More for Sandra Brownlee: Deluxe Edition

A while back, I bound a big pile of exhibition catalogues for textiles artist Sandra Brownlee. More recently, I worked on the deluxe edition of the catalogue, which featured hand-worked pages, textile additions and a woven paper cover. The inclusion of pages made from textiles and the mounting of various items meant the binding went much slower than that of the paperback edition, even though most of the textblock was the same. It was also more challenging--and thus more interesting--to work on.

To speed up the process of punching sewing holes--a tedious exercise when you're doing a lot of them, I used this jig made of stiff card, needles, and tape. The closest needle in the photo sticks out quite a bit farther than the others, to rest the bottom of the sections against, so all the holes end up punched in the same place on each section. The main problem with this process is that, with so many needles, it's much easier to jab yourself. (My number one bookbinding injury is needle pokes.)


Some of the added pages in the deluxe edition were actual textiles. There was a section of folded polka-dot sheer fabric, a translucent fabric section with a photograph digitally printed on it, and this one, a handwoven hemp page.



Other deluxe pages feature hand-drawing, embroidery, hand-poked holes, texture, and this fold-out section showing the whole length of one of Sandra's weavings.


There's some possibility that the non-deluxe, paperback edition of the catalogue may be reprinted, and if that's the case, I'll probably work on the binding again. Sandra is a wonderful person to work for. She's so enthusiastic about craft and appreciative of even the most basic handbinding, that I always go away from our meetings feeling fantastic about what I do.