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Binding • 28.5 x 20 x 2.5
In full black calf with mottled markings, over sculpted
boards of paper pulp from handmade paper scraps;
low-relief linear markings on front and hollowed 'pit'
inset with a wild mussel seed pearl. Doublures of
suede over irregular turn-ins, abraded to create changing
tones. The endpapers and flyleaves are mottled in
deep charcoal and blacks with touches of warmer
earth colours using acrylic paints, gradually lightening
towards the text block. The head is airbrushed and
mottle 'gilded' with palladium. Silk head and tail bands
blend with the edges.
Container • 33 x 27.5 x 5.7
'Clam' type box, flattened polygon with central flat
facet on base to allow steady seating. Covered in paper
stained with acrylics, pinpricked and textured with
added colour implying an amygdaloidal basalt. Lined
in black velvet. Black calfskin spine.
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Concept
A beautiful, smooth, dense stone with linear marks
and a hollowed pit, home to a diminutive snail shell,
was my inspiration. The rounded, heavy form and
smooth, cool surface suggested the sensual black
calfskin and to create the same response to holding the
rounded form in one's hands I gradually sculpted the
boards over a base with pulp from my hoard of scraps,
allowing time for pressing, drying and warpage. The
calfskin was pressed into incised marks, rather than
tooled, as suggestion seemed more subtle. The texture
of cracked-open stone is rougher and irregularly angular,
so the turn-ins of the front and back covers were
left wide and irregular with the black suede-side
doublures laid over and sanded to create shaded areas,
further changed by a hand brushing over it. The treatment
of the head has an elusive quality achieved by
layers of fine airbrushing to reflect the fine grain of
basalt, with palladium and hints of 'olivine' and rusty
colours. (I try to understand geological structures by
reading up as much as possible, although as a complete
amateur I depend initially on my aesthetic responses
to them.) I used to live in Ireland, and the Giant's
Causeway links with the structures on the Isle of Staffa
off the west coast of Mull, which I can see on my
walks. The box alludes to the polygonal pillars, though
obviously flattened; it is hard and its angularity and
finely textured surface is in contrast to the rounded
smoothness of the binding.
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