8 March, 2008

Four months have passed since Ben left for Georgia, and I’m still busy finishing up the large paper edition of the Sylvæ.  Trimming the text sheets has proved to be challenging, mostly due to the wild nature of hand made paper, and the unevenness of its deckled edges. Emerson Wullling once told me, when asked about deckles that he preferred to cut them off. I didn’t understand why at the time, but I do now. The uneven nature of deckles (especially with hand made paper) makes squareness of cut edges, as they relate to deckled edges, difficult to maintain. In the case of the large paper Sylvæ, with fold-out images attached to the trimmed fore edges of hand made sheets,  it is a devilishly difficult problem. If the fore edge of the hand made text sheet isn’t perfectly square to the head of the sheet, the folded image sheet will deflect, and refuse to fold into the text sheet in line with the rest of the book. Each hand made sheet in the large paper Sylvæ must be trimmed by hand on the Jaques board sheer. This involves marking the cuts in pencil on the light table, and then making three separate cuts. This has proved to be a long and tedious process that has literally taken months to do. Also in the works is the machining of the specimen blocks, which I am doing here in the woodshop at Midnight Paper Sales. Dick Sorenson is preparing a first set of boards that will prove the binding of the book. Craig Jenson at Booklab 2 has made up an initial text block, and we will (hopefully) have the first large paper copy ready to be installed in the exhibit space at the Andersen Horticultural Library by the end of the month. 4 of the 26 copies of the large paper Sylvæ remain unspoken for. The price is $7500.

Bill and Vicky Stewart  (the Vamp and Tramp) are currently on a West Coast swing of visits with librarians, and the resulting orders for the standard edition of Sylvæ have been very encouraging. Bill and Vicky’s love of (and dedication to) the contemporary book arts scene is remarkable,  and much appreciated. 29 of the 120 standard Sylvæ remain available. The price is $1200.

This project has been, for me, the ultimate collaboration. The energy and intelligence that Ben Verhoeven  brought to the process were fantastic.  His “in progress” reports added a helpful dimention in making the process more accessible to you. I extend my heart-felt thanks to him, and wish him success in future ventures.  Copies of his little book Twenty Rows In (his internship project here which was a key part of the inspiration for our Sylvæ) should soon be available. Contact Ben at benjamin.verhoeven@gmail.com for details.

To view Ben's complete Sylvæ "in progress" updates, click on the "past updates" link below.

Gaylord Schanilec

sylva farm 590
in progress
ben verhoeven

sylvæ