I have just collected my prototype linen book from Bristol Bound. This has been made to my design for linen photograph pages using linen prints I have ordered from my printer in Donegal. I printed the text pages myself: introduction, a quote from James Joyce and the newspaper cutting pages.
This is a pdf of the pages in the book…
I am pleased that the book has come out as I imagined it. It is big and solid and tactile. There is pleasure in turning the pages and it feels like a significant object. I like the line pages a lot – they have a texture and a haptic quality which is very pleasing to the touch and to the eye – in my opinion. Of course, I need to get feedback from others. That will not be easy, given the size and weight of the book – it would be difficult to post and is also quite valuable given the cost and time to create it.
The cover of the book is made of bleached linen on a board backing, to emphasise the material and the link with the natural world.
The photographs are printed on bleached linen. I tried printing them on unbleached linen but the colour rendition was not good. Although they looked good as objects, I wanted to maintain more colour in the images.
The newspaper cuttings are presented on normal paper, printed in such a way as to show that they are historic cuttings.
David Fletcher at OCA: Sustaining your Practice 