In the 1980s I began searching for a method to bind into book format individually printed gelatin silver photographs I was producing in my darkroom. I took classes in how to make handmade artist’s books, I visited the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson and scoured their archives of artist’s books, and I even hired tutors to work with me individually.

My research caused me to rethink my entire approach to finishing a project of fine art originals. The solution was found in making what I call “folios” — from the Latin root folium meaning a single leaf or sheet of paper.

Folios are a cross between a book and a portfolio. Like a book, folios have room for many pages, many images, and even text, or text signatures. Unlike a book, they are not bound, but rather are individual sheets. Like a traditional portfolio, my folios contain original artwork, but are not matted. And the folio cover is a more flexible enclosure that’s more accommodating to small hand-held prints than the traditional portfolio clamshell box.

In this workshop, we’ll explore this folio idea, and walk through the process of designing, producing, and finishing a folio of your fine art photographs — including the embossed art paper folio enclosures you’ve seen in both the LensWork and Brooks Jensen Arts folios.

Curriculum

Topics include . . .

• Designing the contents
  • Reverse engineering from the final print size
  • Photo paper sizing versus inkjet paper sizing
  • X-up printing
  • Crop marks, bleeds, and trimming
  • Layouts and project management
  • Editioning, numbering, and colophon pages
• Designing the enclosure
  • Text signatures and loose prints
  • Self-closing versus belly bands
  • Sewn signatures
  • Die cut designs and schematics
  • Embossing, printing, and text components
  • Designing generically for flexibility and ecomony of scale
• Paper considerations
  • Art papers and parent sheets
  • Paper thickness, weight, texture
  • Designing for archival properties
• Assembly
• The finer points of assembly and craft
• Packaging for finishing
• Packaging for shipping

Visual Workshop on disc to be release this fall!