I finally finished a proof of my book, Deep Time during a residency at Penland earlier this year. It was a fantastic experience, and I was surprised at how much I got done in a 2-week period! I spent the first week in the dye studio, dyeing all my paper using cloves. About 350 sheets of paper were brush dyed for an edition of 44, including overrun. Read more about the initial ideation phase here.
The next step was to dip dye everything in Indigo. It was the perfect place to be doing this, because my finished pieces were a direct reflection of the beautiful views outside the studio. As the Indigo soaked into the sheet, it pushed the clove up, and created the beautiful ridge I was after for this project.
Every set of papers were dipped in a slow progression, with Indigo taking up more and more room on the page. Each sheet was progressively held down longer and longer to get a stronger blue.
After printing the first layers, this a set of proof sheets. The very last page was too dark to include in the final progression.
The lines that are printed over each page are engraved into end grain maple blocks. It is an extremely slow, time consuming and tedious process- which reflected my core concept exactly.
The line quality of the engraved blocks lent a beautiful look to the finished pages
Each page was then cut into, in a progression...
...with the shapes that form the Tibetan plateau, the Andean mountain range and the Kanz'gyal range in Centra Asia- some of the highest points on the physical surface of the planet.
After two busy weeks in the mountains, and two days of traveling, unpacking and re packing, I went to Codex in San Francisco to try and sell my work. Phew!
