Paris, oh Paris...

What an amazing place. I have returned to Paris after 8 years. Many things have changed meanwhile, but not my desire to stay and live there for the rest of my life. It's not about the zillion places to see, but about the things you can do. It's amazing! And that city... it just feels right to me. In the crowd of the streets by day or by night I didn't feel stranger for a bit.

Surely compared to Portugal life is considerably more expensive but still I managed to come back with a few goodies. Here they are... well, the book related ones!

Treasures from the Vanves flea market

Supplies from incredible fine art and bookbinding stores

Happy Birthday, Sis!!!

Ok, I know it's not very imaginative from one bookbinder to another, but this year your present is nothing else but a journal :) Still, I wanted it to be special so I made it with handmade paste paper covers and leather spine. You can imagine that it also has a chip in there somewhere so I can track it anytime ;) just like in our childhood, only a bit more sophisticated :)

Happy Birthday dear sis! I miss you and love you very much!!!
 

 

  

Trying my hand

It's been too long since I haven't painted. At least on something other than my books :) One of my early fascinations was illuminated manuscripts. Many years ago I made copies from Byzantine manuscripts and had them exhibited in club from Lucerne, Switzerland. With help from my friends in two weeks I sold almost all my works. It was such a great experience for me at that time, as I was a fresh graduate from university. Now, the preparations for the medieval fair opened my appetite for medieval manuscripts again. So I made these small reproductions from the Bestiary of Aberdeen, an English manuscript from around 1200 available online here.

I really enjoyed to paint these details. The copies measure around 4 x 4 inches and are painted in egg tempera on golden leaf.

And below, a few archive images that I am lucky to still have. They are from the expo in Lucerne in 2003. All I had at that time was a floppy-disk Mavica that did its best :)

   Magdalena Club, Lucerne, 2003.
  

Just Joined the Ranks of Facebook

It was about time, right? I'm still trying to sort things out with my page but here's a preview

Who's willing to help me change that nasty "0 people like this" ? Come visit here :) 
  

Making Books is Fun! (to watch)

Just discovered this great video and had to re-post for my bookbinding friends :)

"Back before inkjets, printing was a time-consuming laborious process, that took teams of people working together to produce just one book. Now days, any crabby person can sit at home and crank out stuff on a blog or even make internet video. This movie will make you happy as you watch others toil for 'The Man' under primitive conditions."

Such a wonderfully tedious process. Impressive, isn't it?

     

My First Fair

And not any fair... it was a medieval one, with costumes, music, dance and lots of fun. I participated with my friend Zé who makes the amazing Machado shoes. My books got along very well with his shoes, happily sharing the same booth for 4 full days. It was a nice experience, a bit exhaustive for a novice like me, we had sun, we had rain, and some pretty funny adventures. We also had some sales, and that was the best of it :)