Where Stucco Meets Chaparral
Where Stucco Meets Chaparral by Rebecca Chamlee, Simi Valley, CA: Pie In The Sky Press, 2015
Bradel binding: goatskin spine, boards covered in Khadi handmade paper with Cave paper onlays and pigment inkjet printed illustrations. Three-color hand-sewn silk endbands, head decorated with sponged acrylic, acrylic pochoir on spine, hand-titling in gold foil. Roma endpapers. Clip art for scissors and leaf shapes courtesy FCIT. Bound 2016
9.25 x 6.25 x 1” / 23.5 x 16 x 3 c
Design of Quercus lobata (valley oak) leaves and vintage botanical instruments references the author/illustrator’s statement for this book documenting the native flora surrounding her home in an arid inland valley in Southern California, Like the self-taught naturalists of the Victorian era, my recent work examines the intersection of my artistic and scientific interests by collecting and cataloging the natural world.
From the printer/author’s website:
Where Stucco meets Chaparral examines seven indigenous plants through botanical data, personal knowledge, natural history and observations acquired during the many years of daily walking meditation on my cherished trails. Detailed images of the plant specimens printed in multiple colors in tight registration through their seasonal life cycles accompany more impressionist representations of the environmental context where they prevail.
Like all my editions, Where Stucco meets Chaparral is entirely letterpress printed using handset metal and wood type, hand cut Gomuban relief plates and photopolymer plates.
