getting ready

large and small Coptic bound books ready to fill

This past month I have been working on making a bundle of new Coptic bound blank books to offer at the Art in the Burg show Saturday April 28th in Middleburg, Virginia. It is always exciting to select the various materials that go into the covers and sewing of a new Coptic binding. There are fine cover cloths and handmade marble papers and a color bee's waxed linen thread that gets glass beads strung on them as they loop in and out of the signatures of each book spine. First step is to select the cover paper and cloth and prepare the boards they are glued over. Then cutting them and gluing them down and put in my heavy steel screw press from the 19th century to hold them with blotter paper very flat while that glue dries over 24 hours.

two sets of new book covers after pulling them out of the screw press 

Cover on the left a cherry blossom printed japan paper and on the right are woodblock printed red from Florence, Italy (wrapped in waxed paper) 

Then comes adding the folded, hole punched signatures of fine cotton writing paper is the next step. It begins with the paper signatures then a length of linen thread and a cup of glass beads at the ready I start and sew it all into a book small takes an hour larger takes a few hours to get them all laced up and in the stack of completed Coptic bound books.

brown cloth, aqua end pages and green linen thread and glass beads

all sewn together the finished book stands n the sun ready to use. 

4 new pocket sized books completed in blue, gold, brown, and purple

and recently added ORANGE! 

In addition to books I am working on adding scans of my new watercolor sketches to my portfolio web site which now has a new page devoted to my practice of a daily sketch. That is over at this web site: Frederick Nunley  Prints and originals will also be on display and available at the Art in the Burg show. Earlier this week Keith and I signed up to show at the 2012 ARTOMATIC in Crystal City, Virginia with 1200 of our dear artist friends and neighbors! This will be our 3rd Artomatic done together since 2000. He will be making a large ikebana installation and I will be showing my sketch prints the big opening May 18th is in a huge office building right next to the Crystal City metro station exit. It runs Wednesdays through Sundays all day and late into the night for after work visitors. Hope you can plan to stop by this spectacular exposition of all kinds of art works by local artists. It began in Washington DC as a non-judgmental art collective installation and rules as the biggest and most diverse exhibition opportunity.

4-14-2012 the twin pink parrot tulips that came from our garden were my sketch subject...