This weekend I indulged in a bit of letterpress printing and bookbinding at Albertine Press in collaboration with Carta Inc in Somerville, MA, USA. I was immediately smitten by the large machinery which creates such intricate works with old fashioned letterpress, and of course the beautiful works that bookbinding results in.
We created our own pages filled with haiku and different forms of poetr, typeset them and printed them on paper which we then collaborated to create a 'lotus book'. That was a lot of work, but tons of fun!
I was surprised to find out Bookbinding and Letterpress is a massive industry in the US, with Book Arts centers dotted all across the country, with the first one establishing itself in New York. One of my co-workshop attendees was actually studying towards her Masters Degree in Book Arts and Education! As the books came into fruition, I really wished that we had short, weekend courses like this in South Africa.
Update: I'm sorry, but it seems like Blogger has misplaced my photos! I'm trying to find them on my hard drive so that I can upload them once again! I apologise and hope you will bear with me.
That is so flippen cool:)
ReplyDeleteThanks! It was so much of fun!
ReplyDeleteThe 2010 project of being productive is moving along nicely on both our sides. It's so exciting to be able to finally do something creative for the creatively challenged (i.e. me).
Wow. We need stuff like this in Mzansi. Fatima take notes, we have to up our coolness along these lines.
ReplyDeleteKhadija there's a chain store that's just designated for paper. And what beautiful paper! I want to get a postage tube and fill it up before I come back.
ReplyDeleteI have 3 months left! I can't believe it! :(
fatima this is beautiful, i cant wait to see your Japanese brush stroke art! boston is really the place for you!
ReplyDeletehow cute :)
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