London! Enameled Books

My friend, Amanda, reminded me that an enameled books show we are in at Studio Fusion would open while I was in London. How cool! I made my books at Penland, one during a summer class I visited and the other in February in the textiles studio. (That was such a nice day. Amanda and I hung out together--I was making a book, she was threading looms.) The exhibition features the work of the Ele Annand, Beate Gegenwarte, Cath Fairgrieves, Jane Wells Harrison, Amanda Thatch, Barbara McFadyen, Elizabeth Turrell and Eileen Wallace. It's a great collection of styles from simple to complicated and I am pleased to be a part of such a great group, especially with some Penland friends. I have been interested in making books for years so this opportunity was a real treat, too.

one of my books

Amanda Thatch

Ele Annand

I created a set on Flickr that includes process shots along with more views of the show.

Thanks for reading.

An Enameled Book

 front cover

I spent some time in the metals studio this week with Elizabeth Turrell and Eileen Wallace who have been teaching the class "Enameling for Books and More." I've been interested in book making for a long time and finally had a chance to learn how to build a simple book, made even more exciting for me because I got to make a metal book. I began by chopping up some steel into 2" x 2" pieces and brushed each with liquid enamels (just like I did a year ago in Helen Carnac's class). I used a scribe to draw on each, creating a sketch that linked from page to page. I had some problems with a few of the panels during firing and thought they were unusable until Elizabeth suggested I sandblast them. So I played around with sandblasting, removing material in specific places. Then I added more enamel, re-fired, and tried to reveal a little of the layers underneath as I smoothed the surfaces with an abrasive pad. What resulted is a wintry landscape that felt more like my work than my original plan for a simple linked drawing. Once each panel was complete I made an accordion style book with book cloth and Gudy V, a very sticky and strong sheet adhesive.

 pages

back cover

I loved enameling again after a year and it was fantastic to learn something new outside of my medium! It was also such a treat to be in the studio again with Elizabeth and to spend time with Eileen.

Lots more images on Flickr of the book and a few other samples.

Thanks for reading.