I love taking classes. I've been binding books off and on for about 20 years and just this year started taking classes at Hollander's in Ann Arbor, MI. I'm so fortunate to have a resource so close to where I live. This weekend's class (see title above) was taught by Daniel Essig, a nationally known book artist. I highly recommend wandering around his site and seeing his books and sculpture. His books are clever and fun. Windows, arches and doors just beg to be opened and looked into and Dan's books are treasures to be explored. He's also a great teacher with a dry, hilarious sense of humor.
The covers of our books were mahogany wood that were beveled, distressed, painted, sanded and waxed. The outside edges of the front and back covers were rounded then gouged, poked and nicked to give a weathered, used look. Then 3-5 layers of milk paint were built up. After the final layer of paint has dried, dust masks were donned and 220 sandpaper was used to sand down to expose the various layers of paint. The final treatment was to rub Kiwi shoe polish into the covers. Dan had shoe polish ranging from clear to black.
Since I actually remembered to bring my camera, I took full advantage and got shots of my favorite covers. The first one is mine. Natually, I prefer everyone else's over mine.
Can you see why I loved everyone else's covers over mine? I'm amazed at how beautifully they turned out. I'll have more pictures from the class on Tuesday.
I like yours better than most of them, so don't be so hard on yourself!
Can't wait to see what happens next...
Posted by: gayle | November 17, 2009 at 07:58 AM