Biennial world cup of art bookbinding at Saint-Rémy-lès-Chreveuses. 3: Paper decorators.

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When we open an ancient book the most frequent thing is that find it adorned with decorated papers as endleaves. Several different techniques were used to realize them, but there is something common to all of them: we do not know who his makers were, except in any exceptional cases.

Today everything changes quickly. We know the name of every artist who makes also decorated papers for bookbinding...

and we can even know them personally.

In the list of links on the left you can meet many of them, less than I should want, because I would like to have a link of all of them. But you must look up to find his photo, and some of them do not have it.
In the biennial, I could take these photos of the paper decorators who embellished the exhibitors' lounge that was celebrated owing to this occasion.

Brigitte Chardome,

you can admire her work in

http://www.nith-haya.be/vault/bchardome/index.html


Brigitte has developed a new technique for paper decoration, her turpentine papers have the whole delight that she possesses herself.

Marie-Anne Hamaide,

one of the marbled paper decorators more acquaintances in France,

http://mahamaide.blogspot.com/

Katalyn Perry, established in France and married with a Frenchman but Hungarian from Budapest, as my much loved Josef Halfer.

The silk work of Katalyn is...

! there are no words to describe it¡

http://www.katalinperry.com/

And Marie Pignon, the newest face, because she has just begin her journey.

http://www.becherel-autour-du-livre.com/pages/Atelier_du_TEMPS_COMPTE-1017472.html

! Good luck, Marie¡


They are some visible faces of paper decoration at present. With luck I will be able to add more, I hope that I could add all.

I already said that it is a miracle to know only the name of the ancient paper decorators, and simply impossibly to meet them. But, with these photos, my admiration and respect goes for all of them. Without his work there might not be paper decoration at present. And without the work of people shown in this comment, as well as all other who devote themselves to this work, these techniques would not have any future as they are displaced today by the industrial production.


Fortunately we have the art work.

! Because we will always be able to hang on our home one of these wonderful papers¡

A conservation case from Mexico.

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There is very good to say goodbye to the holidays with a desire made reality.

I wanted to be able to share some photos of binding works using my papers, and I asked for them privately to a pair of friends.

These are the first ones. Diana sent them to me, from Mexico. A beautiful conservation box thought by her and Tania who was who realized it.

Case, box and book...

... and later, six more images of the box.

Thank you very much, Diana and Tania, I really love your work.

And, if you allow me, I want use this entry to request to everyone who want it, to send to me photos of his work. I would like very much being able to publish them and share with everybody the enjoyment that bookbinding provides to me.

Paste papers and young people.

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Before August starts I want to remember a “little workshop” on paste papers that I did at the end of June in a bookstore specialized in infantile and juvenile topics “Kirikú and the witch”, in Madrid, on number 17, Rafael Salazar Alonso street.

Here Olga Espartero and Lourdes Sobrino teach every Saturday an introductory course on bookbinding, helping with this activity to develop the children’s imagination and its love and appreciation for the book. They invited me to do a workshop one of these Saturdays, and we think about the last one of the course to celebrate somehow his end with colors’ games. I chose the technique of paste papers, because it does not need so many means as marbling and because, as they say... it is a children's game.

I knew that it is not so since I learned to paint these papers with Susanne Krause, perhaps the best teacher of this technique that can be found today in the world; certainly, she teaches with so much professionalism and rigor that the less one can think is that it’s a technique as complicated and fantastic as any other one could be. But going to the matter: they say that it’s a children's game, and although I am sure it isn’t, I was thinking that perhaps it was the more indicated technique to spend a pair of hours "playing" at painting papers. Paste papers. I didn’t know where I was coming…

The arrangements are not great, but people always look with expectancy.

My first intention was, naturally, to teach how to make some models which my students could adapt to its binding projects.

One of the typical rhomboid designs of this technique.

They followed me a little bit… at first. They learned to dye the paste, to extend it on a dampened paper, to draw with combs of diverse materials...

The principal thing on paste papers is that designs are not obtained adding painting with brushes or paintbrushes, but"taken it away" of the paper. With anything, fortune instruments, a sponge, clothing tweezers, the handle of a brush, or the fingers of the artist…

...and here finished the “academic” education because...

...when I said this Gonzalo went red in his face...

... and rapidly he interpreted "fingers" as "hands"...

... to end it up by trying... with his nose.

They all followed Gonzalo’s lead, and I devoted myself to admire the wastefulness of creativity of the group.

The effect was contagious equally on parents...

We all learned and enjoyed. Young people remained well satisfied with its paste papers that they will use next year in one of its books...

...or: perhaps its satisfaction was because the course was finishing?...

...Yes, for sure it was because they were beginning its holidays.