TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

Mary and George work with commercial acid-free papers, artist’s acrylic paints, oil pastels, professional typesetting software, jin shofu conservator’s paste and other museum-quality art materials as well as archival board stock, neutral-pH foamcore, handmade papers, and new or hand-refinished frames.

The art of the book

Mary's bookmaking tools are simple, classic items: bone folders (made of bone—yes!—used to give paper good creases), awls, scalpels, waxed linen thread, straight edge, and dividers.

Many of Red Squirrel’s art techniques in other media come from bookmaking, including the use of fine printer’s papers (instead of watercolor papers or canvas), papers assembled by sewing (instead of pasting or collaging), and the old-time art of pastepainting.

The art of the print

Mary makes most of her prints in nearby Portland at Peregrine Press. Peregrine is Maine’s leading cooperative fine-art printmaking studio and one of only a handful of similar organizations run by member artists anywhere in North America.

Printmaking is chiefly the art of using paper, ink, and printing plates to create a limited number of

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