Instruction

I made this quiet, little book in the spring. The text reads

INSTRUCTION

1  The Towers

light grey, windows white

a crack in the floor, a vase

make these

in front of the towers

a silver cord

lies on the ground

leave it carefully

you fold like smoke

to begin again

for Ophiel

Oculus Song :: First Copy

Oculus song is a meditation on the night sky and our mind's interiors. The images evoke atmospheric phenomena and the geometry of architecture. The text is an original poem composed using an experimental technique of writing using translation software to alter the text and generate spontaneous new content to be edited into a new text.

This artist's book was made in a limited edition of 16, 12 softcover editions, and 4 deluxe hardcover editions. This is the softcover edition. The text was handset in 12 pt Futura and letterpress printed. The imagery is letterpress and risograph printed on a mix of handmade and recycled paper. Written, designed, printed, and bound by Marianne Dages, Huldra Press, 2013.

Dimensions : 7.25" x 4.5", 44 pages
Binding : 3 signature binding in a softcover case

It is available for sale here and here

 :: Cover ::

 :: OCULUS SONG ::

The bromides flash,
on top of my room.

Luminous pillars,
mortuous colors.

What is lost gathers here,
in the eye of Jupiter.

Its distant operations,
Anchor the dawn.

A frozen horse
with vesper hoof,

Aster Ochre -
The catalyst’s bloom,

how clear the song,
the pyramid moon.

- Marianne Dages, 2013

More Oculus Song

Progress in printing Oculus Song...

:: catalyst ::

 :: pages ::

 :: the next step? ::

:: materials ::

Wooden Houses

Scans from Wooden Houses, text and drawings by Makoto Suzuki, photographs by Yukio Futagawa. This book is a collection of images and information about traditional European wooden houses. So beautiful and not too hard to find. I highly recommend buying it if you come across it. 

Printing Pages

:: printing transparent pages for Oculus Song ::

Oculus Song in Progress

:: oculus song, risograph and letterpress :: 

I'm getting very excited about this project. I've made some changes since the first draft, little changes in wording and layout. Now that I am printing the final text and images, it's all coming together. 

In other news, I've been in a research mindset lately, thinking about language, storytelling, recording dreams. If you would like to see the images I've been collecting as inspiration, please stop by my Tumblr, Tiger Feathers. 

Oculus Song

I'm working on a new artist's book, titled Ocular  Oculus Song. Right now, it is in the model stage, and I am trying to decide on a typeface. The book will include risograph and letterpress printing, maybe some hand painted details. The book will include some of my writing. It's never been easy for me to translate my ideas into writing, it can be like pulling teeth, but it's exhilarating too. 

:: testing typefaces ::

:: handset type ::

:: risograph printing and handmade paper cover ::

 :: risograph printing and tracing paper ::

National Geographics and other things

:: working on it, thank you ::

 :: I love these colors ::

 :: I bought a bunch of 70s National Geographics as a gift to myself ::

 :: hello ::

 :: the Saami ::

:: The Celts, photograph of the incredible Gundestrup Cauldron :: 

Recent Acquisitions

Recent acquisitions from the used bookstore. A vintage issue of Exposure, the journal of the Society for Photographic Education. The theme of the issue is photo-offset printing and included a portfolio section.

 :: todd walker ::

 :: scott hyde ::

:: cover ::

A beautiful little bound copy of the Life of Tom Horn. Steve McQueen read the story of Tom Horn and felt a strong personal connection to Horn, a loner and one of the last of his kind in the disappearing Old West. His film Tom Horn is one of my favorites. 

I love the scale and feel of this book. I have been working on an edition myself and am now thinking I might downsize it to a more handheld size. 

 :: cover ::

 :: title page ::

Neighbors and Books

I went to Delaware yesterday to drop off some work for a show, "Neighbors" at Project Space.

Wilmington, DE. This group show is an eclectic group of artists, who have all been neighbors at one time or another. I feel very lucky to be part of this show, which includes the work of Catherine Maloney, Ruth Ansel, and Sutton Hays.

If you are in the neighborhood, the opening details are:

Neighbors

Project Space

2003 West 17th Street

Wilmington, DE 19806

Friday, February 1st 5pm to 8pm

Should be a great show.

While I was there, I went to the thrift store and found this treasure. 

:: mushrooms and magic, yes please ::

 :: title page with sweet little mushroom drawings ::

:: I see russulas, morels, boletes, and more! ::

I also went to my parent's house and dug out a few of my own children's books, I'll be posting more of them later. This one is Rocks and Gems. I remember looking at it many times.

 :: I love that little earth core slice ::

 :: rocks and gems ::

Nested Egyptian Punch-Out Mummy Cases

This book is making my heart happy...

I also saw two mushrooms on the way to work today. In January. Auspicious.

:: earth stars ::

The Iceland Book

Making progress on the design for my new book. I've spent the last month doing sketches of sorts. Little pictographic drawings, imaginary maps, experimental prints, etc. to get a feel for what I want the look and feel of the book to be. It's getting there.

The inspiration for the book is Iceland. New worlds. Far travel. That's all I'll say for now.

 :: drawings ::

This will be the first time I've digitally designed a book before letterpress printing it. The editions I've made before this have been handset and the imagery hand-carved or manually produced some other way. This book will include many drawings, but I wanted to incorporate photo imagery and to use a typeface that is not available in metal. So InDesign it is.

:: first draft - computer printout ::

I finished my first draft and printed it on a laserjet to get a feel for the scale. Boy does it look different than on screen! 

Everything needs tweaking...

:: first draft - computer print out ::

I've wanted to go to north for years, since I read Bulfinch's Mythology and of The Hyperborea, the land beyond the Northern Wind. I know this book will bring me there, in some way, shape, or form.  

:: Islande ::

Developing

Book ideas developing... Pictograms, history, archaeology, botany, arctic landscapes, the colors of the earth and sky. 

:: color experiments for the (as yet untitled) book ::

:: type set for small fires no. 2 ::

:: small fires no. 2 ::

This print is available on my website.

New Year, New Projects

I have a new print available for sale now on my website, titled Small Fires. The composition is set using wood and metal type (no polymer plates). It's inspired by pictographs from arctic cultures.

This print is also a part of my design process for the new book I'm working on, which is about my personal mythology of the north, an idea I started back in the summer and mentioned here. I'm excited to finally be working on the design and writing of the book in earnest now, my sense of purpose renewed.

:: Small Fires, Letterpress, 2012 ::

 :: detail ::

 :: detail ::

Available here

The Mushroom Collector

I made this book recently and am very happy with how it turned out. I like the icy blue bookcloth. It's called The Mushroom Collector. It's available here, on etsy. 

:: vintage book illustration of mushrooms ::

:: cover ::

 :: vintage nature photograph of a beaver on a library card holder ::

 :: 100% cotton paper ::

 :: top of the book, light orange headband ::

Chymia

This is where I've been hiding for the last month, in this book!

This beautiful book is a collaboration between my coworkers and I at The Common Press. 

Chymia, a collaborative Common Book designed and printed by Marc Blumthal, Marianne Dages, Matt Neff, Ivanco Talevski, and Tricia Treacy at The Common Press in 2012. A limited set of letterpress prints using original blocks from the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library’s Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection accompanies each edition.

:: letterpress portfolio of original blocks from the collection ::

We will be debuting this book at the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair this weekend in Silver Springs, MD. Please come and say hello!

:: slipcase, book, and portfolio, binding design by Marianne Dages ::

:: silkscreen endsheets by Marc Blumthal ::

 :: left, silkscreen by Matt Neff, right, letterpress by Marianne Dages ::

 :: letterpress by me, Marianne Dages ::

:: etching by Ivanco Talevski ::

:: silkscreen by Marc Blumthal ::

:: silkscreen by Matt Neff ::

:: letterpress by Tricia Treacy ::

Lynx and Stars

I made this custom book for a very talented lady, who requested a journal with lynxes, graph paper, stars, and red. I decided to try something a little different and made the book with a soft curved spine. It turned out to be one of my favorite books I've made in a really long time.

:: vintage book illustration of a lynx ::

 :: the milky way, and letterpresses name plate ::

 :: typewriter stars ::

 :: curved spine ::

:: lynx ::

Patterns

Beautiful Books

Last weekend, my boyfriend and I spent a day walking around the city and we went to several used bookstores along the way, something we both love to do. I always make a beeline towards the children's section, followed by the science and art, he heads straight for science fiction. I read his science fiction books and take pictures of the books I buy. It works.

:: german biology textbook ::

:: American Wild Life with heavily embossed cover ::

:: American Wild Life, three foxes ::

:: a drawing I made a few years ago from this same book, different edition ::

:: Science Stories, gorgeous ::

:: Science Stories, how the moon looks ::