I have a hot foil printing press, which I use to print my own bellows papers. Several of the instruments I’ve made have had special custom designs, provided by or designed in collaboration with the client.
Geometric Designs
I made two variations on this Japanese wave pattern paper while experimenting with line widths, and I don’t think anybody has ordered it yet.
I also made a simple pattern of five pointed stars that hasn’t yet been used on an instrument:
A Pictish key pattern that I used on No. 10:
I also used the same pattern on No. 6 printed with silver foil instead of gold. A strange reaction happened with the brush-on lacquer I used on this set that gave the foil a shimmery bluish tint that was only visible at certain angles. I thought it was actually quite beautiful, though unintentional.
Leaves
No. 5 has a sycamore leaf and seed pod design, made in collaboration with my client:
Dragon
The dragon bellows papers on No. 8 were designed by Sue Mason, a mutual friend of the client and myself. The design has exceptionally fine details so I had the printing plates etched in copper.
Pictish Beast
No. 9 has a Pictish beast design provided by the client, based on a design licensed from a third party:
Hand Colouring
The fanciest bellows papers I’ve made were for No. 7. It has two designs; a pair of roses and a butterfly. I drew the patterns in collaboration with the client. The designs were printed in rose gold foil on ivory paper, then hand coloured with watercolour paint and a brush. The wings of the butterflies appear to fly as you play the instrument. The paint is deliberately slightly imperfect and inconsistent to add more variation and visual interest.
Imitation Leather
I also sometimes make bellows with plain black imitation leather papers like on No. 12:
I ran out of the imitation leather paper I used on earlier instruments and have since switched to a different brand that has a smoother texture, as seen on No. 14 below. One disadvantage of the new imitation leather paper is that is actually white paper with a black coating on the surface, so I have to run a black pen around the edge of each paper to avoid a visible white line.
Printing on Imitation Leather
I have experimented with foil printing on the new imitation leather paper. The resulting papers look quite different from my usual matt black paper: the black parts are darker and glossier and the foil parts are denser and more reflective, but with a bit less fine detail. Note that in the example below I sprayed a satin varnish onto the paper on the right, which also makes the foil look less bright.
A static photo doesn’t quite show the difference in how the light catches the two options, so I recorded a quick video clip with a moving light source:
Real Leather
I also sometimes make real leather ‘papers’ so that the bellows are fully covered in leather, like on No. 15.
