Bookbinding and A. Dean Larsen Conference 2010 - Sink Art

It's been too long!

Life, it never gets quieter - or less filled.

So, been doing some FUN stuff. I took the pre-conference bookbinding workshop last Thursday. It's part of the BYU A. Dean Larsen Book Collecting Conference. It was so inspiring! My class was taught by Judy Sommerfeldt, she was very thorough and a good person to learn from - just in case you ever have the chance to take her class.

First - We learned how to create Sink Art - it's how we made the designs for the covers of our books:

Supplies:

Cover area with plastic - and wear an apron - I learned this the hard way.
Brushes - all sizes
Ink droppers
Scorers - to make comb marks or lines
Permanent Ink
Chalk (once they get on wet paper they become permanent and won't rub off)
Watercolor paper (Arches is great)

Apply permanent ink:

Let it dry a smidge

Add some score marks if desired

Blow some of the drops into fanned out sprays

Keep some parts puddled, let some edges dry (the wet parts will wash away, the drier it is the darker it will be.)

Wash ink off in the sink, get some good water markings in there, swirl the water around a bit.

(Good thing there were come willing people in the class that allowed me to snap some photos- washing the ink off your own paper and taking photos at the same time just did NOT work!)

Now wash it well, you want to get rid of all excess ink so that you have some nice white contrast areas

Add chalk, walnut ink and salt (if desired) 

Then dry completely...

Now you look for the 'sweet spot' - the piece you are going to use for your cover.

Make some registration marks so that you can remove the frame and trim the paper.

You will want to trim the paper 1" bigger than your book cover.

Turn the paper over, line up the book board with the registration marks, lift up paper and board to a light, using the book board's shadow, copy your registration marks to the back of the paper.

Label the top and also front and back cover

Options: you can cover your book with fabric as long as you back it with facing you shuold be okay. The iron-on stuff is just fine - available at any fabric store.

I'll post more on assembling the book soon!