Grant Project – Betty’s Spaghetti

Between 15 and 20 years ago, I had the idea to create a portfolio or book of the linocut block prints that I call “The Recipe Series.” The images are an interpretation of the recipe through it’s ingredients. Up until last year I had 7 blocks cut and while I printed some small editions of them to sell, the concept of the book with the recipes themselves was not only pushed to the back burner, it was pushed off the stove altogether!

Now that I am working as an artist full time (I decided to retire from teaching art), I wrote a grant with the idea to bring this project full circle, along with another smaller project for a print exchange portfolio.

So I submitted a proposal to the Five Wings Art Council which is the area I live in Minnesota. The grants that Minnesota proposed through the legacy funds have been instrumental for helping artists follow through with their creative endeavors and I know this project idea would have never come to fruition without it.

I was awarded with the grant and since late January or February when I received the funds, it’s been a non stop problem solving adventure. I knew three things, the size of my blocks that I already cut, that I wanted the text to be letterpress printed if at all possible, and these would be hand bound books. I have enough skills in printmaking and book arts just to make me dangerous to pursue this craziness. And my goal? A limited edition of 20. If all goes smoothly, it will be 21.

I started with the size of the book and the style of the book. At one point I thought it might be a version of an accordion book, and I kept looking through the books I have on bookbinding and researching the world wide web. I have spent hours there for the various aspects of the book. I finally landed on a binding called a “Secret Belgian Binding,” which allows the book to lay flatter when opened. It also has these little tabs on the inside of the spine which are hidden when you hand-sew the pages in.

After that it was designing the book in terms of the recipes and layout. What type of paper, what font, how will I get polymer plates made, where will I buy those, what color thread, book cloth, and will there be any cover images? In a nutshell, I’m using three types of paper; a Thai mulberry for the prints, and recipe blocks, a Liberty Red Antique Endpaper, and Red Canapetta Book Cloth for the covers, all purchased through Talas located in Brooklyn, NY. I purchased a couple of tools through there as well and I love their customer service.

For the recipes themselves, I enlisted the help of the kids who are skilled in editing. I designed the layout using Adobe’s InDesign and then sent them to my editors for proofreading. I think we went through that process three times! That process lasted weeks and finally when ready, I submitted them to BoxCar press who makes them. All in all I had 13 polymer plates made. After about a week, my plates arrived and the proofs they provided looked great.

Because I use space in my own home for my art work, I am rotating through the process of tearing down paper to size, covering the book board with the book covers, printing the polymer plates and carving the last of the lino blocks. Eventually, I add into the rotation where I sew the covers together using the Secret Belgian Binding.

For the covers, I used an actual book cloth which is amazing to work with, compared to paper covered books I have made in the past. I chose that because of the amount of books I am creating and the durability. Hopefully the books will be treasured for years to come.