Leather Love - A Bookbinding Day at Knuston

Cup-of-Tea Warning!  This post is quite long and has lots of photos - you may need a cuppa and a bikkie, before attempting to read it all through!
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A Bookbinding Day at Knuston Hall

I spent yesterday at Knuston Hall, on a bookbinding course and had a fab time.  The tutor, Doug, was a very nice person, who is a book conservator and restorer "in his day-job" and so knows loads about paper, leather, bookbinding methods and history.
It was a pleasure to be taught by someone who really knows his stuff and who was really interested and keen to see what his students produced.  There were seven of us altogether, which was a good number to have, as there was plenty of space for us all to work and to see the tutor's demonstrations.  There was a good spread of ages across the group too - from a young woman in her 20's, to two ladies who are retired and still busy - and Doug wasn't the only male member of the group, as there were male students too.

I think we were from quite varied backgrounds too - the two men in the group were engineers (I think, from the way they were talking to each other and jokes they made about measuring machines and special drills to do their paper-holes etc!), there was an upholsterer, someone who works at the council offices, people who sew and knit - and a bookbinder (guess who?).  I think we were a good group (I hope Doug would have agreed - I think we behaved ourselves and I tried not to be a smart-alec, as I was very aware that I most certainly did not know nearly as much as the tutor!!).


The course was to make a leather book, using a traditional Longstitch Early Codex binding method.  I had been looking forward to this very much and was a teeny bit excited... (perhaps I should get out more, but, you know...books...paper... bookbinding... well...).

So, we had some lovely examples to look at, which Doug had made:

Some beautiful details in these books - decorative stitching on the spine, lovely shapes cut into the fold-over flaps, interesting fastenings....

The last two photos are of a book with a vellum cover (that's vellum made with skins, not "vellum" paper).  It really was translucent and rather beautiful.  The fastening is made with two straps, that are attached to the fold-over flap on the front, then wrapped over to the spine, where they are fastened by pushing two hand-made vellum buttons through holes cut into the straps.  I think the design is based on original mediaeval bindings.  It certainly was rather impressive, with the fabulous stitching details and clever fastening. 

In fact, all the examples were lovely (I didn't photograph all of them... duh...). 

Inspiring - makes you want to make something lovely too!

So, we had some very nice leather pieces to choose from...

lovely paper for pages, and good instructions and demonstrations...

 

So, we made a spine stiffener, learned how to mark up the positions of the holes and how to mark the paper sections (which were already prepared for us by Doug-the-super-star!)...

Then we stitched our books... (for some reason I didn't remember to photograph that bit... too busy and forgot the camera, I think!)

...then spent some time making decorative fold-over flaps, fastenings and embellishments.

This lovely book was made by Katherine, whose table was facing mine.  She used a strip of the same leather, reversed to show its sueded side and made a wrap-round fastening.  The strip of leather wraps round a flower, which she made herself, from two short lengths of leather and a third piece that she wound into a flat coil and glued to the centre.  Isn't it beautiful? (I did ask her permission to photograph it and publish it on my blog - thank you Katherine!).

There were so many clever ideas and variations of decoration and fastening.  Everyone was really quite clever and ingenious.  I loved seeing what the other students all came up with - I think Doug did too, as he said he was leaving his example book unfinished (which he was making to show us the various techniques), so he could see what ideas we came up with for ours and maybe be inspired to do something new with his own!

And several of us began a second book, as we had some time left at the end of the afternoon and our tutor had brought spare materials (which we all paid him for, so he didn't lose out!)

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I really had a lovely day yesterday.  And, being at Knuston, it meant that we were also very well cared for and well fed!  There was excellent coffee, homemade biscuits at morning break, cake in the afternoon (though we didn't go for our break... we were all too busy - but I know there were very nice cakes, because I snagged one on my way home - oink...).... and lunch was really yummy too - a proper cooked meal, with the choice of three different hot dishes, with rice or potatoes, or cold meats if we preferred.  There was a salad table too, with a great selection to help ourselves to.  And two different puddings to choose from also.  Amazing that we didn't all fall asleep after lunch - I think it was a testament to the tutor's excellence that we were too interested in our work, to even think of dropping off at our desks!

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And me... what did I make?  Of course I intend to show off a bit, because I am proud of what I made, both yesterday and also an extra little book, which I made today:

Lizzie's Book One

Longstitch Early Codex Leather Binding - Buff-coloured calf leather, stitched with ivory hand-waxed linen thread.  Four sections of 14 leaves (28 pages/ sides per section - 56 leaves/pages - 104 sides in total), of  120gm cream-white smooth paper by Conservation by Design.  The paper was pre-cut and folded into sections, so I had only to bind it into a book (lucky me!).  Measures 20 x 14cm / 7.75" x 5.75" (almost A5 size).

I made a fold-over flap with integral tab, which is used to fasten the book, by tucking into a decorative leather bar on the cover.  I used a patterned stitched panel on each side of the fastening bar, stitched in matching linen thread. 

When I got home, I modified the tuck-in tab, by trimming the end corners, so it was more pointed and would slide through the bar more easily (the corners kept catching when I tried to slide it through - now it works very well).

Lizzie's Book Two

The photos are of the finished book.  I brought home a completed binding, with the cover and fastening not completed.

Longstitch Early Codex Leather Binding - Dark green sheep leather, with embossed false grain, stitched with ivory hand-waxed linen thread.  Four sections (56 pages/ 104 sides) of off-white Zerkall Butten 145gsm paper.  Measures 17 x 13.5cm / 6.5" x 5.25".

Once I was home, I added the red leather thongs, as fastenings - also to make a pen-holder inside the fold-over flap.  Even though I had fixed the ends of the folded strips, by glueing them inside, they still flapped and didn't sit very well, so I added some stitching to secure them and make nice, firm loops. 

I spent some time messing about with the other ends of the strips, tried adding beads to the ends, considered whether I should have some kind of button to hook the loops over and wrap the ends round... In the end, it was the simple solution that worked best - pass the strips through the loops, then double them round and tuck in on the back of the book - "simples", as the nice meerkat says!

Lizzie's Book Three

Today was "Scrap Club" day!  Two days out in a row - and Mr. LizzieMade didn't mind at all... he even made me a packed lunch (of course, it may be that I am impossible to live with and he was relieved to have some peace...but he hasn't complained and I hope that it's only that he is so nice and generous and kind, that he likes me to have fun!). 

Aaaanyhooo.... I spent part of the morning on this:

 

Longstitch Early Codex Leather Binding - Deep teal-coloured suede (calf I think...), stitched with golden yellow hand-waxed linen thread. The suede is lined with patterned paper (it's medium-weight scrapbooking paper). 

The book has 30 leaves/pages (60 sides) of hand-made cotton paper.  I used water to wet the folds, before tearing the large sheets into pages, so all edges are either natural deckle or hand-torn.  As the paper is quite bulky, I decided that only thirty pages, in five sections, was plenty for a small book (this measures approx 11cm / 4.5" square). 

I tried a variation in the stitching on the spine - having waffled on at length yesterday lunchtime, while wondering how "people I know" manage to make this particular stitching pattern.  I had thought it must be complicated and need two separate needles...

Of course it isn't complicated at all.  The basic stitching method is like a back-stitch, so there are two threads on each section of the spine.  The pattern is made by simply passing the needle beneath the previous thread, on the second and subsequent stitches. 

It really is very easy-peasy and I felt like a real twit yesterday, when I tried this stitching for my fastening bar, on the buff-coloured book, and discovered how very straighforward it is - after all my daft wonderings!  Sometimes I wonder how I've managed to live so long...  

Anyway, there it is, a nice crossed stitch effect in golden yellow.  I then stitched a deep yellow button to the fold-over flap (If I had been clever, I'd have done this before I stuck down the lining paper, then I wouldn't have had to tease it apart and re-stick it!).  The fastening is simply a piece of turquoise linen thread, which is passed through the leather from inside.  The thread wraps round the button.  That's it - nice and straightforward, for a change!

I really do like this little book and it was great to make one "all by myself", without an expert to hand, to rescue me if I messed up.  I didn't mess up anyway - just the little hiccup with the lining paper being stuck down, but that was just lack of experience, which meant I didn't think the whole design through before I started.  Next time...

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So, this is what I made this weekend:

Three Longstitch Bindings, that I'm very proud of!

One or two things I need to improve on, but I think it's a very encouraging start.

Thanks to Doug, for a great day's workshop and for patiently bearing with my idiot ramblings about "difficult" stitching patterns. 

Scrap Club - Four Pages in One Day!

... must be a record (for Lizzie!)

Sunday was Scrap Club day.  As my title says, I managed 4 pages, which is pretty good going for me.  I tend to be slow and dreamy when scrapping, so it's not often that I manage more than 3 pages. 

I had a couple of details to finish, so I did that this afternoon, while the Gas engineer was overhauling the heating!

I used an adaptation of Shimelle's "Stash Diving" technique.  For Christmas I received a rather lovely and very thick pad of scrap papers, from my lovely Niece.  It is called "Lost and Found" by My Minds Eye.  There are a number of colourways and lots of designs, all co-ordinating beautifully.

I chose papers from three "sets", to go with a number of photos I wanted to scrap.  Then I cut pieces/strips of the papers and arranged them to make good backgrounds for my pages, using extras to mount the photos and create some embellishments. 

I have ended up with two single and one double layout; and I'm really pleased with them!  While I won't use this technique every time, it's certainly a handy starting point for creating some good pages with co-ordinating papers.

Here they are:

"Location Location Location"

The two photos are of our very favourite place, Wells-Next-the-Sea, in Norfolk.  As the journalling says, we'd love to live there, if funds and logistics would allow it.  We can't so we have to settle for frequent holiday visits. 

For those who are not familiar with "Kirsty and Phil", the title is borrowed from a popular British tv programme, where two property finders help people to locate their perfect homes. 

I cut little hearts from some scraps of the patterned papers, then used one of my small lino stamps, to make two prints, which I cut with a scalloped punch.  One was printed with a soft turquoise ink, the other with a much brighter shade, so I layered them, with the bright one raised on foam sticky-pads.

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"Play Your Happy Music"

James loves his guitar - possibly more than he loves Sherlock!  He plays it every day and composes his own music.  His tunes are always "happy" and I love to hear him play.  It makes me smile! 

Recently I had a "proud mummy moment", when he played in a local fund-raising concert, at the church in a nearby village.  His friend, A,  got the concert started and his mum helped to organise it.  They did a fantastic job, arranging for the local middle school to bring their choir to sing and for local amateur and professional musicians to play for us.  A and another friend, M, have a band together; James joined them, with his guitar, as they sang / played two very nice songs.  James also had his own "spot", playing "Romance" by John Brunning, plus a tune he had composed himself, which he called "Spanish Armada" - it really sounds very Spanish and is a good, stirring piece, which he plays very well.  The concert raised a good bit of money - over £700 - which was split between the church fund and a charity nominated by A & his family.  We were all very proud of our boys!

The photo on this layout isn't from the concert, but it is James practicing.  We weren't allowed to take photos during the concert, however I know that A's mum did take one of James - I must ask her for a copy of it!

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"Oh for a Book - and a Shady Nook"

Little E. loves to read her story books.  Keri-Anne took these wonderful photos of her reading and drawing. I think they are so lovely and just had to make a layout with them.  It ended up being a double-page layout, as I didn't want to separate them. 

I chose the large letters to emphasise the "Oh" and "Book", as I wanted to have a good "stand-out" title, but obviously couldn't make all words equally large.  This worked really well, with the two "speech marks" and the little pink letters for the rest of the quote.  I wrote the name and dates in grey pen, underneath the quote.  I used my new heart border punch to make some little trims for the title boxes, then cut larger hearts and some butterflies, to embellish little corners of the photos etc.  The cut-out hearts from the edging punch made great "confetti" to decorate the journalling box.  I haven't written any journalling - I think I will ask Keri-Anne to help me with that.

The photo isn't very good - in fact, none of the photos are good, as the light was very poor this afternoon.  You'll just have to believe that these pages look much nicer "in real life"!

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My other Project this weekend, was to have another go at tidying and organising my Studio.  I didn't get it all done - there is still a lot to do - but I made some progress:

I put the folding table under the window.  It had been cluttering up the middle of the room, in the way of the white desk and shelves.  Now the room feels enormous! 

It's hard to see, but there is now an extra shelf at the bottom of the unit.  I had a big stack of paper on the bottom shelf, which was too difficult to get into.  Whenever I needed something, I had to lift out all the paper, so I could get at what I wanted; I had cleared the second shelf from the bottom (the one that's visible, without much on it now) and put half the paper storage on that.  However, the shelf has a big space above it, which wasn't being used.  We have added an "in-between" shelf, so my paper can all be stored on two shelves, but I now have the tall space back, to use for boxes etc.  Still need to sort it out, but I'll get there soon! 

I did tidy my desk and table, but the mess crept back onto them very speedily - especially when I got lots of stuff out, to get ready for Scrap Club!

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The other thing I did on Saturday afternoon:

"Midsummer", by Mariann Johansen-Ellis - a lino reduction print.

I've had this print, which I bought from Mariann, since June 2010. 

It had been languishing in a folder, shamefully neglected, along with all my other prints. 

I finally got it framed up and mounted on the wall, above my white desk (spot the reflections)!  

And I was fed-up with having all the lovely art prints I'd collected, sitting in a folder, waiting for me to save up for frames and mounts.  So, I cut some pieces of white and black card, then mounted them with invisible photo-corners (so I didn't damage them).  Then I attached them all to the wall behind my desk.  I think they look fabulous!

On the left are three wonderful photographs, by my very talented niece, Keri-Anne Pink. 

There are prints here by four artists. 

Top left: Three Cat Lino Prints, Lori Dean-Dyment; Below: "Dandelions", Nina Moscrip (was Clough); 

Bottom Left and also the other bird prints along the bottom row: Amanda Colville;

Top of the middle section - the deep blue owl print - "Night Flight", Celia Hart. 

To the right, next to my poster: "Old Books" reduction lino print, Jennifer Bass; 

details of two prints by John W. Golden. 

The other four prints?  Well, they are my own work and I thought I really should put them up on my own wall!  They are "Reflection" - a three-colour lino reduction print; "Spanish Lemons" - a four-colour lino reduction; the central one, below the clock, is a drypoint etching, "Lace Birds", which I did on my printmaking course at Knuston.  At the top right is a collograph print, which I also did at Knuston; it's not fabulous, but it's not awful either and I like it, so there it is!!

And that is my new Art Wall, that I have been threatening to make for about two years!

So, I think I achieved something this weekend.  Quite pleased with myself!

Knuston Idea and Opinions Wanted

Hello again everyone.

Well, it looks as if the Pass the Page blog hop has been a success - thank you Julie, it was a great idea! 

Knuston

I'm posting again today, to see if anyone is interested in my Knuston crafting idea - see the previous post here, for more information.  I would like to sort it out reasonably quickly, so if you do want to come along - or you might do - please give me a shout.

It's not an "official" Bloggers' crafting trip or anything, just a little holiday for anyone who fancies some crafting and company in a really nice, relaxing setting.  Knuston is tucked away in a small village and is surrounded by fields, plus its own gardens, so it's a lovely and peaceful spot. 

I'm happy to make the initial booking, which will reserve the craft room for us.  But there is no point going all on my own - I may as well stay home and craft here (in between doing the laundry etc!).  If two or three friends care to join me, then it'll be worth making the booking at Knuston - I'm sure we'd all have an enjoyable break.

Bloggers' Scrapping Weekend No. 2

On the subject of Bloggers going away to do crafts...  I did promise that we'd try and organise another Weekend, particularly for those who couldn't make it in November.
The original dates that were (tentatively) mentioned, were weekends at the start of March.

I wonder how you all feel about one of the weekends at the beginning of March, or else the end of April or 2nd weekend in May?
Whenever we decide we want to go, we need to get our skates on to find a venue and make bookings.  Jo has very kindly started some enquiries for suitable venues, but I thought it would be a good idea to check who might be interested - and when.  That would help us when enquiring for availability and prices. 

Sooooo..  Who might like to go to a Second Bloggers' Scrapping Weekend? 
March - 1st or 2nd weekend - 2nd-4th or 9th-11th March?
April - 3rd or 4th weekend - 20th-22nd or 27th-29th April?
May - 2nd weekend - 11th-13th May?

Any opinions please?

Invitation to Friends - 3 days of crafting, anyone?

Okay, so this is a quick post, as I'm supposed to be Working Hard!

I have been trying - in between book binding and workshop writing - to find a venue for a second Bloggers' Weekend...  No luck so far, but I will try again next week. 

However, it occurred to me that Knuston Hall might be able to help.  They had e-mailed subscribers (that means me!), to say that a course was cancelled, so some rooms were available etc.  I thought perhaps they might have a long weekend with no courses, in the Spring (a bit of a long shot, but worth a try).  So I rang them. 

They only have free weekend spaces in February.  No good, as far too soon and I'll be in Spain!  But, but but...  From Wednesday 11th to Friday 13th April, there are rooms available.  On a special deal...  And Mr LizzieMade says he would take time off work to be at home for J.  How lucky am I?!

If anyone is interested in joining me (but we might need to be quick!), we could go to Knuston Hall for 2 nights and they would allow us to use the Practical Room for crafting (a large classroom/studio where I did my bookbinding and printmaking courses). 
For the bargain price of £188 for a Single Room, or £164 for a Shared Room, full board. 

That seems amazing value to me.  Their normal rate would be over £200 for a shared room.  The meals they serve are fantastic.  Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - all cooked and with choices. All really yummy.  Clean and tidy bedrooms, all en-suite.  Comfortable and clean public rooms.  All very nice.

Knuston Hall, by the way, is in Northamptonshire.  It's close to Wellingborough - which is on the main rail line to /from Kings Cross, also close to Rushden and about 15 miles from Bedford (to the south) and Northampton (to the west).  Bedford is on the main Thameslink/ St Pancras line and Northampton is on the Kings Cross line.

So, if you might fancy it, do get in touch.  My e-mail is "Lizziemade (at) aol (dot) com".  I need to know soon though, as the availability might vanish...

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19/1/12 4pm - Update to clarify a few things / more info

I called Knuston to ask a few questions and clarify a couple of things. 

Current availability is good, because they had a cancelled course.  There are still quite a few single rooms available, as well as shared rooms. 
The initial payment would be a Deposit of £40 on booking, with the balance due a month before - ie. by 11th March.
The £188 / £164 would include 2 nights' accommodation - Wednesday and Thursday - with all meals, starting with lunch on Wednesday and ending with lunch on Friday, after which we'd all pack up and go home.

If you're interested, contact me first, so I can confirm that it's going ahead etc.  You'd then make your booking and payment direct with Knuston.

19/1/12 - 10pm

A Further Update to Clarify something!

Some people have commented that they can't come because it is school holidays etc...  There seems to be a belief that this is "The Second Official Bloggers' Weekend".  It's not!!  A second "proper" weekend is currently under investigation - perhaps for March (if it's not too soon), late April, maybe May...  the closer we get to summer, the trickier it may be to organise it cheaply, but we'll see.

This invitation is just from me, to my blog friends (old or new!), who may fancy a couple of days away, with your crafting kit, yummy food that you don't need to cook, a nice room to yourself (or you and a friend), a lovely venue and some other crafters for company.  If two or three folks want to come along, then I'll book myself a bed, reserve us a craft room and confirm that I'm going, so you can also make your own bookings! 

I hope that is clear (as mud...).
XX
Lizzie

Weekend Adventure

Well, I'm back in the "real world", after my three days away at Knuston Hall.  I had a great weekend break and learned so much. It was definitely worth it and I am so glad I stayed over on Friday and Saturday nights, as I got to join in with the evening sessions and keep focussed on the projects I was doing, without being distracted by the minutiae of day-to-day home life.  Mind you, I missed D. and  J.  I'm not used to being away from home for any stretch of time. I've only gone away on my own a handful of times in the last 12 or 13 years - to a wedding in Germany, a visit to my auntie... not sure if there were any others! I think I'm a stay-at-home type really, though I love going on trips with my boys.

So, what did I do all weekend? 

Friday

Well, on Friday there was a one-day bookbinding course.  The original course description was that we'd make a "book with a difference", using traditional binding methods, to create a book with envelopes and interesting pages, with leather cover.  However, when we all arrived, it was obvious we wouldn't achieve this.  The College had over-booked the course - 13 people instead of the usual maximum of 8.  The tutor handled it well, but there just wasn't time for her to help everyone do such a complicated book, so we ended up making a "normal" hand-bound book, with a traditional Case binding, with paper-covered boards and a book-cloth spine.  It was very good and I did learn quite a few new things, but I was disappointed, as I'd hoped to cover several things that I'd never done before and there just wasn't time.  Still, I have an almost-finished book, that I brought home to complete.  I decided not to rush it on Friday afternoon, as I might mess it up. 

Here it is just now - it needs a little trimming of the end papers, the case needs to be lined with plain paper (to make it smooth before I attach the book block), then I need to glue the book block into the case and let it dry thoroughly .

This is the finished Book Block - ie. the pages have been cut/torn, folded and stitched together. The end-papers (green paper) have been applied and the spine has been strengthened with Mull (a stiffened muslin fabric) and kraft paper.  If you look at either end of the spine, you will see the headbands of coloured thread. These came ready-stitched on tapes, which can be cut to the correct length. I would like to learn to sew my own, but on a one-day course, time would not allow for such a luxury! Besides, these ones are very nice.

This is the Case for the book.  It's actually upside down, but that doesn't matter really.  If you look at the blue cloth spine, you will see that it curves.  This is because there is no stiffening board inside it. The spine will be fairly soft (though it is quite strong and the book block was strengthened).  I need to line the inside of this, with paper that will make it smooth.  Then, when the endpapers are glued in, to attach the book block, there will be no ugly lumps and bumps.

Here is an idea of how the book will look when finished. You'll see that it's not straight and the end papers need to be trimmed, as they stick out just now. The pages are hand-torn, so the edges should be uneven (it's called a "deckle").  I hope to finish this tomorrow afternoon.

So, that was Friday, up to 4:30pm.  It may not look like much, but there are a lot of steps in making a book of this kind. I learned the correct way to do this - an improvement on my previous method, which was not so sturdy or lasting and had meant I did not manage to put so many pages in my books.  I had also had a lot of problems with making some of the cases fit. I hope I will be able to solve those problems now!  I did actually take a "disaster" with me, to ask the tutor for advice (her name was Janine Pope). She was very kind and explained where I had gone wrong and what to do about it.  I definitely feel that it was time well spent and I had great fun.

Saturday and Sunday

From Friday evening, at around 8:15, we had the Printmaking course.  We began by making a Collograph Plate.  This is a technique that uses a piece of board as a support, onto which items are fixed with archival quality glue (we actually used normal wood glue, which is a strong pva).  The idea is to create texture and interest. Everyone had a different approach and their own ideas.  Janine had made some fabulous plates, with square/rectangular areas that each contained a series of shapes, holes etc, built up into an arrangement that pleased her.  The plate could be inked all over, or just in part(s). Once printed, the print could be cut into sections, to use for other pieces of work, or to display in those sections. 

This is my plate.  It started as something totally different, but turned itself into a sort of seascape.  That seems to be how things go for me - a germ of an idea develops all on its own, into something I didn't plan! (it's not always like that  - I can spend ages making sketches or diagrams, but it does happen if I start work with only mental images and nothing on paper - an adventure really!)

A detail of the bottom area, showing the various fibres, card and paper I used to build up the plate. There are areas of cut card, which are "Drypoint Board" - it has a shiny coating that allows the ink to be wiped off (or mostly wiped off), giving lighter areas.  I also cut and chiselled areas out of the mount board support, to give added texture.

There is tissue paper here, also a bit of net bag, which a sponge or something was packed in.  The dark grey, shiny stuff is carborundum.  This is a gritty material, which will hold ink and give a dense area on the print.

The whole plate was coated in a thin layer of pva, then left to dry thoroughly (which can take a while, as the pva used to stick the textured parts on can take a long time to dry).  Once it was all dry, the plate was coated again, this time with shellac (a yellow varnish).  This would prevent the ink from sinking into the plate and allow ink to be applied, worked with and wiped off etc.

Here are two of the prints I made with the collograph plate.  The colour palette for the top print was much darker than the one below. I had paynes grey and dark blue, also more umber and sienna.  It produced  a much darker print first. The print shown here was taken by making a second printing from the plate, without applying any more ink. I like it (though I have stupidly got a splodge of dark ink on the "sun" and have spoilt it!).  The bottom print is also a second printing, but this time using a much brighter palette.  This is my favourite of the prints made with the collograph plate.

Here is the plate, after it has been inked and printed. I think it makes a good piece of art in itself! 

In fact, there was a lady on the course, named Mary, who was a regular student there. She makes lovely, dainty little plates, which are truly beautiful.  Janine always encourages her to pull a few prints from her plates, but very often, it is the plates themselves that she wants to keep - she prefers them to the print! She even had one of her plates in an exhibition. It was a metal plate, which looked very like a fish jumping out of the river. She had called it "The Evening Rise" because of its resemblance to a jumping fish. It was lovely - she didn't have any prints of this to show, just the plate itself.  If you hadn't known it was a printing plate, you would have perhaps thought it was a collage painting.

While the collograph was drying, I tried a bit of experimenting with metal plates, of the kind Mary and some other people were using.  Janine gets thin metal lithographic printing plates from a local printer, who would otherwise throw them away after use.  The metal is thin enough to bend, score and cut, but stiff enough to make into certain sorts of printing plates.  Mary, Stella and Marlene, who were all returning students, were working on these plates, applying carborundum and other items, for texture and depth and making various marks in the plates as well.  Marlene produced some wonderful pieces in this way, especially one of a standing figure and a series of fabulous images she had made, using a photo of a Venician building.  Stella had brought some photographs of organic objects, stones etc, that she had taken at the beach in Ireland. She made some plates using these as inspiration.  Her plates were more layered, with card or board built up for texture and some carborundum in pva applied with a brush, or sprinkled over areas of the plate.  The prints she made were more abstract than Marlene's but just as interesting and lovely.

Stella didn't mind me taking a photo of her inking-up table.  The plate she was inking up is to the left of the inks, next to the roller.  You can see that she has a very natural, organic selection of colours on her palette.

Marlene was using browns, greys and rust, then tried yellows and greens too.  She also produced some prints using hot oranges and reds, which were very effective.  Mary, on the other hand, preferred a cool palette of turquoises, soft blues, mauve etc.  Her prints and plates were glowing with jewel-like colour.  It is so interesting how everyone produced such different work, using the same materials.

Here are my two experimental metal plates.  The bottom one has areas of carborundum, which have collected dense patches of ink.  There are dots and lines pressed into other parts of the plate, to make designs.  The images in the red and green carborundum were made by pressing pieces of lace into pva and carborundum circles, then removing the lace when nearly dry.  The yellow circle has marks made by drawing in the pva/carborundum mixture.  

The top plate is an image made by pressing a point into the plate, a bit like drypoint printing.  The lithographic plates are not really designed for this technique and my prints were not very good. The best bits were from the textured areas on the top of the second plate (ie. the carborundum etc).

These are two pieces of lace that I found.  I loved these birds and decided to use them for the next technique.  We were given pieces of plastic sheet, a bit like perspex, which you can buy in a diy shop.  We used them to make designs like drypoint printing on metal.  Except this is easier and cheaper (though I'm sure you could get much better results with metal plates, once you were good at it!).

This is a bad photo of my plate.  It has been printed, so the inks are visible in the scratched design.  I got some nice prints from this plate and really enjoyed this technique.  Mary had used this plastic, to make a plate with three feathers on it.  It was amazingly fine and delicate, producing absolutely gorgeous prints.  Mine was not so dainty, but it was still nice enough for a first effort!

A close up of the red bird, so you can see the scratched design.  Some scratches are deeper than others, which gives some variation of tone, while the marks made and the "fill patterns" give more variation.

These are my final two prints.  I'm quite pleased with them, especially the very last.  In fact, Janine told me to sign it, mount it and put it on the wall. I felt that I'd finally produced something worth keeping!

Overall, I had a fabulous weekend.  The place is lovely, the house is beautiful, the room we worked in was a great size, with efficient heating, decent equipment and plenty of space to work.  We had three delicious meals a day, plus morning coffee/tea, with home made biscuits and afternoon coffee/tea with home made cakes! In fact, I probably need to go on a diet for a few days, to make up for all the yummy grub I scoffed!!

If anyone lives in UK and fancies a reasonably priced course, have a look at the Knuston Hall website. They do a lot more than bookbinding and printmaking.  You can stay overnight for a very reasonable rate. They really take care of you and everyone is very friendly.  It's really worth making the effort to go there, even if you live a bit of a distance away (and I gather their prices are much more reasonable than some other places!).  They have put dates of their spring and summer courses on the website. Many of the summer courses last up to a week - a good chance for a holiday doing something that interests you.

That's it then! The story of my Weekend Adventure. Hope you liked reading it.  I took lots more photos - so I don't promise not to bore you with some more of them in the next few days.  Wish I had taken more of the actual workroom and creative processes though.. I got so tied up in what I was doing that I forgot to get my camera out.