Saturday's Fair Finds

You all probably know by now that I love old apothecary bottles. They appear in almost each photo of my books. I've been collecting them since quite a while but it's getting harder and harder to find them at the flea markets here in Portugal at a reasonable price. What I don't remember is if I ever mentioned to you my other big passion that goes hand in hand with the first, which is collecting artist pigments. I have studied them in school and I was fascinated by their history and evolution. A few years ago, together with my boyfriend who's also a conservator, we started a small collection which has been growing and growing...

Last Saturday at the flea market I got incredibly lucky! Look at these marvelous bottles filled with pigments and dyes! They belonged to an old pharmacy in Porto that recently closed. When I bought them they were all dirty and covered in red powder from one bottle that lost its cap. I couldn't even read their labels. I was just happy to find them and bought them immediately. I thought all were red pigments. At home when I started to clean them, all these beautiful colors were revealed. It turns out that they are samples of old pigments and dyes from England and Germany. It's really great for us to be able to add them to our collection!

Natural, synthetic, mineral, organic, modern, historic... we got it!
And this is just a small part of it :)

     

A Surprise in the Mail!

She did it again!!! My wonderful sister Anca always manages to surprise me with something :) I just could not believe when I received in the mail these fabulous metal letters. It's my first letters set, and what better fit for my books other than Old English style.

She got them from Corinne at 6catsVintage. Her shop is closed at the moment but make sure to check back when she opens for a variety of vintage bookbinding goodies!

Thanks so much sis!! You're the BEST! xxx

 

Byłoniebyło - My Book by Jacek

There's not much left to say about this book after seeing the photos... except how beautiful and unique it is. A wonderful piece of art, perfect in every way. I just can't wait to touch it, to open, to explore it...

Thank you, Jacek. I will treasure it forever!
 

 

   

Jacek's Book: Finished!

Day five

... and the last day of work, although the book must still rest in the press for a few days before going away to its new home.

 Title is hand written - in translation, "Byzantine Manuscripts in Collections from Bucharest"

 Detail of the custom handmade brass book-clasps and painted edges

On the front cover, a small detail of a bestiary. Painting is done in egg tempera on golden leaf and varnished.

 

There are 15 blank page inserts with hand writing or hand painted decorative details on small pieces of handmade paper

 

Tomorrow I'll be back with photos of the book Jacek made for me. It's a gem.
  

Jacek's Book: The Cover

By now Jacek's book is long finished. But I'm still behind on posting about its making...

Day four

For the covers I thought to make something simple, using natural leather, not dyed, and to apply only a bit of patina on it in the end. The only decoration that would give it a precious aspect would be a detail of a Byzantine manuscript which I would paint myself on golden leaf.

Preparing the boards, the spine stiffer, mounting them together and cutting out a recessed rectangle shape in the front cover where the painting will later be placed.

Mounting the clasps using "hinges" made of thick wire and covered in leather.

 

Mounting the clasp into the cover by cutting out the shape to avoid creating a relief on the inside. This is followed by fixing it with epoxi glue (for metal).

Preparing the leather for the covers - paring it at the edges

Tooling the cover

And painting a detail of a bestiary with egg tempera on golden leaf, followed by varnishing.