Winter

2024-25

News from the Chapter Co-Chairs

What to say about the wonderful weekend that was the 2024 Standards of Excel-
lence, November 6-9, in Providence, RI?

Jennifer Rosner, Val Kremser, and Kristin Balmer began their adventure with a
fun 6 hour train ride, chatting, knitting, and snacking the whole way. After a brisk
walk to the Biltmore/Graduate Providence Hotel, they entered a charming Twin
Peaks/Wes Anderson movie set environment. Have you read Amanda Quay
Blount’s book, Meet Me At The Biltmore? Ghosts, the hotel has ghosts.

Standards attendees went to a fun “meet and greet” bingo with squares to fill in
from Guild members you didn’t already know. Some of the squares were: some-
one who has attended Standards more than 10 times, someone who likes board
games, someone who played a sport in college, or has a book related tattoo (our In this issue
very own Val!). So many DVC members attended that we partied like it was p.2 Material World,
2019! In Memoriam
p.3 Upcoming Workshop
We learned about laser cutting tools from Sarah Pike. Did you know that lasers p.4 Six Questions
burn in a V-shape? We also learned about the many, many steps to perfecting the p.5-7 Recent Workshops
multi-faceted shine that is gold title tooling with Samuel Feinstein.
Chapter Officers
We ate excellent meals at a Japanese market just around the corner, Maruichi
Chapter Co-Chairs
Food and Deli. Kristin still dreams about the tonkatsu lunch special…mmmm. Valeria Kremser &
Many coffees were drunk at many cafes, all within walking distance. Kristin Balmer
New members paired up with seasoned mentors, silver and gold, and the tradi- Vice Chair
tions continued to continue. Tours were walked and museum collections viewed. Tara O’Brien
Skins and papers and tools, oh my! So many beautiful and useful things to buy, Treasurer
so many interesting people to talk to, so many events to attend, so many friends Lisa Scarpello
to reconnect with, the time was very well spent! Secretary
Rosae Reeder
Kristin Balmer Exhibition Chair
Val Kremser Jennifer Rosner
Workshop Coordinator
Lisa Scarpello
Webmaster
Valeria Kremser
Newsletter Editor
Sophia Dahab
Newsletter Designer
Karen Lightner

L to R: Val Kremser, James Engelbart, Dee Collins, L to R: Val Kremser, Jennifer Rosner, Kristin Balmer
Kristin Balmer, Eriko Takahashi

Pressing Matter Winter 2024-25 p.1

Material World
By Val Kremser
Material World marked the triumphant return of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers to
Penn Libraries. It has been well over 15 years since the DVC has had an exhibit at Penn and it did not disap-
point. Inspired by the Fisher Fine Arts Materials Library, which the group visited in preparation for the exhibit
in April, Material World challenged DVC’s artists and binders to create a book using nontraditional materials.
Even though the prompt was simply to try and make something from materials that are not usually used for the
books, the exhibit had some very strong themes including the sea, home, tradition, memory, and transitions.
There were 26 books by 25 artists and the materials used ranged from stamped metal to feathers. Some books
used almost traditional materials but in new ways. Binding styles included long stitch, link stitch, and accordi-
on.
The exhibit opened on September 12, 2024 and was held in conjunction with The Movement of Books and the
lecture Art and Action in Movable Books and Paper: from the Collection of Ellen G. K. Rubin. It was an exu-
berant occasion, including “pop-up” treats and tours of the exhibits. It was also exciting to see Guild members
represented in the other exhibit and even the pop-up talk. Additional tours were given throughout the run of the
exhibit to groups including students from visiting universities and staff at the Penn Museum. And as a thank
you to Penn Libraries, the DVC offered a Making Movables Workshop on October 18 in the Kislak Center
where participants made a variety of Jacob’s ladder structures.
It was a pleasure to help bring these books to Penn Libraries and it could not have been done without the tire-
less work of the amazing Penn Libraries exhibition team: Brittany Merriam, Ren Griffin, and Leslie Goldman.
Lynn Farrington also provided much guidance and help with the programming.
The success of Material World has led to talks about future exhibits at Penn Libraries. And rumor has it that
some items from the exhibit will be making their way into the Penn collection!
Images of the books, opening, and exhibit can be seen on the DVC’s website.

In Memoriam, Henry Blanco White

Henry Blanco White passed away in May 2024 after a brief illness at the age of 67. He
took up bookbinding in the late seventies, studying and later competing in London
while working as a patent attorney. He emigrated to the United States in 1999 and his
career left him with little spare time, so it wasn't until after he retired that he took up
bookbinding again. In recent years, he competed in the Biennales Mondiales de la Re-
liure d'art in Paris. Henry also built steam train engines and was an active member of
the Pennsylvania Live Steamers in Rahns, PA. He is survived by a sister in Reading,
England.

The Guild of Book Workers promotes interest in and awareness of the tradition of the book and
paper arts by maintaining high standards of workmanship, hosting educational opportunities, and sponsoring
exhibits.
The Delaware Valley Chapter–one of ten chapters in the US–is located in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
Delaware tri-state area with activities centered in Philadelphia. Our diverse membership includes book artists,
book conservators, fine binders, calligraphers, librarians, paper marblers, teachers, photographers, printmak-
ers, and graphic designers.
The Delaware Valley Chapter offers a newsletter, workshops, lectures, exhibition opportunities, tours, and so-
cial events. Membership is open to all interested persons and includes professionals, amateurs, and students.
Our website is: [Link]

Pressing Matter Winter 2024-25 p.2

Upcoming Workshop
Exotic and Fun Storage Workshop with Rosae Reeder
Saturday, March 8, 2025
10am to 4pm
Library Company of Philadelphia

$100 for current DVC-GBW members

$125 for non-members

Registration is limited to 15 persons. Reserve your spot soon on our website ([Link]) under the
News and Upcoming Events tab.

Materials list will be emailed after registration is received.

Combine form and function while creating these unique artist books! In this workshop, you will create
storage books from decorative paper. Learn how to fold a multitude of single-page elements that hide,
tuck in, fold out, and can be used individually as well as combined to make one storage book. You
make the decision as to which unique folds will end up in your final book. Single-sheet folded books
are not only beautiful and tactile works of art, but they offer an immersive and creative way to explore
your personal skills and aesthetic. Join us for a fun afternoon of book making!

Rosae M. Reeder (she/her) is a Book Artist / Printmaker who lives, works and teaches in Philadelphia.
Rosae holds an MFA from the Book Arts/Printmaking program at the University of the Arts in Phila-
delphia and a BFA in Printmaking from The State University of New York at Buffalo. She has taught
Book Arts and Letterpress at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the University of the Arts, Min-
nesota Center for Book Arts, and other institutions around the country. She has also taught numerous
workshops for the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers. Her work combines vari-
ous alternative photographic processes, digital collage, traditional printmaking media such as letter-
press, lithography and monotype, along with book structures.

Workshop hosted by the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers and
the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Phila Pa 19107

For more information, please go to our website: [Link]

Pressing Matter Winter 2024-25 p.3

Six Questions - Alice Austin
How long have you been a member of GBW?
I have been a member of GBW for 26 years. Originally, I joined because it was a professional development
opportunity while I was working in Conservation at The Winterthur Library, but it quickly became time spent
with a wonderful community of good friends.
Where are you from originally?
I grew up in Wilmington, DE but when I was 18, I left for Cusco, Peru as an American Field Service Ex-
change Student. I lived with a lovely family who didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Spanish. Total im-
mersion! I made some wonderful friends and was lucky to visit the Incan site of Machu Picchu several times.
After the Program concluded, I returned home and went into the Sculpture Program at the Philadelphia Col-
lege of Art.
When did you realize you wanted to learn bookbinding?
My very first experience with bookbinding came from my husband, Jon Snyder. He was trained by Willman
Spawn, who had been Head of Conservation at the American Philosophical Society, and Jon loved to share
what he learned. And then I met Hedi Kyle! I took a class with her as an alumnae at PCA and was hooked. I
was bench trained at the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, Winterthur Garden, Museum and
Library, and the Library Company of Philadelphia. Along the way, Jon and I raised two children. But I would
say that my time at the Paper and Book Intensive as a scholarship student in 1997 really sealed my love of
Book Arts. It was life changing. It was the first time I had been away from my children and I was introduced
to an amazing community of artists who are now life-long friends. I don’t know of any other art field where
artists freely and enthusiastically share what they know.
What is your favorite book structure these days?
I was obsessed with tunnel books when I wrote a chapter about the history of the tunnel book with Emily
Martin for Suave Mechanicals, Volume 4. The book is now out of print, so the chapter is available for free on
my website. ([Link]) After that, I spent some time with medieval girdle books, following a
workshop with Renate Mesmer. I was commissioned to make a model for the Kislak Center at the University
of Pennsylvania, to be used as a teaching aid.

What are you working on right now?

An accordion book. (Ha! Ha! My new favorite!) The working title is Ancient Olive Trees in Sicily.
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us?
When I was 22 years old, I traveled to Western
India to work for the University of Pennsylva-
nia as an artifact illustrator at the Harappan ar-
cheological site of Rojdi. It was just like being
in a National Geographic film; we rode in a
dusty jeep through a desert to the middle of no-
where. Over two years, I produced thousands of
drawings of broken pottery shards. My artist
book, Red, Yellow, Blue, was inspired by this
time in India, all the bright colors worn by the
local woman, and the Mughal architecture.

Red, Yellow, Blue

Pressing Matter Winter 2024-25 p.4

Recent Workshops
Stub Binding Workshop with Kathy Abbott, July 27, 2024
By Lisa Scarpello

The DVC was proud to host Kathy Abbott, British fine bookbinder, for a two session Zoom workshop in July
2024. Kathy is a Master Bookbinder and completed a four-year apprenticeship in bookbinding before earning
a Higher National Diploma from the London College of Printing followed by a BA (Hons) degree in Book-
binding from Roehampton University, Surrey. She is also the author of Bookbinding: A Step-by-Step Guide,
published by the Crowood Press in 2010.

During our two online sessions, Kathy discussed and taught stub binding structures, what they are and why
they are used. She explained that if a book is printed & folded in the wrong grain direction, if you have a se-
ries of loose sheets which need to be bound in a book form, or if the sections are overly thick, a stub binding
is an excellent structure to use. The stubs allow each section to open freely & perfectly flat and ensure that no
adhesive touches the actual book-block.

Kathy shared her knowledge freely and had helpful handouts. For example, if you need to determine how
wide your paper should be to fold a certain sized concertina, she provided very useful calculations to figure
this out. Everyone had very positive comments about Kathy’s teaching style & expertise and we would like
to host her again for another workshop sometime in the future. After two sessions with Kathy, we each had
two examples of standard and concertina stubs, sewn and unbound models for future reference.

[Link]

Kathy Abbott

Karen Lightner’s models

Pressing Matter Winter 2024-25 p.5

Another Recent Workshop
Jacobs Ladder Workshop with Val Kremser, October 18, 2024
By Lisa Scarpello
On Friday, October 18, 2024, our Co-Chair Valeria Kremser hosted 12 visual artists for an afternoon work-
shop on movable structures at the Kislak Center in the University of Pennsylvania Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.
She was assisted by Co-Chair Kristin Balmer and Board Member Lisa Scarpello. This workshop was offered
in conjunction with the exhibitions The Movement of Books (Aug 30 - Dec 13, 2024) and Material World
(Sept 4 - Dec 9, 2024), both on display in the Library.
Val’s workshop focused on the Jacob’s Ladder structure, which creates the illusion of panels falling down
continuously as one holds the book. Kremser’s teaching style was open and fun, allowing for a variety of in-
terpretations of color and design within the structure. This workshop was free and open to the public, regis-
tration was required and all materials were supplied.

More information about the exhibitions can be found on the UPenn library site:
[Link]

[Link]

Pressing Matter Winter 2024-25 p.6

Another recent workshop
Vegetable Papyrus Lecture with Yuka Petz, October 26, 2024
By Tara O’Brien
My first experience with vegetable papyrus was with the work of my UArts classmate, Jenny Craig (’05). Her
thesis work consisted of strands of carefully cooked, dried, and pressed vegetable papyrus. Most stunning were
the beets. Suspended in the gallery window by a thread, they gently rotated, glowing ruby red.
On October 26, the DVC held a virtual lecture on how to make vegetable papyrus, presented by Yuka Petz. I
was excited to learn this mysterious technique. According to Yuka’s handout: Vegetable papyrus is a proto-
paper made directly from fruits and vegetables. The process is relatively simple and allows for abundant ex-
ploration. Non-cellulose material is boiled out of the sliced produce. Then the slices are laid out in your de-
sign and restraint-dried. Drying the papyrus under pressure forms the hydrogen bond, which fuses the individ-
ual slices together.
Yuka, also a UArts alumna (’11), ran the presentation on Zoom in a style similar to a cooking show. Each step
had been previously prepared and we were more than happy to pretend that she had a boiling pot of water in
front of her for the “cooking” demonstration. She admirably juggled our questions on the chat without missing
a beat of her lecture.
The process of making the paper is straightforward: Slice the vegetable or fruit very thin. Cook for the correct
amount of time. Arrange them in an overlapping pattern and press the heck out of it.
Of course, it is not that simple. Each fruit or vegetable has its own unique texture and flexibility and requires
its own cooking time. The thickness of the slices will affect the result. It also takes approximately a week from
start to finish to have a usable piece of vegetable papyrus. Many factors can affect the end product, and Yuka
generously shared her notebook with samples. She strongly recommended taking extensive notes for each
batch of papyrus we make.
The upshot of this process is that no fancy equipment is required. The process is made easier with a nipping
press (better yet with a hydraulic paper making press and drying box) but fun results can also be achieved with
two boards, wool and cotton rags, newsprint and a set of Irwin clamps.

Examples of Yuka’s work can be viewed on her website and social media:
[Link] [Link]

Pressing Matter Winter 2024-25 p.7