Book of Shadows, Ivy page2

This border is adapted from a vector file created by Alfred M Graphics Art Studio, meticulously hand drawn from the original book by Owen Jones, Gray’s Elegy. The original file was taken into Photoshop and using the filter find edges, the design was rendered into a one point contour line drawing. I then reformulated the design into a 16” x 16” square. Next I added textures and color. For the Ivy leave I created 20 individual leaves. Each leaf was then placed into the design where it was rotated, color corrected, and resize. The border was then further developed in Painter 12, adding detail to the vine and leaves. Finally the border was opened in Photoshop as a transparent layer and placed over scan parchment where text, drop-cap and headlines were added.

The central illustration is adapted from a preproduction graphite drawing by Alphonse Mucha, 1909 called Ivy. Using the same 20 leaves from the border, were added in a similar fashion to create the wreath around the figure's head. The face was also colorize by using the multiplying layer in Photoshop CS five.

Owen Jones was born in 1809 to a Welsh antiquarian and furrier, he studied architecture at Charterhouse School, London and was the apprentice of the architect Lewis Vuillamy. In 1832 he set for the Continent on a Grand Tour. His travels included Greece, Spain, Egypt, and Turkey.

In 1851 Owen Jones was involved as Superintendent of the Works with the plans for the Great Exhibition, his tasks involved the decoration of the Crystal Palace designed by Joseph Paxton.

Jones passionately believed in the search for a modern style unique to the nineteenth century – one which was radically different to the prevailing aesthetics of Neo-Classicism and the Gothic Revival. He looked towards the Islamic world for much of this inspiration, using his carefully observed studies of Islamic decoration at the Alhambra to develop bold new theories on flat patterning, geometry and abstraction in ornament.

His association with De la Rue over thirty years covered virtually all the items produced by the firm, from playing cards to stamps. The packaging they produced from Owen Jones's designs for Huntley Palmer, the biscuit manufacturers, is an early example of the modern approach to graphic design and marketing.


Gray's Elegy, was a publication of an illuminated book by artist Owen Jones. London: 1847. A first edition book of poetry. The first secular book illuminated in its entirety by O. Jones and includes 35 chromolithographed pages with the text in gothic script, initial letters & borders of leaves & vines blocked in gilt, red & blue. The interest of the book lies in its production in chromolithography as an illuminated manuscript, manufactured one page at a time. It is also the first recorded book with a joint American and English imprint.