Ninth Wave Designs

Alchemy Notebook XII

I have just added some new images to the Alchemy Notebook Gallery, having finished a few pages that I have been wanting to work on for some time.  I have missed the process of working on the images in this series and it feels good to be back to work in my Moleskine sketchbook again.

There are some more detailed images in the gallery, as well as on Flickr.

These pages were done using the usual materials: Liquid acrylic inks, Prismacolor watercolor pencils, Kooh-I-Noor Nexus pens, and metallic arcylic paint, in a pocket size Moleskine Classic Sketchbook.

You can also see the full set of pages in the order that they appear in the notebook in this Flickr Set HERE - which has a nifty slideshow viewing option.

Alchemy Notebook XI: Artifact

The latest addition to the Alchemy Notebook series consists of a separate scrap of paper that relates to the pages in the notebook.  I have wanted to make something in this series to take advantage of the back pocket in the sketchbook, so that there would be a loose element to carry around with the notebook itself.  I wanted to create something that answers the question "What has it got in its pocketses?"

I created this artifact on the same paper as the Moleskine classic sketchbook paper, taking a sheet from a second notebook I have just for the purpose of removing the pages.  I used liquid acrylic inks and watercolor colored pencils, and worked on both sides of the page.  I wanted it to have the look of a page taken from a book that had been handled over time - folded, wrinkled, and with some of the contents of the page missing around the edges.

As this project continues, the story in my mind has evolved with the imagery.  I find that I am creating a visual storyline, and as the artwork progresses I learn more about what this collection of images means as a whole.  I'm not sure where this story is going, but I am enjoying the journey.

You can see all the images from the Alchemy Notebook in the NWD gallery HERE, and on Flickr HERE.

Alchemy Notebook X: Corona

It's been a while since I have had the time to work on my Alchemy Notebook, but here is the most recent addition to my Moleskine Pocket sketchbook:

This image is done using India ink and gold metallic paint, along with a metallic silver gel pen to write the characters.  This is a follow-up to the previous eclipse image, and is meant to suggest the corona effect produced during a solar eclipse.  It was interesting to start with a completely black page rather than my usual faux vellum treatment, but I like the results.  As usual it is difficult to capture the metallic effects from the paint with the scanner, but it looks particularly nice when the texture in the gold paint catches the light.  I am hoping to have more time to work in my notebook soon.

Alchemy Notebook IX: Eclipse

I have updated the Alchemy Notebook gallery with a new image from my Moleskine Pocket Sketchbook.  The image below, called Eclipse, is a combination of liquid acrylic inks, Prismacolor colored pencils, and collage elements.

You can see this image, collected with others in this series, in the Alchemy Notebook Gallery HERE.

Alchemy Notebook VIII

Here are two new pages I've added to my Alchemy Notebook series in my pocket Moleskine sketchbook.  The images were done using liquid acrylic inks, Prismacolor watercolor pencils, and metallic acrylic paint.  The right hand page incorporates the slider from the Cipher Table (shown HERE) that is on the reverse side of the page, so this band slides from one side of the map to the other.  There are two small circles cut out from the band that line up with key points on the map.

This image has been added to the Alchemy Notebook Gallery located HERE, along with two other more detailed images of the individual pages.

Alchemy Notebook VII: Alchemy Notebook Gallery

Here is the latest addition to the Alchemy Notebook series of images in my Moleskine Pocket Classic Sketchbook.  This Cipher Wheel is a companion piece to the earlier pages posted of the Cipher Table, and features movable disks. I constructed the page so that the two middle wheels of symbols turn to various positions to make a double layer shift cipher.  I have yet to put this tag team of ciphering tools to work, but plan to use them in upcoming pages.

This image is done with the usual materials: Liquid acrylic inks, Prismacolor watercolor pencils, and gel ink pens.  The page with the leaves painted on it has a circle cut through it to expose the cipher wheel from the following page.  I have an additional circle of symbols surrounding the cipher wheel located on the back page which cannot be seen in these images, but adds another possible layer of enciphering to the function of the cipher wheel.  I am enjoying the paper engineering aspects of the recent pages I have done, and this cut-away aspect of the pages adds the element of concealment and framing of imagery from page spread to page spread.  I will work on the surrounding pages next to take advantage of some of those possibilities.

I have given the Alchemy Notebook pages their own gallery on the NWD blog.  I noticed that the NWD Moleskine Gallery was taking a bit to load with the accumulation of pages, so I pulled the Alchemy Notebook images into their own gallery space.  I will continue to update images in both galleries, but hopefully now the load times will be improved.

You can access the Alchemy Notebook Gallery HERE.

You can access the NWD Moleskine Gallery HERE.

Permanent links for both galleries are located in the side bar to the right.

NWD Gallery Update: Alchemy Notebook VI

There is a new page from my Alchemy Notebook available in the NWD Moleskine Gallery.

These pages from my Moleskine Pocket Sketchbook were done with liquid acrylic inks, Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils, gouache, and Blackwing 602 pencil.  The page on the left may look familiar.  It is the same one in this picture HERE, but I have reworked it a bit to fit in with the style of images I am creating in this notebook, so it has a very different feel than when I first posted it. 

You can see larger images of the pages above in the NWD Gallery HERE and HERE.

NWD Gallery Update: Alchemy Notebook V

Here are the latest pages from my Alchemy Notebook in my Moleskine Pocket Sketchbook.  I have been reading Simon Sigh's The Code Book, and have been putting some of the enciphering techniques he details into use.  These two pages are a cipher table I devised for the Alchemy Alphabet I am using, to enable me to further encipher the text.  Why encipher an already unreadable text, you ask?  Because I am a nerd that way.  I have enjoyed codes and ciphers from a young age, and have been having a blast learning the different techniques employed throughout  history to protect messages.  The Alchemists used symbol and obtuse language to protect their knowledge from those they considered uninitiated, so cipher texts fit right in.

I designed each table with its own sliding guide; made from the same Classic Moleskine Sketchbook paper harvested from a sketchbook I have desecrated by removing the pages from it.  The grid on the sliders is blank; I will fill this in after taking the picture so that I don't divulge the basis for the encryption.  Otherwise, where's the challenge in that?  You can bet I will write something more interesting than "Drink More Ovaltine".

See more images HERE in the NWD Moleskine Gallery.

Moleskine Watercolor Sketchbook Test-Drive

I had a chance to take the new pocket size Moleskine Reporter Watercolor Sketchbook for a test-drive, and here are my first results.  I did these first few pages along the lines of my Alchemy Notebook that I have been working on in my Classic Moleskine Sketchbook, and I am happy with the results.

The pages in the Watercolor Sketchbook are naturally an entirely different experience from the Classic Sketchbook pages.  The watercolor paper is 25% rag, so handles a little differently from the 100% rag paper I am used to working on, and has a nice cold pressed surface that is toothy but not too rough.  The weight is 200 grams per square meter, and seems comparable to 90lb watercolor paper (although I haven't done the math). 

I did these paintings using liquid acrylic inks diluted to watercolor consistency.  I haven't painted with actual watercolor paints in this notebook yet, that will be the next test I do.  I went with the liquid acrylics because that is what I have been working with most lately, so I felt it would make for the most immediate comparison.  I found the results to be very good, and I find the surface of the paper to be very pleasing to work with.  The sizing is good without being too stiff, so the paper is absorbent without bleeding the colors.  There was no bleed-through to the other side, so you will have the option of painting on either side of the page, especially if you don't intend of removing the pages for framing.

The pages curl a bit and buckle when they dry.  This is a common behavior for watercolor paper, but I found that this could be easily fixed by inserting a few sheets of scrap paper on either side of the painted page (as blotters) while the page was still damp, and putting the closed notebook (with blotter sheets inside) under a stack of books until the page was dry.  As this watercolor sketchbook fills up it will have a nice worked-in feeling, with slightly rumpled pages giving it a bulk of having something interesting inside.

As I said in my earlier post, this sketchbook is not the same animal as the Classic Sketchbook.  You will find a place in your work-style for both these formats, so there isn't any real one-to-one comparison to be made between these two sketchbook styles.  This little pocket Watercolor Sketchbook begs to be taken out with a set of traveling watercolors, and will provide a lot of creative freedom for painting in any location.   I will continue to use my Classic Sketchbook for all the things I have been doing, but the new Watercolor Sketchbook will be a great creative companion as well.

I have added these new pages to the NWD Moleskine Gallery, and you can see larger versions of the individual pages by clicking HERE.

Naturally, a Notebook: Umberto Eco & Recovered Manuscripts

I am reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco for the second time.  Considering all the books I have waiting to be read it seems a little decadent to read this one again, but  I enjoyed it so much the first time I read it that I feel it is a worthy indulgence. Plus I need some moody fiction to fill the void until the next Harry Potter book is published.  To add depth to my reading experience this time through I picked up a copy of The Key to "The Name of the Rose" by Haft, White and White.  It includes translations of all the non-English passages in the book, plus some handy reference sections such as "An Annotated Guide to the Historical and Literary References in The Name of the Rose."  This should be fun.

In the first few pages of The Name of the Rose I came across this passage:

"I completed a translation, using some of those large notebooks from the Papeterie Joseph Gibert in which it is so pleasant to write if you use a felt-tip pen."

I am naturally curious about this little detail inserted casually at the beginning of this very complex story.  As a Moleskine notebook enthusiast, any reference to the merits of a particular notebook attracts my attention. Additionally I am someone who is admittedly biased in my appreciation for the superiority of European-made stationery products.  I did a pretty thorough Google search on "Papeterie Joseph Gibert", to see if Eco was mentioning an actual business, but was unable to find anything conclusive.  I would be interested in hearing anything related to this passage, especially if anyone knows for certain what type of notebooks he is referring to. 

In my search I did come across this insightful passage on Eco's notebook reference (on THIS website):

"Authors often use seemingly irrelevant references to mundane objects to foreshadow broader textual elements. The importance of writing material is particularly prominent in fiction using the recovered manuscript as a plot device. Umberto Eco, Edgar Allan Poe and Paul Auster all use writing material for foreshadowing plot or to illuminate the inner workings of characters."

In addition to explaining Eco's notebook reference this also offers an explanation for the connection between my fancy for modern notebooks (especially of the Moleskine variety) and my fascination with ancient manuscripts.  I love the concept of a recovered manuscript or discovered artifact as a plot device.  This is the single most compelling element that attracts me to books like The Name of the Rose.  The "lost manuscript found" captures the fantasy of ancient wisdom revealed.  I can't quite shake the feeling that we have traded off a greater part of our earlier gains in wisdom for technological advances, so the idea that there may still be some old wisdom out there to be rediscovered, even if it is just in fiction, is tantalizing indeed.  This also explains in part the voracious success of The Da Vinci Code, in that it seems to offer a key to discovering lost wisdom.  The backlash for that book only began to arise when people overlooked the most important function of the writing, that it is a work of fiction. But I digress. . .

Back to Eco: As a reader of this blog you are most likely a Moleskine enthusiast too.  Doesn't that line from The Name of the Rose peak your interest?  Don't you want to know all the details of Eco's fictitious notebooks?  And what kind of pen?  A felt-tip; perhaps something along the lines of a Flair (since this book was written in 1980, before the birth of the gel pen)?  The hidden meaning underneath this innate curiosity for the perfect pen, the perfect notebook with the perfect paper, may have more to do with the desire to create the kind of "lost manuscript" for future generations: a relic of the future's past.

At the very least, it means you will be a sucker for The Name of the Rose, and may even find yourself reading it for a second time.

Click on the image above for a larger version.  This image features my own "lost manuscript": Alchemy Notebook pages from my pocket Moleskine sketchbook.