A JAPANESE BOOK

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE CREATIVE PROCESSBY

SUE GUNN

On a trip to Australia, I was seduced

into a Japanese paper shop and fell instantly

in love with this sheet.

The colour graduation, the texture

and the gold flecks were beautiful.

Naturally I bought it and posted it back to the UK.

I knew that I wanted to use it in a piece of work,

but didn’t know what.

A Japanese book seemed the obvious choice

and I planned to design it so that the colour

graduated from dark to light from the outside

to the inside of the covers.

But what should I write?

The initial inspiration

Finding the words

For me, it is more usual to find the words first and for thedesign to be inspired by them. In this case, I was working slightly back-to-front.

Some years earlier I had found a Native American BlessingI wanted to write out for my God-daughter’s christening.I tried it several ways but was never happy with the result. In the end, Molly received ‘I Had a Little Nut Tree’ instead.

But now the words came back to me and I dug out my notes.They immediately seemed ‘right’ for this paper and, besides, Molly now had a little sister, Alice, also my God-daughter, so I decided to make the book for her christening.

May the sun bring you strength by dayMay the moon softly restore you by nightMay the rain wash away your fearsAnd the breeze invigorate your being.May you all the days of your lifeWalk gently through the worldAnd know its beauty

First ideas

I nearly always begin with a pencil and arough piece of paper. It’s quick, it’s non-threatening, and it can easily be thrown in the bin!

Any ideas that spring to mind are quickly sketched. I don’t judge the ideas at this stage,I just let them flow. To judge them now will only inhibit the thought processes and I may miss out on a great idea. Even if none of theideas at this stage seem worthwhile, remainingopen-minded and non-judgemental can often mean they lead to further thoughts and ideas which may work.

Here are some of the the first ideas for the Japanese Book. Note the symbols on the left hand pages. The idea was to do these in gold to link with the cover paper. Another idea was a simple gold diamond shape. In the end, only one diamond was used on the opening page.

Ideas for the book

Some more pencil sketches along with notes on how the book and cover may work. At this stage I’mthinking about the object as a whole to ensure that all elements relate to each other.

First trials

Traditionally, a Japanese binding uses lightweight tissue paper which is folded and bound withthe folded edge on the right hand side (the open side). The book is stitched along the left hand side and needs thin paper in order to lie open properly.This is a white Japanese tissue paper (Zenyu). My initial idea was to write with a blue pencil as I was aware that paint or ink would ‘bleed’ on this paper.This was rejected because I wasn’t happy with either the sharpness or the quality of the writing and I felt the overall appearance was too soft in relation to the strength of colour in the cover paper.

Trials of paints and papers

I tested many samples of white tissue papers in the vague hope that one might work using ametal pen and watercolour paint. To my surprise, I found one. It is Japanese and called Tosa Washi Smooth Wove. It is very thin and delicate and perfect for the book.The blue used here is not the final choice of colour, but rather one I happened to have mixed up.

Colour trials

Testing various types of blue paintto match with the cover paper. I decided to make the writingmatch the mid-blue of the cover and settled on French Ultramarine with a touch of Winsor Blue (red shade) watercolour.

The whole colour scheme

Assembling all the parts for the book helps to imagine how it will work as a whole. In the final book, some elements changed and some were omitted, but it still givesa good idea of how the finished book will look.

Writing trials

After a few trials of size and style of writing, I decided on Roman Capitals in a number 5 nib. The actual size of the writing is about 2mm high. The whole poem was written out andmeasurements taken so I could place each line to appear in right place on each page.

Page layout

Designing text in a book has different requirements to a piece which will be framed. Whenyou look at a book, you see both the left and right hand pages at the same time and when designing the pages, the double page spread must be treated as a whole. I had no text planned for the left hand page but felt the line on the right must still adhere to the rules of book design.Note the pencil line on the left – this is the area which will be bound and be invisible when the book lies open. It must, therefore, be considered when placing the text.

Whenever possible, I use the actual materials of the final piece in all the trials. However, I only had one sheet of the Japanese Cover paper and couldn’t afford to waste it. So, I took another, much cheaper, paper which was of a similar weight and type to work out themechanics of the cover and holder. That said, once I was sure about what I wanted to do,I still made a mock-up using the actual paper. Only then can I tell how it will react with gluesand how it will work with ribbons etc.

Trials for the book cover

Notes & decisions

Detailed notes were written about how thecovers were made, including measurements.Also noted were any suggested changes tothe cover, to the techniques used and choiceof materials.

The measurements of the cover and holder were also refined – a millimetre here or theremaking a huge difference to how well thebook fitted the cover.

I find making such detailed notes andobservations is essential. It is so easy to forget what you’ve done and having a record saves time in having to repeat a trial or inrisking making the same error twice. It also helps if I want to make the sameitem again at a later date, perhaps for acommission.

Having tested the design of the cover usingthe pink paper, a final mock-up was written,sewn and bound in the Japanese paper.

I decided to use a blue ribbon rather than awhite one.

The Final mock-up

I chose not to put the gold dots on every page as I felt it was too much and was distracting. One dot on the front page wouldstill be done as a link between the cover and the inside.

At this stage, decisions were taken to space the stitching differently, to sew with a blue thread instead of white and to begin sewing from the back rather than the front. This meant the knot, which would be pushed in at the back, would be less noticeable, should it show a little.

More design decisions

The final book

The following slides show the finished book page by page. This is page one.

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

Page 8

Japanese bound book with the cover open.

The book inside the tied cover.

The end