Tidying Up

Today was spent tidying up and putting things away. The house was littered with little piles of things - and the garage was littered with a big pile.  What with the snow, there was an accumulation of cardboard boxes and other debris which has all gone to the recycling centre. Rooms have been cleaned and floors washed and most piles has been put away.

I have printed out the pages for the Caladium book on Bockingford page. Met one odd problem when I tried to do one page double sided and got the last side looking as though it had been splashed with black ink. Some duplex printing worked but two pages did not. I printed these out as simplex and will glue them together. The glueing has started with the front and back pictures being glued to boards - and wrinkling madly. I will wait till they are thoroughly dry before deciding whether to throw them out and try again. I should have put the PVA on the paper picture and then laid the cover on top.


While waiting for the covers to dry, I have been looking at a new book, Seriwaza, which is a catalogue of his work. Seriwaza was a Japanese Living National Treasure and was a stencil expert. (A bit like saying Turner was a quite decent colourist). He went to Okinawa in the 1930s and got hooked on bingata  which is a multi-stencil technique. It is said it takes six months to make the material for a kimono. The photo shows a piece of silk in 'bingata style' and gives a good idea of the colourful appearance. Seriwaza used a wide variety of fabrics, hemp to silk. In later life he did a lot of kimonos but his early work concentrated on book and magazine design. The Japan Society held an an exhibition of his work in New York which finished on Jan 17th, 2010. The website shows 21 different items from the exhibition. Definitely 'Vaux le visite'.