On the 17th September I caught the overnight bus down to Wellington for a weeks workshop at TLC in bookbinding.
Monday 18th September
The Sleeper bus arrived in
Wellington around 8.30 am. After disembarking and grabbing a coffee I headed by
foot to the backpackers on Taranaki Street. It was a long walk, I’d forgotten
how far away it was from the Railway Station! Eventually, about an hour later I
found the “Lodge in the City” but was told I couldn’t book in to my room until
after 2 pm. So I left my suitcase in their locked facilities until I returned
after Day One of the Bookbinding Workshop with Marci Tackett.
I walked back to the
Railway Station as it seemed the easier option than trying to find a bus stop
and on my way, took photos to inspire and build courage for the workshop. I was
feeling a little anxious about the group dynamic thing (too used to working
solo??) and worried I might feel intimidated by it. I find photography is one
way of grounding me and connecting with the here-and-now. I “clicked away”
drawn in by the trees and water but then found myself crossing from organic to
non-organic structures, like building’s and cranes. By the time I got to the
railway station I was well and truly ready to sit down. (Should have got that
bus!) Fortunately, I didn’t have long to wait for a train.
Here's some of my many photos I took....
I finally arrived at TLC
about 11.15 am. I had missed the inter-screw album demonstration but had already
text Dane to ask her to let Marci know I’d be late. After having a bite to eat I muddled about a
bit before settling down to do a mono-print for book pages which had Marci suggested we do before starting on the book cover.
I’ve noticed I usually
get an idea in my head of what I’m going to do and it invariably doesn’t turn
out the way I think it should! I had the idea of cutting out leaf masks but
they stuck to the roller as I inked them.
As a result I ended up with a dense coverage of ink so chose to create
texture with a fork (except I couldn’t find one!) What I did locate was a comb
and it made a lovely pattern as it was squiggled across the ink in both
horizontal and vertical directions.
All too soon it was time
to pack up and get the TLC bus back into the city.
Photography – 1 hour
Mono printing – 3 hours
Planning/Preparing (Inter-screw
album) – 1 hour
Tuesday 19th September
After a reasonably good
night’s sleep (and a sugar-loaded muesli bar for breakfast) I arrived at TLC
rearing to go. Marci’s demonstration was a Wrap Book tutorial. Well, that’s
what I called it as I couldn’t remember the proper name for it. Essentially it
has tabs that wrap around like a belt. First off all we needed to prepare the
leaflets/pages (whatever they’re called)
Marcy cutting the sheets of paper.
Marking the holes down the fold.
Preparing the cover by marking where the card was to be glued.
Front and back cover
Making the straps - I used a ghost-print to cover them.
Stupid me did it the wrong way though! When folded it over the strap I had the printed side inside with the back of the paper exposed so I had to cut more out and repeat the process.
I also found using a glue stick worked better for attaching the printed paper than the pva glue.
Because Marci had demonstrated making the book pages using brown paper, I did likewise – but then remembered I had my handmade paper I’d
brought to use (second “duh” moment for the day!) So I started to make another book, as well as trying to work on catching up with the inter-screw album from
the previous day. I was on a roll....
After measuring and
cutting the card and not being perfect about it (embracing my imperfections) I
was ready to cover it. After deciding to use some paper (I had painted last
week) I cut it to size,
allowing extra for the
fold-over flaps and trimming the corners. Then I covered the inside with the
same green paper. Next to do were the straps – which I decided to cover with
the ghost mono-print newsprint. Of course I cut it too narrow, too short, glued
the wrong side and got more and more frustrated as the afternoon wore on. It
took me a while to work out I just needed to stop and take a break! I went and
found Dane’s office, had a cry and a chat with her and felt much better for it.
Suddenly it was 4:30 pm, time to pack up and run for the school bus.
After dinner I wrote up
my work log and summery of the day, along with editing photos ready to load on
my blog and the TLC Workroom.
Book-binding workshop Day
2 – 7 hours
What
did I learn? TAKE REGULAR BREAKS! (have a bite to eat, go for a walk, sit
in the sunshine,
take some
photos, recharge)
Wednesday 20th September
After a delightful 4.5
hours sleep I awoke to the wonderful sound of the rubbish truck emptying
(loudly banging!) the big lidded commercial bins. I had wanted to get up early for a shower just hadn’t anticipated
doing it at 5 am!
The Learning Connexion environment is such an inspiring place to be.
With NZ Elections just around the corner, this sign was out the front gate - love TLC's emphasis on believing in self!
Hard at work lol!
Today’s Plan –
Complete Interscrew album and (if possible, Wrap/Strap Book) Take regular
breaks, go for a walk/take photos etc, eat lunch away from the workroom.
When I got to TLC I couldn’t
make a decision on which book to do first so I did the name-in-the-hat (pick
one of Marci’s hands) to choose which I was going to work on and “chose” the Wrap/Wag book.
Following Marci’s
instructions I made a paper template to mark where my stitching and tabs were
going to go on my cover and signatures. Then using the template, a V-shaped
support and awl I poked holes down the fold of each signature. Next was
choosing the stitching cotton. I narrowed it down to 3 colours and finally
decided on the one I wanted.
Keeping to my plan I went
for a walk mid-morning, took some photos and since it was a nice sunny day had
my lunch outside.
After lunch I opted to
work on my interscrew book album and get that one finished. After gluing my
hand-painted paper (that I did last week) on the card I covered the inside
board with a piece of handmade pohutukawa paper. Next I made a paper template
to mark where the holes were to go and punched both the front and back covers
and the signatures (I use half folded sheets of my pohutukawa papers. Last but
not least was to put my screws into and secure the book with the paper inside
the covers.
I made a start on sewing
the wag book (first signature) but as it was the end-of-the-day left the rest for the following day.
Thursday 21 September
Thursday plan was to
complete the wrap/wag book. There was ALOT of stitching to be done, firstly too
screw the signatures and second, to attach the straps. I took me ALL day to do
but I finally finished the book at 4 pm.
Stitching the wrap straps and page was challenging but once I knew what to do it was pretty systematic and straight-forward.
Marci gave us instruction handouts to follow which was really good.
At lunch time I went for a bit of a walk to clear my hear...
Love this little house truck - would love to live simply like this!
After lunch it it back to sewing and attaching the cover.
This is my trial template to work out my spacing.
Holes marked ready for the cotton placement.
Waxing the thread aided the sewing process.
It took the rest of the afternoon to do but finally finished the stitching.
The back, that is - we had to repeat the whole process on the front!
Such a good feeling to have a working item.
Above: the inside cover stitching.
Sounds silly but having 3 straps meant an uneven pattern. If I had 2 or 4 the pattern would have been symmetrical which would make my brain happier.
Showing the mono-printed paper leaves and (below) the stitching inside the signatures.
I made a start on a
simple book idea one of the students suggested and decided on a heart-shape as
my template. I will finish the book on Friday.
Friday 22nd September
The plan for today –
Complete the small book challenge suggested by student Ann. Visit the TLC Student Exhibition. Take
regular breaks – go for a walk at lunch time.
Practicing with some different shades of green.
One of the other students loaned me her tray of water colour paints.
I went down to the shop to get a water colour pad of paper to work with.
Experimenting with stamping
Imperfect stamping but learning to embrace my imperfections!
I used the heart shaped cover to trace around for the pages cover lining.
I then punched holes for the stitching down the centre starting at the point using a running stitch up and coming back down with an alternating stitch. Lastly, I added a few little buttons as embellishments.
After lunch I went for a walk and found a gravel road that took me into the bush behind the campus building. It was so peaceful and refreshing and took some photos to inspire me. After that I went and had a look at the End-Of-Term Student Exhibition. My favourite display was by Advanced student Alexis Martin from Christchurch who had used everyday found items to create 3D art. I loved her buttons sculpture and was able to have a chat with her about the Advanced programme.
To summarise
I have had a great week –
challenging but productive and really happy with what I achieved. I feel like I
have grown so much over the past 5 years since the first time I visited the TLC
campus.
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