4 years

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Opinion by [Greg Sargent](https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/greg-sargent/

August 19, 2020 at 5:06 PM EDT

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany just had this exchange with a member of the media about President Trump’s ongoing attacks on the legitimacy of vote-by-mail:

REPORTER: Is the president saying if he doesn’t win this election, then he will not accept the results unless he wins? McENANY: The president has always said he’ll see what happens and make a determination in the aftermath.

McEnany went on to claim that Trump wants “a free election, a fair election,” note that extensive vote-by-mail might undermine public confidence in the results, and insist that this is Trump’s real concern. McEnany somehow managed to make all those claims without doubling over in paroxysms of laughter.

Support our journalism. Subscribe today.arrow-right

This exchange on Wednesday afternoon came after another one in which a reporter asked McEnany about Trump’s recent claim that “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.”

That reporter asked: “Does the president believe there is any circumstance under which he could lose the election fairly?” McEnany declined to answer, mumbling some nonsense about voter fraud and Trump’s towering popularity.

At risk of sounding overly earnest, can we just point out that all this is particularly heinous coming from the White House press secretary at an official briefing of the White House press corps?

Trump sometimes tweets this sort of thing at 5 a.m. from inside the White House while watching Fox News, and sometimes says it to reporters on the White House grounds. Those examples are terrible, to be sure.

But they are off-the-cuff. In this case, a senior member of his administration delivered this message very deliberately, in obviously scripted remarks, to the body of journalists who are theoretically on-site in the People’s House in order to hold the powerful to account on behalf of the American people — the people whose house it is supposed to be.

Sign up for The Odds newsletter for election updates from data columnist David Byler

“There’s no more direct attack on democracy than saying you’re not going to respect the outcome of an election,” Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told me.

But as Bookbinder noted, in this case, the White House itself is being used to project such an “anti-democratic” message, in a quasi-official way.

“It’s the People’s House,” Bookbinder said. “Saying there that you might not respect the result of the election does seem particularly galling.”

Indeed, it’s basically like saying: We just might not leave, no matter what the voters say.

“It’s sort of saying, ‘We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere,’” Bookbinder said. “That’s the kind of thing we see in countries where there are coups. It’s not the kind of conversation we have in the United States.”

It is often pointed out that we don’t know how serious Trump is about declaring the election illegitimate if he loses — he’s just trolling the elite liberal media! — or whether Trump will have a hard time getting away with saying that if he does lose. That sort of claim is of a piece with a larger tendency to claim that Trump rarely ends up accomplishing his authoritarian designs.

All of that is debatable at best. But it’s in many ways beside the point. As noted above, Trump is openly declaring right now that the outcome cannot be legitimate if he doesn’t win. He has explicitly said mail balloting, which will be amply employed amid pandemic conditions, will inevitably mean a rigged outcome. He hasn’t bothered to conceal his intention to dismiss ballots arriving after Election Day as illegitimate.

Whatever Trump’s seriousness about carrying this through — and whatever practical success he might be likely to have if he tries — it nonetheless sends a terrible message to his supporters, i.e., that they shouldn’t see our elections as capable of delivering a fair or legitimate outcome in which they come out on the losing side.

To have this delivered officially from the White House itself in this manner only underscores the utter contempt for our political system that Trump and his top officials harbor.

Indeed, this becomes even worse when you consider that Trump plans to deliver his speech accepting the GOP nomination at the GOP convention from the White House lawn.

This may or may not be legal: Even if the president is exempt from the Hatch Act, some experts say members of his administration planning the speech might be legally liable. But this, too, is somewhat beside the point: Legalities aside, what will once again be on display here is the administration’s utter contempt for our political system.

“The purpose of the Hatch Act is that you can’t be using the levers of the federal government to keep yourself in power,” Bookbinder told me. “To use the White House to promote your own reelection, and to use the White House to suggest you might not leave even if you lose, is about as serious an undercutting of the democratic ideals of this country as you can come up with.”

For Trump, this means just another day ending in “Y.” But the rest of us shouldn’t treat it that way.

#IFTTT #WordPress

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skuditpress · 4 years

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Episode #32: Brien Beidler and Mary Sullivan on the importance of the crafts of bookbinding and papermaking

This episode of the Ground Shots Podcast features a conversation with craftsfolk Brien Beidler and Mary Sullivan at the off-grid rural Idaho homestead of Jim Croft and Melody Eckroft during their summer 2019 ‘Old Ways of Making Books’ class.

Brien, Mary and I sat down at the end of a three week workshop period where we all had different roles as both teachers and students during Jim and Melody’s yearly or bi-yearly ‘Old Ways of Making Books’ class. Brien and Mary are highly skilled bookbinders who came to assist Jim Croft and also continue to learn and be mentored by him.

I’ve mentioned the old ways class on the podcast several times and posted about it on the blog over the years. Alyssa Sacora and I talk about the Old Ways class on the podcast, here. I posted a photo diary three years ago of my time at Jim and Melody’s homestead, here. I posted a recent photo diary documenting the hide tanning portion of the class from this summer, here.

From the beginning, Brien Beidler has been inspired by historic bindings, and is consistently delighted by their ability to harmonize fine craftsmanship, quirky but elegant aesthetics, and evidence of the hands that made them. Though traditionally structured and bound with integrity, Brien's bindings seek ways to create new compositions and juxtapositions of these historic precedents.

Naturally, a healthy love of the tools of the trade followed suit, and with the generosity and encouragement of toolmaking legends Jim Croft and Shanna Leino, Brien also creates a limited assortment of specialized hand tools for bookbinding and its related trades.

Over the last nine years Brien has taken and taught a variety of bookbinding and toolmaking workshops, and is an active member of the Guild of Book Workers. In the fall of 2016, he and his wife upped their roots in Charleston, South Carolina and set up shop in Bloomington, Indiana, where Brien works from his home studio with Wren, his curmudgeonly Brittany.

Some of Brien’s handmade tools:

Mary Sullivan grew up in Nashville, Tennessee and was one of those children who always seemed to be making something. After completing her BA in Fine Art from Maryville College in 2006 she worked as a designer and printer at the legendary Hatch Show Print, one of the country's oldest continually operating letterpress poster shops in Nashville, TN. After several years absorbing the history, materials, and tools of the trade she left Nashville temporarily to pursue an MFA in book arts at the renowned University of Iowa Center for the Book in Iowa City, Iowa.

Over the next 3 years she studied bookbinding, paper-making, printmaking, calligraphy, and book repair and was taught by some of the most respected practitioners in my field. Upon completing her MFA in Book Arts in 2014, she moved back to her hometown in Nashville and founded Crowing Hens Bindery, where she designs, makes, and sells everything from blank books to letterpress printed stationery, decorative papers, art prints, and tools; all made by hand, one at a time.

Some of Mary’s work:

In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:

how Brien and Mary met the bookbinder and papermaker Jim Croft and how he affected their relationships to bookbinding, printmaking, papermaking, and craft in general.

how learning about bookbinding and craft processes at Jim and Melody's homestead in northern Idaho is unique because of their land-based lifestyle

how Jim Croft's books are modeled after medieval era books, but are unique to him and the landscape of northern Idaho

the scavenge nature of Jim Croft's craft process

Brien talks about his focus on bookbinding, toolmaking etc. and his preference for making his books and tools accessible

Mary speaks on her work of bookbinding, printing, and art making; as well as her graduate school research on paper-making production

how industrialization affects the slow craft of bookbinding especially when using materials from the land and doing the process by hand and with the focus of quality books in mind

the effects industrialization has on the consumer's expectations of perfectionism, something that didn't always exist in bookbinding and paper-making historically

some bookbinding history

the responsibility of carrying on the trade of bookbinding and not losing the knowledge of how to make different styles of books

how capitalism affects our understanding and treatment of books

some talk on the value of art vs. craft in our culture

Links:

Jim and Melody’s website, where you can contact them about future classes out in Idaho (calling or writing letters is best): https://cargocollective.com/oldway

Brien’s website: https://www.beidlermade.com/

Brien’s instagram: @bhbeidler http://www.instagram.com/bhbeidler

Mary’s website: https://www.crowinghensbindery.com/

Mary’s instagram: @crowinghensbindery http://www.instagram.com/crowinghensbindery

Penland School of Craft: https://penland.org/

Friends of Dard Hunter paper-making conference: https://friendsofdardhunter.org/conference

University of Iowa Center for the Book: https://www.iowacenterforthebook.org

Support the podcast on Patreon to contribute to our grassroots self-funding of this project.

Support the Ground Shots Project with a one time donation: paypal.me/petitfawn

(include your email so I can send you a thank you note!!)

Our website with backlog of episodes, plant profiles, travelogue and more: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com

Our Instagram page @goldenberries

Join the Ground Shots Podcast Facebook Group to discuss the episodes

Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the Ground Shots Project

Theme music: 'Sweat and Splinters' by Mother Marrow

Produced by: Opia Creative

#bookbinding #craft #art #handmade

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mrmichaelmbarnes · 7 years

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Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage“Blue Calendar is a hand bound...

Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage

Blue Calendar by Studio Aboarrage

“Blue Calendar is a hand bound block-calendar. The simple design of the 365 pages show the date and day of the week and moon phases. Size A6: 14 x 10 x 4,2 cm. The calendar can be used on your desk or attached to the wall. Its glued spine, which comes in 6 different colours, will give a subtle reflection when placed on a white wall or surface.”

Studio Aboarrage is a independent studio for graphic design and bookbinding based in Amsterdam. The studio develops a different range of work such as branding identities, design and binding small edition of books, portfolios and mostly collaborates with artists, cultural and commercial institutions.

T D B: instagram • twitter • facebook • newsletter • pinterest

from The Design Blog http://ift.tt/2zw89pJ

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homelesssandiego · 7 years

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SDBA San Diego Book Arts San Diego Book Arts was established by a group of book artists in 1996 following a presentation to the Artists Guild of the San Diego Museum of Art, and it was designated a 501(c)3 nonprofit in 1999. Membership has grown to over 150 people representing many different fields including artists, collectors, graphic designers, bookbinders, conservators, librarians, teachers, writers and printmakers. For its members, SDBA publishes a monthly newsletter with local and national book arts information, mounts exhibitions, and offers teaching opportunities. It also brings members together through meetings, potlucks, collaborative projects, and outreach activities. For more information: http://www.sandiegobookarts.com/ Mailing Address: 1624 Forestdale Drive Encinitas, CA 92024

#sdba #san diego #Encinitas California #california #book #books #modern art #contemporary art #sculpture

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dddots · 4 years

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The Fortnight of Frog Skins

It is in my wildest dreams to think that I would ever have an article published in the Designer Bookbinders newsletter. And yet, this Winter issue, sees my first ever article, not about bookbinding per se, but about frog skins.

In early October, after meeting Chelsea Wan at Jurong Frog Farm, I started my journey of experimenting with curing frog skins into parchments and leathers.

If you fancy reading the other articles as well, the newsletter can be found here, on the Designer Bookbinders UK website.

#Bookbinding #Bookbinder #Designer Bookbinders UK #Designer Bookbinders UK Newsletter #DB UK #Adelene Koh #Adelene The Bookbinder #Singapore Bookbinder #Singapore Bookbinding #Frog Skin #Frog Skin Parchment #Frog Skin Leather #Frog Skin Experiments

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guildofbookworkers-blog · 7 years

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Book Review: Just My Type: A book about fonts

Review by Gabrielle Fox

Just My Type: A book about fonts by Simon Garfield with a foreward by Chipp Kidd.

GOTHAM BOOKS Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Hardcover, dust jacket, 5¾ x 8½ inches, 356 pages, U.S.$27.50, Can$32.00. ISBN 978-1-592-40652-4