Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Connections, Feedback, NPR, Predictions, Publishing, tech | Tags: art, blogging, book conservation, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, jim downey, Kickstarter, Legacy Bookbindery, literature, NPR, predictions, Science Fiction, technology, WIlliamson Oak
Remember this?
But that doesn’t mean that the book has to have an old look. Not at all. I’m playing around with some design ideas which will incorporate the cords, but which will feel more modern. Watch for some preliminary posts on that in a couple weeks.
OK, how about this?
Well, this afternoon NPR’s “All Things Considered” had a good piece about the tree, and the drought. And already I’ve had people ask whether it was the same one I had written about/used for the cover of Communion of Dreams.
Yup, that’s the same one. Here’s from the NPR website:
Well, can you take a guess what sort of design motif I’ve decided to use? Here, take a look:
Now, if you look at those images closely, you’ll see that there are a pair of lines just to the left of the tree trunk. Those indicate where the spine will be, just as with the paperback edition of the book:
Now, that’s all well and good, but how to create the ‘raised cords’ effect overall? Like this:
So far, so good. Now let’s test how it would look with some calfskin adhered down over that:
OK, I like that. But how will it look with goatskin? Here’s that:
OK, keep in mind that these are just tests to see how the leather looks over the raised cords. I’m happy with the results. But now I need to convert that simple bas relief 2-dimensional effect into a fully functional 3-dimensional sculpture which also happens to be a comfortable-to-read book, using some of the cords above as part of the actual structure of the book.
Sound difficult? Yeah, but remember that this has been my profession for over two decades. I like a nice challenge.
Just thought I’d share that little progress report.
Jim Downey
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Communion Of Dreams 
Ooooooh – shiny…
Comment by Liz Soldwish-Zoole May 22, 2013 @ 8:06 pm[…] But I want to sweeten the pot. So I’m also going to draw for a single full leather hand-bound copy. Leather color and type (whether calf or goatskin) to be *MY* choice. That’ll mostly depend on which one I feel like doing when I am in the process of doing the other copies which have already been ordered or are one of the Kickstarter rewards. Either way, it will be one of the leather bindings, worth up to $350. For reasons to be discussed in a subsequent blog post I’ve been a bit delayed in getting to doing these, but you can see a bit of what they will look like here. […]
Pingback by Mmmm … leather. | Communion Of Dreams August 4, 2013 @ 10:41 am[…] a little startled to discover that it’s been three years since I last posted about doing the leather bindings for the custom edition of Communion of Dreams. No, I know […]
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