book models from handmade paper...

This week I completed two book models from the handmade paper created earlier from a pulped dictionary....

the first is long-stitch bound over paper-covered linen tapes with hardcovers
covered in paste paper (and hand marbled paper in the inside)

the second is a more humble version - again it's long-stitch bound over paper tapes
(not with a linen lining this time... there's no need, as this version doesn't have hard covers)


The second simple limp covered version is my preferred model..... it is nice to hold in the hand and feel the softness of the handmade paper....



...

making paper (remaking the dictionary)...

This week I started experimenting with deconstructing/reconstructing books through pulping and recasting a 2 volume dictionary...... I've never attempted paper making before (although this idea has been in my mind since I first began deconstructing sets of encyclopaedias through fire or weathering)..... this was a test piece to see whether some of my ideas could take shape (and what I needed to understand about the craft process of paper making).....

ripping the dictionary in to pulpable pieces
(took longer than I thought! its quite a tedious job....so of course I found it intrinsically interesting and valuable....)

paint whiz drill attachment as pulp maker (worked quite well...)

getting to grips with the home made mold and deckle... with a little help from Boots the cat.....

couching.... like scooping the pulp this is definitely something that requires practice!

releasing the wet sheet from the mold.... I became increasing adept after about 50 sheets!

line drying the sheets

the first completed stack of reconstituted paper....

Next I plan to rebind these sheets - I haven't determined exactly the format or technique yet, but I'm presently toying with the idea of using the original covers and either coptic binding or maybe a hybrid coptic/japanese stab binding.....

more to follow soon!

the wabi-sabi connection

I've just read through the very small booklet 'Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets, & Philosophers' by Leonard Koren. It's a small book, able to be read in a single sitting, but it contains some absolute gems that resonate with my practice and my present project that its worth quoting some parts of the booklet in full here...

Wabi-Sabi is the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of what we think of as traditional Japanese beauty.....wabi-sabi can in its fullest expression be a way of life. At the very least, it is a particular type of beauty (21)

The initial inspirations for wabi-sabi's metaphysical, spiritual , and moral principles come from ideas about simplicity, naturalness, and acceptance of reality found in Taoism and Chinese Zen Buddhism. (31)

Wabi refers to:

* a way of life, a spiritual path,
* the inward, the subjective
* a philosophical construct
* spatial events

Sabi refers to:

* material objects, art and literature
* the outward, the objective
* an aesthetic ideal
* temporal events" (23)

The Wabi-Sabi Universe

Wabi-Sabi can be called a "comprehensive" aesthetic system. Its world view, or universe, is self-referential. It provides an integrated approach to the ultimate nature of existence (metaphysics) sacred knowledge (spirituality), emotional well-being (state of mind), behavior (morality), and the look and feel of things (materiality). The more systematic and clearly defined the components of an aesthetic system are - the more conceptual handles, the more ways it refers back to fundamentals - the more useful it is. (41)

Metaphysical Basis - Things are either devolving toward, or evolving from, nothingness

Spiritual Values - Truth comes from the observation of nature; "Greatness" exists in the inconspicuous and overlooked details; Beauty can be coaxed out of ugliness


Moral Precepts - get rid of all that is unnecessary; Focus on the intrinsic and ignore material hierarchy

Material Qualities - The suggestion of natural process; Irregular; Intimate; Unpretentious; Earthy; Murky; Simple" (40-41)



all things are impermanent - The inclination toward nothingness is unrelenting and universal. Even things that have all the earmarks of substance = things that are hard, inert, solid - present nothing more than the illusion of permanence. We may wear blinders, use ruses to forget, ignore, or pretend otherwise - but all comes to nothing in the end. Everything wears down. The planets and stars, and even intangible things like reputation, family heritage, historical memory, scientific theorems, mathematical proofs, great art and literature (even in digital form) - all eventually fade into oblivion and nonexistence. (48-49)

all things are imperfect. Nothing that exists is without imperfections... Every craftsman knows the limits of perfection: the imperfections glare back. And as things begin to break down and approach the primordial state, they become even less perfect, more irregular. (49)

all things are incomplete. All things, including the universe itself, are in a constant, never-ending state of becoming or dissolving. Often we arbitrarily designate moments, points along the way, as "finished" or "complete". But when does something's destiny finally come to fruition? Is the plant complete when it flowers? When it goes to seed? When the seeds sprout? When everything turns into compost? (49-50)

get rid of all that is unnecessary. Wabi-sabi means treading lightly on the planet and knowing how to appreciate whatever is encountered, no matter how trifling, whenever it is encountered. (59)

the suggestion of natural process. Things wabi-sabi are expression of time frozen. They are made of material that are visibly vulnerable to the effects of weathering and human treatment. They record the sun, wind, rain, heat, and cold in a language of discoloration, rust, tarnish, stain, warping, shrinking, shriveling, and cracking... Though things wabi-sabi may be on the point of dematerialization (or materialization) - extremely faint, fragile, or dessicated - they still possess an undiminished poise and strength of character. (62)

intimate. Things wabi-sabi are usually small and compact, quiet and inward-oriented, They beckon: get close, touch, relate. They inspire a reduction of the psychic distance between one thing and another thing; between people and things. Place wabi-sabi are small, secluded, and private environments that enhance one's capacity for metaphysical musings. (67)

simple. Simplicity is at the core of things wabi-sabi. Nothingness, of course is the ultimate simplicity. But before and after nothingness, simplicity is not so simple... The simplicity of wabi-sabi is probably best described as the state of grace arrived at by a sober, modest, heart-felt intelligence. (71-72)

This is actually a good place to start to talk about what I've been reading and considering within my practice, project and exegesis research..... as all the points I've carefully quoted in full above find a ready example in my current work.

Over recent months I've been digesting a great deal of writings in and around pragmatic philosophy (primarily as espoused by John Dewey, but also recent re-interpretations of his advocacy for 'life as art', by Shusterman and Sartwell.....) As I've read, I've began to envisage how pragmatism may be used as a connector for the disparate elements in my current project, and as a counter-point to deconstructionist theory/philosophy (and post-modernism in general) that I see as the antithesis of my praxis. The more I've read of pragmatism the more I've found parallels to Zen ..... and the more I'm envisaging parallels with permaculture ...... it's in this context that I'm re-imagining my exegesis.



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