… “To the lateral motion of the reader’s fingers seeking texture, their enclosing motion seeking volume, and their tracing motion seeking shape and contour, Mosely has added what perceptual psychologists call the “function test” (the motions of inserting and extracting), which is replicated in the haptic and visual discovery that the cast imprints on the handmade paper continue from left to right underneath kozo leaves bearing the text. The image-bearing leaves “embrace” the text-bearing leaves, or recalling that developmental stage in perception where the child recognizes the continued existence of an object briefly hidden then revealed, the text-bearing leaves “hide” the continuation of the image-bearing leaves. This exploitation of the codex structure calls attention to Grasping the Nettle‘s layers of hapticity by making the reader’s hands do more than turn pages in a predetermined order. ..

from Robert Bolick’s review of grasping the nettle ,

grasping the nettle - the ‘blue’ signature and concertina ‘colophon’

(Tim) Mosley’s art practice considers the role of touch in our experience of the printed work of art (and) his production of artists books insists on the touch of the hands, or the engagement of the ‘haptic’… (he) is one of the pioneers of the expanded form (of artists books) and with his collective skills of papermaking and graphic mediums, he explores touch and materiality. In some instances, he embeds images in the substrate of the paper or creates an embossed tactility that demands to be touched. Most intriguingly, for understanding the operational relationship between the optical and tactile, in his recent works such as studio ep i (& grasping the nettle), the tactile evidence does not confirm the optical reading of texture since the surface is entirely flat. … Ross Woodrow

 
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ep’s, 2018, artists book, pulp printing on hand made paper and silk screened text

"As for emulators of (William) Blake in technical innovation, consider the analogue example of Australian Tim Mosely’s works created with his pulp printing process, where the “ink” is actually coloured pulp" Robert Bolick,

Mosely's pulp-printed book Icons of a Bushranger (2006) depicts sections of the homemade armour worn by the Kelly Gang …. The pulp printing process perfected by Mosely embeds layers of coloured pulp within the sheet of paper so that text and image are integrated within the substrate, producing a ghostly outline of white within intensely black, handmade paper. The pages present the armour in sections, like patterns for cutting fabric. (Mosely observes poignantly that it is the Kelly Gang's armour that has become iconic, not their weapons.) Sarah Bodman.

 
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icons of a bush ranger, 2006, artists book, pulp printing on hand made paper