Category Archives: bookbinding

June 13, 2013 · 11:09 am

Books on a Theme: Face to Face

As soon as I finished the Marbling Class, I changed my focus to the next exhibit being hung by my local gallery. The theme is Face to Face and the drop-off day for artwork was this past Monday.  Not much time!  I already had a few of the soft-cover books I had made in North Carolina, but I didn’t really have much that spoke to the theme. I had been thinking about a Dos à Dos book.  Back to back is almost like face to face.  I also was eager to play with some of my “scraps” to upcycle.

Here is what I came up with and was able to finish last week.

June "Face to Face" books

June “Face to Face” books

The upcycled (fancy way of saying recycled) diskettes were great fun and I had the perfect paper for the yellow one. They are bound with a simple Coptic stitch.

The Dos à dos took a little more thought. I couldn’t decide quit how to cover the middle board.  I could cover it completely with one paper and use the same paper for the front and back covers, but that seemed boring.  I decided I definitely wanted a different, but coordinated, front and back. As I was going through my paper, I found I had three different versions of crane patterns in the Chiyogami.  Problem solved!  I used the blue crane for the front, the white crane for the back and the tan crane for the center board.  Again, I used a simple Coptic stitch binding for the spines.  I was even able to play with the color of the waxed thread: blue for the front and red for the back.  I enjoyed making this and can see myself exploring this format again.

I’m sorry that I didn’t take a better picture of the center board.  Maybe I can drop by the Gallery and take one.

After finishing the crane book, I kept thinking about how to make two books facing each other.  I had seen something like that done in a stab stitch binding, but couldn’t locate it. So I started playing and came up with this.

I started with a piece of mat board I had marbled in blues. I then added two different sized textblocks, one to each end of the board with simple stab stitch patterns.  The covers of the textblocks overlap, but the pages don’t.  Since you usually write with the spine on the left, I made the two books upside down to each other.

As a last hurrah, I took the case for a single floppy disk and put two tiny stab stitched books in it with a tiny pencil. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures, but if I do get down to the gallery, I’ll take some and post them!

Added on 6/15:  Some poor quality pictures of “Just in Case.”

All-in-all, a very busy and productive and FUN week!

A last picture of my items on display at the gallery; just a bit crowded.

DSCN3749

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May 23, 2013 · 4:34 pm

A Scrap Exchange for Upcyling and Fabulous Papers

On my recent vacation, I made trips to two great places near Raleigh, N.C.  The first was to a store I have used online for years, PaperMojo.  They have an astounding array of decorative papers of all types and weights and have just opened a small brick & mortar shop in Wake Forest.  There’s nothing like being able to see and feel a paper before buying.  Textures and weight is so important in bookbinding.  I have a number of sheets I have purchased online in the past that I will probably never use simply because they are too light or too heavy or just don’t feel right.

I didn’t buy much, just one sheet with leaf inclusions to use in the books I was working on and two sheets that will work very well for the soft cover style.  I don’t think I would have bought the latter online.  Here they are:

The other stop was at the Scrap Exchange, a reuse center in Durham, NC. It’s a non-profit that collects unwanted materials from businesses and individuals and sells or re-purposes them.  They have an incredibly eclectic range of items from electronics to wallpaper sample books to office supplies. I bought some odds and ends and it made me start thinking about making books from all sorts of goodies.  Here is my collection:

I have no clear idea of what I’ll do with any of these.  The plastic samples made me think of my Jacob’s Ladders. Both the vinyl floor & wall samples might become book covers as well as the wood.  The marble I’ll be using for paring leather.  If any of these work out, I’ll be looking into finding a local source.  Stayed tuned to see what happens!

In other news, I started planting the gardens – just potatoes for now, but the good stuff will come soon.

I’m giving a three-day marbling workshop next week so that will hold back the planting.  As soon as it’s over I plan to dive into it!.

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May 18, 2013 · 5:11 pm

Home Again to the Garden

I’ve been on vacation the last two weeks and have come home in one of the loveliest times of the year. The fruit trees and lilacs are all in bloom, the grass was knee high and the nurseries packed with people buying plants.  It’s a bit early to start the garden, but after a long winter the urge to go outdoors and play in the dirt is very strong. Here’s some of what was waiting for me when I arrived home.

I’ve gotten a lot of the grass mowed, but not around the edges!

I had started preparing the garden before my trip and gave it another digging after I returned.  Now’s it’s all ready to fence and do a final grooming before planting.

While I was on vacation, I was playing with my books – of course.  I really like the format of the new soft cover book.  I had cut a bunch of paper for text and covers before I left on vacation as I knew I would have a lot of free time to play.  Here’s the result of my play.  They aren’t quite finished as there is some final gluing and trimming to do.

I had a lot of fun with these books.  First in matching up my marbled paper with a complementary piece of heavy stock, then choosing the thread and playing with the long-stitch pattern and finally deciding on the shape of the slots for the front and back tabs.  Only one of these books has the front and back of the same paper.  I’m looking forward to finishing these up … soon.

Next on my agenda is a marbling class that I’ll be teaching for the local arts center.  It should be a lot of fun. I’m planning on just covering the basics and having the participants have fun experimenting with colors, papers and anything else I can think of.

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April 22, 2013 · 6:46 am

New Hanging Books

This is just a quick post to show off my latest batch of hanging books.  I made some with “soft” covers – really very stiff or heavy card stock- and some with Davey board covered with my marbled paper.  The board covers are hinged or articulated in order for them to open properly. I’ve had a lot of fun searching through boxes of old beads to find ones to use on these books.  It feels good to actually use some of the stuff in the basement instead of just tossing it.  Most of the cords and raffia are also from the stash.

Previous versions of hanging books in a blog posted a year ago.

I also tried out a new soft cover binding, but ruined it in the finishing process.  If I am brave enough, I may post some pictures!

Etsy

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April 12, 2013 · 12:07 pm

Cold Amid the Soft Covers

I promised a blog about my soft-cover books, but first a rant.  Why it is so freaking cold in mid-April?  Wet, cold, gloomy and just the pits!  I suppose I should be happy there are no snow storms or tornadoes, but it’s all about me and I’m COLD!  I have heard there is a magic line about 100 miles south of me where it is warm and spring-like and cherry blossoms are blooming, but not here, not now and that’s not good.  Enough of this already.

On to the books.  I will confess, I have a conflicted relationship with soft cover books.  They can be very diverse, imaginative and fun to make, but they aren’t “real” books.  In my more traditional moments, I equate them with paperbacks and “crappy crafts” as being very disposable, not something one keeps. On the other hand, they are fun and usually easy to make.

When I was on my recent vacation, I bought the materials to make a few when I tried of the ladder games. Naturally, I choose a type of softcover book that is rather traditional in shape. It has the added advantage of having a relatively stable spine.  Many soft cover books have little stability and the spines can twist and wiggle. This book has a nice long-stitch spine and tabs that wrap both front and back which creates a double thickness on the spine.  Once I finished my  first prototype, I began to see some great possibilities for using some of my heavier marbled paper.

Here’s a look at the first one I made (the second isn’t finished yet) and four that I made with my marbled paper once I came home.

The front and back covers are cut at the same time with the tabs interlaced. Works great if you are using the same paper for both, but since I was using my marbled paper for one side, it left an extra set.  There isn’t an individual picture, but in the group you can see that I made a second book from the green textured paper, but with a black marbled piece for the cover.

As usual, some of these books will be available on Etsy.

 

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April 3, 2013 · 7:38 am

Making a Jacob’s Ladder Book

Several people have asked me how to make the Jaccob’s Ladders. I’ll try to explain a bit, but it’s really too complicated to describe just in words. I used the instructions in Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings by Alisa Golden. It’s available through Amazon.com or other booksellers.

Here’s my brief explanation.

The “steps” of the ladder are made from “sandwiches” of two  boards. I covered my boards with my marbled paper. The sandwiches are joined together by ribbons and that’s the tricky part. The ribbons weave in and out of the sandwiches and are glued on the inside but not on the outside.  The weaving is not straight down the ladder as the ribbons must loop around the step so that the ladder can move.  If you open the ladder slowly, you can see that the ribbons form an X  between the steps, with the outside ribbons staying parallel to each other and the center ribbon “X-ing” them.

In Golden’s book, she lays out the process in 28 steps with diagrams.  Even with that help, it took me several tries to get the weaving completely correct. Once figured out it is a lot of fun!

Good luck and happy gluing!

Ladders6

 

Click below for a short video of a Jacob’s Ladder in motion.

Jacob’sLadder

 

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January 31, 2013 · 4:11 pm

It’s Material

The local Arts Center where I display my books and paper, changes their exhibit about ten times a year. Each exhibit has a theme and artists are invited to submit works centered around the theme. I received the listing for 2013 a few weeks ago and the February exhibit’s theme is “It’s Material”.  I was puzzled how I could make my books reflect the theme.  I was thinking material goods, money, bling, flash – you get the picture.  I finally hit on something and then, after I had started the books, discovered they were featuring textile artists!  Oh, well.  I’m still going with my idea although I have covered books with fabric in the past and may take in those also.

So what was my idea?  Just these.

Material coins

I’m a collector (that’s a polite word for pack rat) and when I came across these, they clicked with the February theme.

I generally don’t care for embellishments on book covers.  The cute seashells, the fancy ribbons, or little doodads leave me cold.  Besides, it makes it almost impossible to put the book on a shelf without damaging it or its neighbors. My idea with the coins was to inset them into the cover so they would be flush with the boards. To accomplish this, I excavated circles on the covers about the thickness of the coin.

The Eisenhower dollar was about the same thickness as the Davey board, so I backed those covers with a piece of mat board.  The edge-on shot shows the plied covers.

I then added the spines and marbled paper covers in the usual manner and glued the coins into the depressions.  I should have made them a bit deeper to allow for the thickness of the paper and adhesive, but I’m very pleased with the result.  I adhered the coins with PVA, so I don’t know if they will stay.  So far they seem to be holding well, although I’m sure they could be pried off. 

 

These books were great fun and I’m happy with the results!  What more could I want?

Maybe to get to overmarbling tomorrow?  Stay tuned, it might just happen!

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January 21, 2013 · 5:25 pm

Not Quite As Planned

My plans for marbling this weekend didn’t quite work out – seems to be a theme going on here.

I did have a great weekend however, even if not as planned.  As I mentioned in my last blog, I was  playing with the ladders and getting a bit frustrated.  I had made the blocks for two ladders, but my first attempt at the ribbons wasn’t right.  I pulled them apart and tried again on one of the ladders and finally had the weaving right, but the ribbons were too loose, some blocks had gotten upside down, and it just wasn’t pretty!

I also had three books that I had started months ago, but had been too busy to get back to them. So I decided instead of creating more paper to join my stash and create more work, I would finish up some things, including mastering the ladders.  So, here are the results!

Ladders Ladders9 Ladders8 Ladders6Ladders4Ladders2

 

I made four ladders this week, The bottom two in the first photo were my successful ones.  One is made from pages of a 1947 book about Bozo the Clown that I marbled.  The other is regular marbled paper.  The top two are from an old copy of “The History of Western Art”. I was really excited about these as they would form a little “book” snapshot of art through the ages.  Unfortunately they were the ones I messed up.  I still like the idea and think I’ll have to marble some more pages and try again.

Ladders10

Here’s a close-up of two of the blocks from the the art book.

These are the books I finished.  Unlike most batches I make, these are all the same size.  It does make cutting the paper and boards easier, but it’s not as much fun!

JanBookTrio3

I’m very pleased to have finished these and I’ll be putting them up on Etsy within the next week.

Maybe this week, I’ll get started on my new paints and all the marbling ideas that are floating through my head!

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August 12, 2012 · 10:47 am

Where Did That Week Go?

Busy, busy week. Not sure quite what happened, but I know that the painters finally came to start work on my porch, my company left and I finally mowed the grass.  To update the trifecta, first the pickles did get canned, another 12 pints. 

I finished one book as a sample for a potential customer.

The final bit was making more Treasure Towers with maps on the outside.  They are close to being finished, with just folding the interior boxes and gluing them to the outside.  Keeping the two blue/purple towers separated with their proper papers was a challenge, but I think I have them right.  It really wouldn’t make too much difference as their colors are very similar, but when I put a lot of effort into choosing just the right piece of paper, I hate it when I mess them up at the last minute.  That’s one reason I never work on more than four items at once.  There’s just way too much chance for papers getting switched.

Here are the towers and the paper cut and folded for the boxes.

On a totally different note, I’ve started harvesting potatoes from my garden.  There’s nothing better than a freshly dug potato!  Here’s the harvest for today.
The cherry tomatoes are overflowing.  I may have to figure out how to can them!

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August 5, 2012 · 10:40 am

Going for a Trifecta

This week is starting with a bang: papers chosen and started for four Towers with maps on the outside, papers matched for four books and the textblocks cut and folded, plus another gallon of cukes salted in the fridge.  Let’s see what gets finished and what waits for next week!

The cucumbers are just about over.  We haven’t had much rain in the past two weeks and they are getting smaller and smaller.  On the other hand, the cherry tomatoes are going like gang busters!  So sweet and juicy, nothing like the ones in the grocery store.  I may even try to can some, just to have a memory of summer next February when the snow has piled up and I’m almost house-bound.

I’ll take some pictures of the towers and books as they begin to come together.

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