Project description
I need thirty sheets slightly larger than A3, because I trim every sheet down to a particular text block and the margin is not optional. Three patterns: a peacock eye, a comb pattern, and a quiet stone, roughly in equal numbers — we can agree the exact split. The palette should stay muted: ochre, indigo and deep green, no sharp contrasts and no metallic accents. An endpaper is a background; it should not argue with the spine and the boards. The stock itself has to be heavy and stable, the kind that will not swell or cockle under paste, since the endpaper is glued across its whole face and a soft sheet will wave the entire spread. Please mordant the sheets beforehand — without that step the colour does not stay put on binding paper.
A few expectations stated up front, so that nothing comes as a surprise later. Every sheet comes out unique: there is no such thing as an exact copy of a pattern, and within the set the sheets will be close relatives rather than identical twins. That is precisely why I am commissioning handwork, so it suits me — I only ask that one character of pattern is held across the batch. I also understand that the colours and the mordant call for ventilation and gloves, so please build that into your schedule; I will not push you to work faster at the expense of doing it properly. And I know the finished paper fades in direct sun and prefers dry storage under a weight — mine will live flat in a dark cupboard, so please hand it over flat as well, never rolled.
What I need, point by point:
— thirty sheets slightly larger than A3, heavy binding stock that will not stretch under paste;
— sheets mordanted before marbling, for colour fastness;
— three patterns: peacock eye, comb, quiet stone;
— muted palette: ochre, indigo, deep green, with no bright inserts;
— colour carried to a clean edge, with no white gaps around the sheet;
— drying and pressing so the sheets lie truly flat;
— three trial sheets first, one per pattern, with the palette agreed before the batch;
— daylight photographs of the finished batch before dispatch;
— packing flat in a rigid folder with interleaving;
— up to two weeks is fine; budget to be settled after the trials.