Thursday, August 31, 2006

Perfume From Provence


Perfume From Provence 6,7
Originally uploaded by Jan and Roly.
I have rebound a 1937 copy of 'Perfume from Provence' by the Honorable Lady Fortescue, illustrated by EH Shephard ('Winnie-the-Pooh' fame) into a sketchbook to take with me on my trip late Sept. I included some of the original pages when I rebound it with hot and cold pressed Arches and Waterford watercolour papers and Stonehenge paper.

This will be my Provence Sketchbook. Check out my Flickr site for more images of this book including the cover and title pages.

I find I am really enjoying all this rebinding of books. I've made handbound books before and really enjoyed it, but I always found I was confounded when it came to the covers. I often felt the cover wasn't quite right for the book in some way, or I felt compelled to put too much work into the cover which somehow added psycological 'weight' to the book I'd rather not had.

Rebinding has solved all that for me. I choose a book I like and whose title or subject suits and away I go. Somehow it feels even more personal than my painted covers. It creates an feeling of attachment that I love.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this project - conceptually - as much as you do. Becoming a bookbinder never appealed to me until you posted your first rebound book. Now I'll need to buy a bookbinding instruction book and start planning. Which book do you recommend? I could also take a class here in NYC, but that isn't my usual style.

Anastasia said...

this is going to be one amazing travel sketch book!!
have fun on your trip - Im off tommorow night!

Anonymous said...

Choosing the right perfume can be difficult and because it is also considered an intimate gift buying the wrong perfume can backfire on you and get you the opposite result of that which you hoped for.

The first thing you need to do is do some homework, meaning research. Look at your lady's perfume bottles, the ones that are nearly empty will be her favorites. If there is one there that is nearly full chances are she doesn't wear it often or doesn't like it. Hint around and ask her what types of fragrances she likes and dislikes.

Humans are very sensory oriented and our sense of smell is no different. Certain perfumes can elicit strong reactions in both the wearer and the person reacting to the scent. Perfumes are made not only to attract but to also relax someone. If you aren't totally sure what kind of perfume to buy you can always play it safe and get something in the aromatherapy line. If you go this route, bear in mind that vanilla scents are considered to relax and a peppermint or lemon scent will be more stimulating.