Fish Skin Bind-O-Rama 2020 - Piscatorial bindings of a different kind

BIND-O-RAMA 2020 IS NOW ONLINE!

Click image to view the Bind-O-Rama.

I've been sharing my love (some may call it an obsession worthy of an intervention) with fish skin, specifically parchment, in bookbinding since 2014, making my own since 2017. The result, curiosity, fascination, but also disgust and revulsion. I get it, sort of, but bookbinders and students of the same, including conservators love to learn about new materials, including making their own. 

Back in early April I was challenged by two colleagues, one asking will I ever host another Bind-O-Rama. Sure, why not. Fish skin it is and the call for entries was posted. I had been sharing the historical literature, and my experiments and uses ad nauseam for years using the "fish leather" tag, also publishing an article on the process in Book Arts arts du livre Canada (Vol 10., Nr. 2, 2019). The other colleague challenged me to host a webinar on the process of making parchment. Due to COVID we were all working from home, looking to keep our skills sharp, and also for things we could do at home. So, 2 weeks later there was the webinar. The rest is history.

I'm deeply impressed by the number of people who rose to my bait of trying to make their own parchment or tanned leather from fish, and then make something using the material. The 21 participants (including one avatar in this Bind-O-Rama come from Australia, Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Their backgrounds vary and include bookbinders, artists, and conservators with lots of overlap between them. Not content to leave it with one skin, many dove in to make more and from a variety of species, and/or tried other methods of processing their skins. These experiments were widely shared by most on social media, even encouraging others to jump in.

"Fips" and his eels

 

View the Bind-O-Rama and get hooked like 'Fips'
to join the Fish Skin Binders.

Click on patch earned by participants
to view the exhibit.
https://www.philobiblon.com/bindorama20/index.html

Selected Resources

Historical Overview:

• "Fips" and His Eels: Fish Skin in Bookbinding in Book Arts arts du livre Canada (Vol 10., Nr. 2, 2019)
• "Fish Tales, experiments with fish skin for bookbinding. The New Bookbinder: Journal of Designer Bookbinders (2020)
• Fish Skin Posts on the Pressbengel Project blog

Tanning workshops:

• Janey Chang in Vancouver has also been offering terrific online tanning workshops.
• Fish Leather: Tanning + Sewing by Lotta Rahme and Dag Hartman. Available in North American from Janey Change and elsewhere.
• Amber Sandy's Instagram feed: several wonderful posts about tanning fish (among other species). In the Toronto area and happy to give workshops.