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Tracey Rowledge

@traceyrowledge

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Bookbinder | artist | markmaker
I teach gold tooling too!! DM me for details.
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✨A New Home for LCBA✨

A new home for exhibitions, book launches, readings, talks, and events that bring people together.

We built our dedicated gallery at LCBA in 2022 and in the short time since then have organised and hosted more than 30 events showcasing the breadth of book arts and alternative publishing in the UK and beyond. We’ve done it all without any outside funding.

Support our FUTURE FUND and help write the next chapter of the London Centre for Book Arts 🌈🏠📚

🔗 Link in bio

1. About Consuming Books: The Nijhof & Lee Collection, 2025 @rosegridneff
2. About a Ray Book: Putting Ray Johnson on the Page, 2025 @studiochristophervictor @ellenlevy3
3. Books: Art, Craft & Community, 2022
4. SPINORAMA, 2024 @frasermuggeridgestudio @aslakgurholt
5. UN—FOLDED: Haein Song, 2024 @haeinsong_
6. Library Show: Words in Colour, 2024
7. Themerson & Themerson: Gaberbocchus Press 1948–1979, 2025
8. Themerson & Themerson: Gaberbocchus Press 1948–1979, 2025
9. (Current show!) Library Show: Printing by Letterpress, 2026
10. Ian Whittlesea & The Everyday Press: The Rosicrucian Papers of Sissarrad G. Balyan and other esoterica, 2025 @ianwhittlesea @theeverydaypressbunkerbasement

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This is me looking crazy happy between my new idols: the founding members of the international bookbinding collective Tomorrow’s Past, @kathyabbott and @traceyrowledge.

I was totally blown away by the way they connect craftsmanship, artistry, innovation, and good energy—bringing together a group of 24 bookbinders and book artists from across the Nordic countries.

Their approach to antiquarian books was so thoughtful and inspiring. They introduced two structures—The Sacred Binding and the Seasons Binding—created while responding to damaged antiquarian books with the same titles.

They challenged us to create a prototype with specific requirements. The third book is the structure I made to present a stab-bound pamphlet on nautical measurements.

Their expertise and pedagogical spirit are incredible—I can’t praise them enough! I’m simply a big fan, and I feel lucky to have been part of their creative energy. Thank you to @nordicbookbindingsociety for organizing the workshop and @bokbinderi.lfhsk for providing such amazing workshop space. <3

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Now that the dust has settled it’s time to thank @nordicbookbindingsociety for asking two of our founder members @traceyrowledge and @kathyabbotty to go and teach ‘Experimental binding using the Tomorrow’s Past Concept’. This four-day course took place during their bookbinding congress at Leksands Folkhogskola (@lfhsk @bokbinderi.lfhsk) Sweden.
A very big thankyou to all the participants for entering so fully into the Tomorrow’s Past concept, it was great to see 24 people sharing their knowledge and ideas - the creativity and ingenuity that flowed was remarkable. Such interesting book structures now exist that could not have come into being had we not shared those four days together. It was just wonderful. #tomorrowspastcollective #oldmeetsnew #bookbinding #conservationbindings #sharingskills

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Did you know that bookbinding competitions are a thing?

This week on Artfully Crafted we visit @lorna_mccurdy, a fine hand bookbinder who uses traditional craftsmanship alongside thoughtful contemporary design to create beautifully bound books that prove sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.  
Inspired by her bookbinder great grandmother, Lorna continues the family tradition, even using some inherited tools to make exquisite hand-bound books that are artworks in their own right.

Full episode now live on Artfully Crafted, see link in my bio.

#Bookbinding #FineBookbinding #GoldTooling #EndangeredCrafts #HeritageCrafts #ArtfullyCrafted

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Some lovely things from the Society of Bookbinders Conference this weekend...

1 + 2. Suzanne Schmollgruber, Switzerland
3. Dominic Riley, UK
4. Tracey Rowledge, UK
5. Toben Lewis, Scotland
6. Theresa Wedemeyer, Germany
7. Ashley Thayer, US
8. Paul Moran, UK
9. Ali Halley, UK
10. Matt Stockl, UK

#booksbooksbooks #bookbinding @sobic2026

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For the last two weeks I (Calle) have been able to dive deep into gold tooling on both leather and paper! Thanks to a scholarship from Ida Petrons Minnesfond I was able to travel to London to learn from gold tooling virtuoso extraordinaire @traceyrowledge 💫 First some 1-2-1 tuition in her studio, and later an open course at @citylit.

I wanted to learn to translate my drawings into gold tooling, and Tracey taught me how to analyze the brush strokes in my artwork, and to make and modify brass tools that replicate the feeling of the image being drawn. SO. COOL. A. SKILL. The image I chose comes from an graphic novella I did 15 years ago. If you thought comics was a slow craft, wait til you try to gold tool it by hand!

The focus of the second course was gold tooling on paper, and here I wanted to find out whether tooling onto our own marbled and paste paper was possible. Which, it turns out, it totally is!!

Apart from learning new skills I also got to meet bookbinding legends @jenwrenlindsay and @kathyabbotty 👏 your skills and impacts in the bookbinding world are unmatched!

I cannot recommend Tracey more as a teacher, craftsman and human being - if you're curious of gold tooling, look into the possibility of going to London!

Big thanks to @grafiskaforetagen and Ida Petrons Minnesfond for making this possible 📚 🌟

(also shoutout to @flaxmalmo for making the coolest (and really London bookbinding appropriate) merch 🧢

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Time has flown, spring is in full force and ive been busy tending seeds of bookbinding practice.

Shout out to Freya @paperwilds for all your help to get me started with marbling. Im hooked!

Many thanks to Tracey @traceyrowledge for the most inspirational teaching at gold tooling on leather workshop. Investing in some tools so I can keep on practicing.

Heartfelt thanks to Arthur @greens_books for advice, and exceptional workshops on cloth rebacks, sharpening and paring leather. My knife will never be blunt again!

@theindexbindery remains ever busy. Thank you to my lovely ladies who worked increadibly hard at our conertina book and slipcase workshop, you really knocked it out of the park!

A couple of photos of books i've been working on. Time for a little rest this Easter before tending to a few irons left languising in the fire.

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Codex blew my mind in the best way. What a great community! Book people really are the best.

Firstly, huge thanks are due to @in_cahoots_press for inviting me to table with past residents of @incahootsresidency on the table generously donated by the stellar @donnaseagerfinearts ❤️ and to @christineinnes and @geerthub for hosting me in the coolest wee apartment in town! I genuinely wouldn't have been able to attend without you legends.

I loved seeing all of the wild things that talented book people are making all over the world. I've come back to Glasgow incredibly humbled and inspired in equal measure. Hope to be back showing more books in the future!

Big love to my table mates @rascallysophistpress @eoverturf @corinneteed

And to all the binders who spoke about their work to this jetlagged, wavy Scottish binder
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#bookbinding #bookbinder #codexbookfair #designbinding

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Well, we’re off! CODEX here we come. Looking forward to be in a world of all things book related and catching up with old pals. #codexfoundation #codexbookfair

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Tomorrow’s Past will be exhibiting new work at CODEX 2026 from 7-10 February 2026 at Oakland Marriott City Center, 1001 Broadway, Oakland, California.
If you’re coming to the fair, come and see us at table 44!
Last up: TRACEY ROWLEDGE Extract from Anecdotes of Painting from The London Monthly Magazine, March 1810.
Bound in 2026
Size: 185 x 119 x 4mm
Materials: Handmade paper, lens tissue, melinex/Mylar, acrylic paint, wheat starch paste, methyl cellulose.

Many thanks to Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd., @prudencecuming for taking these photographs and for kindly sponsoring Tomorrow’s Past for the fair.
#tomorrowspastcollective #oldmeetsnew #codexfoundation
#prudencecuming #prudencecumingphotography

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We have three Landed Gentry figures available for Christmas. If you would like to purchase a unique gift, please don't hesitate to contact us for details.

Cast Pewter, Used Jam Jars

@traceyrowledge

#landedgentry #traceyrowledge #misterclarke #davidclarke #figurines #ghost #paint #jamjar #paintpot #casting #slipcast #portrait #plinth #contemporarymetal #contemporarysilversmithing #bookinding #statue #fugurine #figurative #ceramics #mudart #craft

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Amazing workshop with @traceyrowledge . We each made a beautiful long stitch book and tooled a lovely design we created on the cover. Mine has a stack of books 📚! Such a little cutie. I love it!!! Many thanks to our amazing teacher Tracey, who is creative, kind and patient! #bookbinder #longstitch

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