$8.50

ARTISTS’ BOOKS�BOOKBINDING�PAPERCRAFT�CALLIGRAPHY

Volume 6, Number 3

2 Mary’s Star Book. Mary Conley

4 We Love Your Books: ABC Exhibition 2007. Emma Powell with Melanie Bush

8 Works on Paper. John Cutrone and Seth Thompson

10 Ruling Pen Basics. Matthew Coffin

12 On Your Own Terms.14 Mobile Books. Florence Miller

16 Hidden Bookbinding Cloths. Catherine Burkhard

17 Calligraphy and Handmade Paper: Equally Beautiful20 American Fine Bindings: Book of Origins24 Eugenie Torgerson: Thinking Outside the Box. Eugenie Torgerson

26 Exchange of Ideas. Julie Gray

30 Small Books, Large Talent: Miniature Metal Books. Yana Safronova

32 Quilted Books? John Cutrone

33 Pocket Full of Surprises. Pat Pleacher

34 WWC Painted Books. Annie Cicale

38 First Class Mail. Debra Glanz

39 Teeny Tiny Cards. Jane LaFerla. BOOK REVIEW by Rona Chumbook

40 The Monument to Ephemeral Facts. Douglas Holleley

41 Subscription information

42 Magazine information

43 Contributors / Credits

Volume 6, Number 3

FRONT COVER Clockwise, from top left:

Miniature Metal Book. Gennady Safronov.His miniature metal books are solely

handcrafted; a skill that requires incrediblepatitence and attention to detail.

Photo by Evgeny Abramenko.“Small Books, Large Talent:

Miniature Metal Books,” page 30.

When Sea Laps Land. Ann Alaia Woods.Charcoal/graphite pencil on handmade

paper. Suminagashi on Asian brushcalligraphy paper embedded in handmade

abaca paper. 2007. 8" x 10".“Calligraphy and Handmade Paper:

Equally Beautiful,” page 17.

Tool Room Box and Journal.Eugenie Torgerson. Lidded box holds artist’s

journal. Binder’s board, cloth, paper, glass,hardware, original digital illustrations.

13" x 10" x 4".Photo by Bukva Imaging Group.

“Eugenue Torgerson:Thinking Outside the Box,” page 24.

BACK COVERTop to bottom:

Dolmades. Ashley Ioakamides. watercolorand graphite on Lanaquarelle 90# CP, Pilot

Parallel pen. Photo by Annie Cicale.“WWC Painted Books,” page 34.

Sit at Cafes. Annie Cicale. Photo by AnnieCicale. “Exchange of Ideas,” page 26.

Bound & Lettered existsthanks to its readers and sub-scribers. What makes Bound &Lettered different from manyother magazines, however, is itsreliance on its readers for articleideas and submissions. We wantto hear from you! If you havedeveloped a how-to project,organized an exhibition, or creat-ed a piece that you feel deservesrecognition in Bound & Lettered,

send me an e-mail atpauldmcneill@yahoo.com.

We are always looking for newideas from expert and novicebookbinders, book artists, andcalligraphers. Bound & Letteredis a partnership between itseditors and its readers. Let’s worktogether to make sure talentedartists gain the recognition thatthey deserve.

–Paul McNeill, editor

CORRECTIONS.Eugenie Togerson’s name is misspelled onthe caption for Year of Days, on theinside back cover of 6.2.

In the previous issue, (6.2) we neglectedto mention that Victoria Lee was thephotographer for the “Kalligraphia” arti-cle. You can contact her through e-mailat gingkoleafdesign@aol.com

B O U N D & L E T T E R E D10

Traditionally, drafting rul-ing pens have been used to rulelines of varying thickness onmechanical drawings or illus-trations. In the 20th century,lettering artists discoveredthese ruling pens while explor-ing options for creating expres-sive lettering. Artists soonlearned that they could createdramatic letterforms with thepens. These drafting and tradi-tional ruling pens were not wellsuited for calligraphic lettering,therefore they needed to beredesigned for calligraphic pur-poses. The shape of the rulingpen changed dramatically,quickly taking the form that wefind today. Gottfried Pott, aGerman calligrapher, was instru-mental in this transformation.

Calligraphic ruling penscreate thick or thin strokes bytilting the nib relative to thewriting surface. Thin strokesare written with the pointed tipof the nib, while thick strokescome from the wide edge. Howyou hold the pen is importantbecause it determines how eas-ily the pen can be tilted, andthe ease of tilting determinesthe ease of changing thestroke’s width. In addition,hand and finger muscles mustbe relaxed; otherwise tensioncreeps in and restricts handand arm movement. If you liketo create very rough-edgedlines, the pen must be extreme-ly tilted on its edge close towhere the blades separate.

Adjusting yourruling penblade gap

Hold the pen sothat your index fingerpresses against themechanical screwhead (bottom of thenib), while the thumb and fin-gers grasp the pen barrel. Makesure you can clearly see theblade gap. With the oppositehand turn the adjustment nuteither clockwise or counter-clockwise to close or open theblade gap. The appropriateblade gap depends on thethickness or viscosity of the inkthat you want to use. Thinner,free-flowing inks work bestwith narrow blade gaps(approximately the thickness ofa piece of standard writingpaper), while thicker, more

RULINGPENBASICSBY MATTHEW COFFIN

viscous inks require a muchwider blade gap. Experiment withpen and ink and you’ll discoverall you’ll need to know aboutproper blade gap adjustment.

Filling your ruling penThere are two main ways to

fill the pens: 1) dipping2) eyedropper or syringe filling.

Dipping is simple and easy.You’ll need an inkwell with amouth wide enough to fit thenib and thumbscrew. Theinkwell also must be deepenough for the nib to submerge

almost up to the thumb screw.This depth allows ink to flowbetween the blades (where theyseparate) and fill the reservoir.Once the ink fills the reservoir,remove the nib and dab cleanthe top and bottom nib sur-faces. I use paper towels or toi-let paper to clean nib surfaces.Another simple way of remov-ing excess ink from the nib sur-faces is to touch the surface ofthe nib to the mouth of theinkwell. Even though the nibsurfaces may still have ink onthem, this will remove excessthat could drip off during nor-mal lettering. A gentle touch willdo the job. Please be sure to nottouch the writing edge whenremoving excess ink!

Eyedropper or syringe fill-ing keeps ink from getting onthe nib surfaces, but this tech-nique requires extra equipmentand cleanup. Squeeze ink intothe space where the nibs sepa-rate until ink is visible in thepen reservoir. If the blade gap isset correctly for the type of inkyou are using, ink should notdrip from the pen as the pen isfilled. Overfilling can cause theink to spill onto the outer sur-face. If this happens, clean thenib surfaces.

It is possible to achieveShowing the proper hand position to adjust the blade gap.Rotate clockwise to close. Rotate counterclockwise to open.

Holding the pen with the barrel above the palm of the hand.

Linocut Printmaking by Arlene Lane. Leather spine and binding make up the structure. Pages made from Davey board mounted with handprinted Linocuts printed on handmade paper with inclusions using Speedball water-soluble green ink.

The Journey by Elizabeth Simmonds. “Text is very important to me, so I chose to make a T.S. Eliot quoteas the central theme of the book. I ran the quote across all the pages of my accordion text. I decided on gelpens and a simple monoline hand to help with the text’s readability.”

In November 2006, VirginiaMeltzer served as host to a cre-ative and exciting idea. Ninebook artists from differentbackgrounds exchanged hand-made books. The idea seemssimple on the surface, but thevariances of the artists’ experi-ences, training, talents, andmodes of expression made forwonderful interactions & result-ed in handmade books that theartists will always treasure.

There was no theme to thebooks, adding great diversity tothe pieces. Some of the artistsnever met in person. Some,however, were very closefriends. What they all have incommon is a love of bookmak-ing. This passion will keepthem tightly bound forever.�

B O U N D & L E T T E R E D26

EXCHANGE OF IDEASBY JULIE GRAY

PHOTOS BY ANNIE CICALE