Making a book about a journey on the canal
The canals are linear, an old transport system for freight, before the advent of the railways and motorways. The boats that travel these stretches of water are long, thin constructions of iron, steel and wood. It made sense to me to create a book that was also linear in nature, a line and story in print that could travel in the way that Narrowboats do. I sat in the local boaters pub one quiet afternoon and made a quick sketch on a scrap piece of card. That sketch has now been translated into an artist's book.
The Sketch
I had been ruminating about a book of prints for some time. My initial thoughts were something more like a catalogue of 'canal prints'. One afternoon after working on the boats, I went to the pub while it was quiet, sat down and drew a tiny sketch on to the torn back of a greetings card and decided this would be the book.
The Printing Blocks
The printing blocks were scraps of lino hanging around that were off cuts of larger sheets I had already used. I didn't have the money to buy lino for this project so I used what I had.
The five blocks each measure 5cm by 30cm.
The Print
The original linocut print is a multiblock print. This is where separate colour layers are printed on top of each other to create the final image.
It is printed on Japanese Ho-Sho paper in two sections which were joined together and folded to create a concertina book.
Risograph
Due to the tiny dimensions of the original book, I wanted to have the original reproduced in a more manageable size.
A company called 'Silly Gooze', run by boaters is local to me and I appoached them to see if they could create a Risograph version for sale.
A Project for Silly Gooze
I handed over my tiny little book with all of my very specific requirements to Dylan at Silly Gooze. It was to be reproduced with both Risograph and Screen printed elements on paper with high Eco. credentials. It is really imortant to me that everything that comes from me artistically is made by hand and has materials that are as sustainably sourced as possible, while using traditional methods.
Moving Day Complete
This book has been a labour of love for everyone involved.
The connection to the canal runs not only through the imagery but how it has been made...by boaters.
There are people living on the water who have amazing skills and creativity. This little book is a capsule of boat life, love of the water and love of print.
©Copyright. All rights reserved.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.