Dracula’s Guest has arrived! It’s up on the website now:
Binding
Page One
Title Page
Endpapers
Bo Press Blog
Backstage at Bo Press
Category Archives: New Publications
Dracula Approaches!
I think this might be the final binding!
Cover and Title
Endpapers
Illustration
Back Page
I hesitated to use that black and gold Japanese paper, since I’m so crushed out on it that I’ve used it a lot this year, but then when I found the 1/4 yard of blood-red shantung silk bookcloth that Rebecca gave me, it had to be. I used the same binding method as on Lysistrata, but unfortunately I don’t remember the name of it. Does anybody know?
I’ve limited the edition to fifty, and number one goes to James, who sold me on the idea. Thanks, James!
Down From The Ledge
I’ve had five days of computer grief, and ended up on the phone with my Computer Guy at my wit’s rope, as somebody used to say. My main problem was the inability to get things up on my website, which really put a hitch in business. I didn’t lose any files, but my computer had its brain wiped so it’s shiny new and brainless and doesn’t recognize me any more. All my cool fonts are gone! My WYSIWYG editor upgraded itself and is now diabolical. All (most) is finally well, so here’s what I made while waiting for my CG:
Continental Map Tower
Continental Map Tower
Map Portfolios
The Globe
Maps
I feel like I’ve had a narrow escape, so I’m really going to hunker down on the next book. Dracula’s Guest is looking better and better.
Extra Alchemy!
I’m going through an alchemy phase – just finished this:
Alchemy II
Alchemy II
Alchemical Books
Alchemical Books
My favorite part? The stitching on the leather. That’s the most sewing I’ve done in quite a while.
Alchemy!
I’m still amusing myself with miniature projects while waiting for the idea fairy to show up. Here’s a book filled with books:
Alchemy
Alchemy
Books Within Books
Emerging Books
More Books
More Books
Killing Time
. . .until the next book idea strikes me. It’s been a while since I made a miniature vampire hunter’s kit.
Ingredients
Beginning the Mallet
Beginning the Box
Finishing the Box
Fitting Things In
The Pull-Out Shelf
The little box attached to the pull-out shelf contains a compass, garlic, a mirror, and a small crucifix on a chain. The bundle of maps also contains the last letters of the former owner. The books in the little traveling reference library include a bible, a journal, a book on ghouls and a book on cults (the last two borrowed from my H. P. Lovecraft Traveling Library.) I should probably fit in a box of silver bullets to make this a truly useful multi-purpose monster eradication kit.
The Finished Exterior
Speaking of Lovecraft, I wonder what a Lovecraftian monster eradication kit would contain? Any suggestions?
A Map of the Han
I just finished a new map for Prue Batten’s “Eirie” series. This one is of the hidden city of the Han, from her fantasy adventure novel “The Shifu Cloth”.
The Han
I’m going to do another one more in the “Hanese” style, showing all the fish ponds and rice paddies and cloth factories that fill the green area between the Small and the Great Walls. The Han is self-contained in a huge crater, with a lake at the bottom that houses the Imperial Palace.
Golden Globes
So here’s the first thing I made out of the gold-washed cork:
Three Globes
From the Top
More Globes
Showing Off the Gold Cork
From the Side
Celestial Close-up
I’m in love. This paper is made for miniatures – on a larger scale I think the beautiful details of the texture would be lost. It doesn’t bend or fold, so I can’t really bind anything in it, but I’ll use the hell out of it in everything else.
Lots of Little Globes
I re-discovered a few serpentine and jasper beads, and used them to make little desk globes:
Jasper Desk Globe
Jasper Desk Globe
Very Small Globe
Very Small Globe
Pair of Serpentine Globes
Pair of Serpentine Globes
Pair of Serpentine Globes
I think the small globe is the nicest, or at least the most tasteful. I may keep it for my own dollhouse, after all.
The Maze and the Labyrinth
All finished! It’s up on the website now:
The Maze and the Labyrinth
For Scale
Without the Band
A Page Spread - Hampton Court Maze
More Pages
Still More Pages
Between the Books
I went round and round about what this kind of binding is called, and I decided on tête-bêche – a French philatelic term that means upside down from each other. It seemed to fit better than dos-à-dos, which means something slightly different. It turns out that binding two books like this opened up all kinds of design possibilities. Any time you’re dealing with two opposites the tricks you can play are endless. My favorite on this project is the Minoan bull rider fresco that bridges the back cover – I’ve reversed the back end of the bull and the rider so that whichever way you hold it, it looks (almost) right.