Author: callibeth

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Clamshell box #2 – measurement fail

clamshell box fail

I just finished making this clamshell box for my abecedarian pencil portfolio, “How To Be In The World”. Except that it’s about 1/16″ too shallow to fit all the pages! Simply checking the fit after I made the inner tray — the first of three components to be made — would have made all clear. But I didn’t.

So now I have a beautiful clamshell box that needs a content. And a stack of pages that still need a box. Ah, well, I had planned to make three clamshell boxes this week, to solidify what I learned in the online bookbinding class through the University of Utah. Looks like the second and third ones will be virtually identical!

Rachel envelope

It’s been that kind of day. I wrote a letter to my niece using sumi ink and a 1/2mm Brause dip pen. It looked quite nice, if I say it myself, except that I discovered a huge, wet splotch of sumi ink on the back of the letter when I began to fold it for mailing. I mailed it anyway. Sometimes you’ve just got to move on. (The scroll-point red marker on the envelope went a little better.)

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Bookbinding classes on the internet

Clamshell box and flat-back cased-in book.. Lavender from my friend Rose.

Early in the summer I came across the “Summer Bookmaking Series”, a variety of online summer offerings of University of Utah’s book arts program. You can see what was taught here (you may have to scroll down). One could sign up for the whole series, or do it a la carte, which is what I did.

I took the Flat-Back Case Binding on August 3, and made the green book pictured above with Emily Tipps during the two-hour session. I was impressed by both Emily, for teaching it so clearly in the allotted time period, and me, for following along successfully in that same two hours! The recordings of the classes are available a month after the live class. (Yes, I have some shiny spots on the spine front of my book. I could have avoided that by taking a little time taken to cover the surface when bone folding, or by using a Teflon folder instead. It’s a model. I’m happy.)

The Clamshell Box was not part of the series, but a stand-alone class. I signed up too late (in May!) to get into the live August 15 class, but there was an option to buy the session recording and materials kit. This is what I did. When the recording became available a few days after the live class, I watched the seven videos and made my clamshell box with very little trouble.

I’m very pleased with what I learned in both classes, and will make a few more of each before my time for viewing the recordings runs out.

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My work in Letter Arts Review!

My ABC pencil portfolio in Letter Arts Review!

On Monday, I was thrilled to receive my copy of the current issue of Letter Arts Review. It’s always a good day when the LAR arrives, but especially so this time: my ABC pencil portfolio, How to Be In The World, was featured in it — all 28 pages! If you follow this blog, you’ve read about the portfolio several times here. The final product is definitely a ship of Theseus: every single page has been redone at least once.

Although I’m understandably infatuated with those particular pages, the entire issue is an excellent one. It includes an interview with the inimitable Julie Wildman, a book project by Louise Grunewald, Anna Pinto on pastels and pochoir, and more. Get your own copy here.

(In a few weeks, I may be letting up on the exclamation points. Maybe.)

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The Nota Bene of Big Sky Scribes

Recent of issues of the Big Sky Scribes’ Nota Bene.

As editor of the Nota Bene, Big Sky Scribes’ triannual publication, it is always a pleasure to sort through the many contributions from our state guild’s members to put together an issue that showcases their work. The most recent issue went out to members a couple of weeks ago. That lovely image on the latest cover by Shelby Barrentine commemorates Earth Day.

As a side note, did you know that “triannual” means three times a year, while “triennual” means once every three years? Just thought I’d clear that up.

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Big Sky Journal, Tom Morgan Rodsmiths, and fly rods

I’m in a recent issue of Big Sky Journal! Well, my hand is. That clenched grip is *surely* an anomaly, right? but writing on the curved surface of a 4-weight (or 3-weight!) fly rod with fast-drying gold paint is a challenge. This is a fly rod in progress at Tom Morgan Rodsmiths in Bozeman, Montana.

I’ve been writing on these fly rods since at least 2015. I’ve written about the process earlier on this blog.

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A small peek at a recent commission

Commission work. Poem lettered for accordion book. Covers: bookcloth over boards. Text: Stonehenge, sumi ink, gouaches, watercolor. About 5 in x 9 in.

Last month I had the honor of lettering and binding a poem written for a wedding anniversary. I was quite pleased with the result, and so were they. (Lettering blurred for privacy considerations.)

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More work in the Built Up Capitals online class

classwork for week 4 of Built Up Capitals class
18 in x 12 in. Three gouache colors, #4 and #5 Mitchell nibs, on Arches MBM. Text from “Unmarked Boxes” by Rumi.

These versal variations are simply addictive. Slowly, slowly, I internalize how to waist the strokes (but not too much), how to finish the finials squarely, how to add a hairline serif. Then my concentration drifts and so does the width of the stroke, the slant of the letter, the shape of the bowl.

I was really focusing on the letter forms, and the layout was planned only line by line. As I imagine happens with a writer of a serial novel, I wrote myself into a couple of dead ends. And added the squares at the end to break up a hole that had formed.