Sunday, January 25, 2009

Twined Binding

The "twinded binding" was devised by Roberta Lavadour and she explains it in detail in The Bonefolder, Vol 4 No 2. This image to the right, shows a stack of Roberta's twined spines. Using multiple thread colours, the twining can make whatever grid pattern you have the patience to create.

Twining is a basket weaving technique and as Roberta states in her article, "the basic twining technique itself was and is used by many cultures in North and Central America, the Middle East and New Zealand in the fabrication of everything from tapestries to sandals." She incorporated the technique into her work and created this binding for the 2007 Guild of Book Workers Standards of Excellance Conference. She has done some incredibly intricate and gorgeous books using this technique.

The following is my first attempt at the twined binding, resulting in quite a plain checkerboard pattern, which seemed quite complicated for my first go! I used limp leather for the cover material rather than making a hardcover as she suggests in her article. But I do really like how the back cover is woven, which allowed me to continue the twining on the fore edge wrap-around, and two of the long straps are long enough to be used as a closure, extending around to the buttons on the front cover. This technique definitely requires some practice!



This type of binding was included in the 2008 Bind-o-rama, so you can see some better examples and more of Roberta's books in The Bonefolder, Vol 4 No 2.

7 comments:

DangAndBlast! said...

For some reason, I recall not enjoying her demonstration at Standards as much as I should have ... your book looks great! (I loved the British fellow with the gold tooling, and that's something I'm not massively into ... so maybe it's all in the presenter's accent!)

lori vliegen said...

you did a beautiful job! i love all things woven! :)

Wayne McNeil Artist/Bookbinder said...

This Binding is tricky...no doubt. I've been working on this myself lately, and it is going fairly well...after I figured out how to hold the threads. Your book is beautiful. Hope to have mine photographed on my blog soon.
I enjoy your blog!

MyHandboundBooks said...

thanks dangandblast, lori, and wayne!

dangandblast, in this case i wish i'd had a demonstration of this technique! probably would have helped a lot.

good luck with your twining, wayne! i will be watching for the photos :)

Rozi said...

What you do always leaves me amazed Rhonda, I just saw the book you sent to Astrid. I've never seen such a book. It's amazing, it felt like I got transported back in time when I saw it.

I've awarded you the Kreative Blogger on my site, please accept the humble offering.

MyHandboundBooks said...

Rozi, wow, thanks so much for your kind words! and for the blogger award!

Wayne McNeil Artist/Bookbinder said...

Hey, my Twined Binding is finally on my blog. I just love yours....I went with book cloth covers and ended up with alot of decorative centipede stitch work to feel as though the spine was integrated thoughout the entirety of the book.
take care,
wayne