De Rekening was produced at the San Francisco Center for The Book in the summer and fall of 2006 by Nora Pauwels and John DeMerritt.  John and Nora were the Center for the Book’s inaugural artists in residence for 2006.

 

John and Nora are married to each other.

 

De Rekening is a work built upon a system of “fake writing” used to mark the passing of time.  Inspired by the anonymous entries in 19th Century ledgers and account books, “De Rekening” borrows its form and repetitive structure from those very sterile and evocative receptacles of time.  The ruled lines in the book were made using a Pen Ruling Machine.   Pen Ruling was widely used in the 19th and early 20th Century in the Ledger and Account book trade.  It is an industrial drawing technique that produces a very unique line.

The repetitive motifs in the book are achieved by use of letterpress printing with polymer plates, rubber stamps, gold stamping and hand-writing. 

The pen-ruling was done by Golden Business Forms, West Burlington, Iowa.

The handmade paper used for the endsheets was made by La Papeterie St. Armand in Montreal. 

The bookcloth is a paper backed buckram from Japan.

Paper used for the text is Mohawk Superfine.

 

 

Nora Pauwels studied printmaking at the St. Lukaspaviljoen in Antwerp, and Restoration of Fina Arts at the Akademie de Schone Kunst in Gent.  She is a long time resident artist at the KALA Institute, a printmaking studio in Berkeley.  She also maintains a drawing studio in Emeryville.  Pauwels has done extensive work exploring the possibilities of creating intaglio prints utilizing various plexigravure processes. Nora has turned her attention to drawing for the last several years. She exhibits her work both nationally and internationally. 

 

 

John DeMerritt owns and operates a bookbindery in Emeryville specializing in small editions and boxmaking.  He apprenticed with Klaus Roetzscher in San Francisco and was edition binder at Taurus Bookbindery in Berkeley. He is the past president of the Hand Bookbinders of California and a former board member of the Pacific Center for Book Arts. John has taught at The KALA Institute in Berkeley, The San Francisco Center for The Book and currently teaches bookmaking at The San Francisco Art Institute.