ravenpress

A Tree Within

miniature book with box

tree within

3 x 2 ⅞ x ⅞

edition of 26

This 10 panel, two layered accordion book presents Eliot Weinberger’s translation of Octavio Paz’s A Tree Within The back (image) pages are hand printed (intaglio/woodcut/linocut, pochoir) on Rives Lightweight. The front (text) pages are walnut dyed unryu with laserprint. The endpapers are Pamela Smith handmarbled papers. The covers are Wenge wood with a gilded composition leaf design. The cover edges are also gilded. The title label is metal foil laserprinted and recessed into the wood. The book is housed in a box with a basswood-sided tray, paper lined, the outside covered with book cloth.

Afternoon Poem for a Lover

book with box

box dimensions 4 x 5 x 1

edition of 10

additional 5 copies available in sheets

“Your animal breath

splits this body open,

skin curled back,

wantonly revealing the heart.”

Each page of this book is hand painted and dyed Mulberry paper. Bound millimeter style with leather spine, hand-dyed flax papers over shaped boards for covers, hand-marbled endpapers. Housed in custom made box with a walnut tray, embossed leather spine and window with title & image on mylar.

Text is a the poem Afternoon Poem for a New Lover by California poet Susan Lysik.

Alphabet of Desire

boxed portfolio

sheets 6½ x 6½

box dimensions 7½ x 7½ x 1 (approximate)

edition of 13

Alphabet of Desire is an extended love poem in the form of an abecedary; illustrations are abstract expressions of the text. The text not only chronicles the celebration of a relationship but expresses a wish to not forget and to remain attentive to love. Hand pulled mono-screenprinted pages. Text and prints by Heidi Zednik; designed and produced by Alicia Bailey. The layout of both the bound and the boxed edition is consistent yet each image is unique. Text laserprinted on Arches watercolor paper. All images painted on an open screen with water based acrylic inks, then hand-pulled for each of the four colors, allowing artistic variation within the edition. Prints are loose in wrap-around portfolio of Rives BFK. Title and colophon laserprinted on Mulberry and laminated to wrapper. Portfolio rests in handpainted wooden tray. Spineware, cover boards and label same as bound edition.

Alphabet of Desire

bound book

6¾ x 6¾ x ⅝

edition of 13

Text laserprinted on Arches watercolor paper. All images painted on an open screen with water based acrylic inks, then hand-pulled for each
of the four colors, allowing artistic variation within the edition.

Each text block bound drum-leaf style with open leather spine. The spine is a combination of goat skin and moriki hand-embossed with letters of the alphabet; covers hand pulled custom color and embossed from copper plate on Rives BFK.
Cover edges wrapped with yellow moriki,
endpapers handmade by Katie MacGregor,
page edges treated with blue pigmented wax. Label is foil printed goatskin.

Alphabet of Desire

miniature abecedary

2¾ x 2¾ x ¼

edition of 100

Box of Eros

a poetry box edition

box dimensions 4½ x 3½ x3½

open and varied edition

A collection of 24 erotic haiku (the original texts commissioned by Ravenpress for this project) housed in a lidded box. When the lid is removed the box opens flat, a stiff-leaf bound book affixed to each wall of the box. The books are inkjet printed on Moab rag paper using HP archival inks. Artwork by Heidi Zednik. The box is covered with bookcloth handprinted from a plastic plate in various colors. Each copy signed by book designer and publisher Alicia Bailey. Includes haiku by Alicia Bailey, Jocelyn Esch, Steve Gordon, Paul Guitterez, Kim Harrell, Carson Reed, Susan Vaho & Heidi Zednik. This is an open and variable edition. The elements that may change over time are the color of the outside book cloth and printing, the color of the interior ribbon and the material/size of the interior closure element. All other aspects will remain unchanged throughout the edition.

Common Ground

long stitch book with glass covers

2½ x 5 x ½

box dimensions 5 x 7 x 1

edition of 5

currently in production

A beautifully written text touching on the erotics of awakening embraced and claimed by a lover. Collograph printed imagery on paper made by

Anne Kennedy with laser transfer text. Exposed spine is longstitched through embossed calf. Box covered with pasted-painted book cloth, cord and bead closure.

Cosmeceutical Collection

three books in a custom made box

production and concept notes and images here

box dimensions 9½ x 6½ x 1½

edition of 10

Box containing 3 limited edition books:

Belladonna, Lash Lure & Compact Beauty

Belladonna: Three accordian books detail various aspects of the Belladonna (Deadly Nightshade). This plant, although toxic, has been used by women medicinally and as an aid to beauty.

Lash Lure: Lash Lure was the product that prompted FDA involvement with cosmetics in the 1930’s. This book tells the Lash Lure story.

Compact Beauty: Media myths are presented in the form of absolute truisms as is typically found in women’s magazine ads and articles. These are presented along with images of girls/women that are either also taken from the same sources but appear nonetheless to be out of context.

On the bottom hinged platform is an image of a type popular in Victorian times which initially appears rather chaste but changes radically when the woman’s head is covered and the image is viewed in the provided mirror.

Crystalline Flower

miniature book in box

crystalline flower

2 ⅞ x 2 x ⅞

edition of 18

This 12 page book pairs the words of Pablo Neruda (XII from Stones of the Sky, translated by James Nolan) with images painted by Heidi Zednik. The text is etched onto thin sheets of mica that are backed by reproductions of Zednik’s painting. The book is bound in an exposed spine, rigid board style that utilizes tinted tyvek hinges. The book covers are board covered with a commercial Wyndstone paper. Each copy has a mica washer and copper bead affixed to the cover. The book is is housed in a tray box lined with Japanese Tarei paper. The outside of the box is a rich brown Japanese cloth with an inset label of etched mica.

Lash Lure

4½ x ½ x ½ closed

edition of 24

Lash Lure was the product that prompted FDA involvement with cosmetics in the 1930’s. This scroll book, housed in a test tube and wrapped around a mascara brush, tells the Lash Lure story.

Laserprint on Tairei paper mounted on mascara wand with wood bead handle house in glass test tube with color inkjet label.

Shedding

closed dimensions 41⁄4 x5 x 11⁄4

edition of 21

pictured ‘Shedding - Earwax’

inquire about front cover speciman availability

This edition explores specimen collection and presentation, combined with journal type entries about the specimens presented (in this case, things shed by my body). Each day for 21 days I rescued something my body was shedding (eyelash off my cheek) or helped something detach from my body (plucked hair). Each day’s specimen was scanned at a magnification of 500%, those scans were printed via color inkjet and included in the book pages. The cover of each book holds one of the specimens sandwiched in between glass for a variable edition of 21 copies.

Theia Mania - click here to see video

includes 3 books, a CD and an herb pouch in an aluminum tin

box dimensions (closed) 6½ x 5⅜ x ¾ inches

edition of 35

This project is the result of an intermingling of stories told by those who have been struck by a sensation of instant connection with another. In the classical world such pricks from a dart of Eros were called Theia Mania (madness from the Gods). Heidi Zednik and I began by collecting audio versions of stories told by those willing to participate in the project. We recorded 12 such stories and these are the basis for both the text and audio portions of this piece. Two of the stories I wished to include could not be told by their subjects, so I wrote my own versions, presented as oral presentations on the CD. This piece includes a woven binding structure based on a Claire van Vliet design, a small recipe book made with a piano hinge, a sachet of herbs with a love potion recipe, an accordian book in a round aluminum tin and an audio compact disk & wrapper. All are contained in a rectangular aluminum hinged tin that is held closed with a handprinted sleeve. Page imaging includes laseretching, color laser prints, color inkjet prints, black and white laser prints, pastepapers, laserprinted metal foil and relief printing. The main text is woven with tinted tyvek.

Two Hearts

closed dimensions 12 x 12 x 3

opens to 211⁄2 x 211⁄2 x 21⁄4

limited edition of six copies

Soon after initail assembly, this book interacts with itself as the cherry wedged at the bottom of the glass cylinder begins to disintegrate and float upwards. The water undreneath is then tinted a pink, after several days the cherry pit floats at the top of the cylinder, the pinkish water fading back to clear after long exposure to sunlight. Bookboard, leather, wood, glass, cherry, laserprint on transparency, water, metal leaf, acrylic