Living on the Isle of Iona, working in a bindery that looks out across the Sound, the sea is a constant muse. This marbled paper really reflected the hues and textures the day I was working on these two books – but of course, the sea changes every day. Today it would need some more turquoise.

The flowers are those called out by Oberon when he speaks of Titiana's bower.

The flowers and vines are all onlays of hand dyed leather. Gold is a combination of surface gilding and tooling. Illustrated by Paul Nash, typeset by Emery Walker, printed in 1942, number 305 of 550 copies.

A recently finished binding of Midsommer Night's Dreame. I wanted to explore the design possibilities of a traditional wooden binding for this book. The design itself was inspired by Elizabethan embroidered gloves – which would have been all too familiar to Shakespeare, as the son of a glove maker.

It turns out engineer 123 blocks make a decent little press for mini books.

This week saw the return of the bookbinding taster sessions at Iona Village Hall. These ones were for two big groups staying at St Columba Hotel – the weekly ones open to the public will resume next month. Keep an eye out for those!

If I ever tire of seeing my books in print and exhibitions, each and every one of you has my permission to kick me as hard as you see fit.

Here's a few exciting pieces of print in the last month.

Quite looking forward to getting to work on this wee wonder.
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#bookbinder #islandofiona #isleofiona #bookconservation #bookrepair #bookrestoration #oldbooks #antiquarianbooks

My binding of Klee Wyck is having a wee southern holiday – it's part of the Bound Together exhibit at Petersfield Museum and Gallery, along with bindings by Roger Powell and contemporary bindings from other UK Designer Bookbinders binders. Open now until 3 May & definitely looks worth a visit!

I wanted to this box to have little peaks of the decorative paper from Victoria Hall peaking out... so it does. Sometimes 'because I want to' is good enough reasoning for a design decision.

My binding of The Ideal Book or Book Beautiful by TJ Cobden-Sanderson, beautifully reprinted by Ampersand Book Studio, has been chosen to be part of the Open•Set exhibition currently on at San Francisco Center for the Book until 23 March, then moving to Denver for a few months.

New books, new papers, new bindery companions... Happy New Year!

Back at it, but most of what I'm working on this month won't be show-able so it may be a bit quiet on the socials.
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#scottishcraft #bookbinder #booklover #iona #isleofiona #decorativepaper #yipyipmartians