Book #365

Altered Book

I am breaking the rules again for the last book. Today's book is not a binding exactly, this is an altered book, called Blood, Sweat, & Tears: 365 Bindings. I cut the basic shape of the textblock (well, my Dad and his jigsaw cut it) and then I made three sealed compartments in the textblock where those blood, sweat, and tears are now saved. It was hard to save those things literally; so, I used bookbinding materials to represent them. The blood is a collection of little red leather circles. The sweat is curls of blotter paper. The tears are thin strips of silver stamping foil.

So that's it. The end of my 365 bindings project, which is now called the 365 Bindings in 455 Days project!

Book #364

Secret Ledger of Albizzi

I made another model of a 14th Century stationary binding for today. This is based on the Secret Ledger and Memorial Book that belonged to Pepo Albizzi. I was able to examine a model of this binding and get notes about it from Barb Korbel a few years ago, so I think I managed a decent model based on that information.

Book #363

Single Needle Coptic 2

I also found this alternate small 'C' coptic binding in Smith's Exposed Spine Sewings. It is rather different than other coptic-ish stitches that I have used and I really like it. The cover is made using a page from an old book, and it's a picture of a painting by Claude Lorrain. Particularly nice to do this friendly binding following yesterday's torturous book.

Book #362

Cords & Continuous Support

So, here is one from Smith's book Exposed Spine Sewings. Oi. In the instructions, Smith should add something like, "Go ahead, try this one, I dare you." It was painful to make and when I first completed the sewing, I hated it. I decided that I would try to save it by adding all those strips of leather that are woven into the spine parallel to the sewing cords. After that, I didn't hate it as much.

Book #361

Shooting Star

Shooting Star stitch on Andrea's moon paper. This is yet another 3-section sewing from Smith's book (1, 2 and 3-section Sewings). I have used a lot of the techniques from that book for my 365 bindings, but I actually did not use all of them - believe it or not!

Book #360

Islamic Box Binding

One more Islamic binding to add to the list. I had this on my list from the very beginning and just finally tried it this week. Szirmai makes small mention of it in his book and it took me some time to track down more information - although there is not a lot of information about it (in English anyway) and not a lot of surviving evidence to examine either. Nonetheless, this is what I came up with based on what I could discover.

Book #359

Islamic Binding 4

Today's binding is an Islamic structure known as the full leather chahargoshe, with a hard cover. I showed a soft cover very of this previously. This binding is characterized by the narrow leather edge all around the decorative paper on the cover - probably fabric is more traditional but for this one, I used some of my Ebru for the decorative element.

Book #358

Butterfly Stroke

I found another 3-section binding in Smith's book that I had never done before and here it is. If you are comparing, my result looks rather different than Smith's model in his book, but I think it is just that my sewing holes are farther apart.

Book #357

Piano-hinged Collapsible Star

The structure of today's book is another one that Hedi Kyle devised for using the piano hinge technique to attach the folded textblock and two separate cover sheets. I had this technique on my list, from very early in my 365 bindings endeavor but messed it up several times; however, after some experimentation, I think I finally got it to come together as intended. There are instructions for this structure in Keith Smith's book, Non-adhesive Binding Vol 1.

Book #356

Ethiopian Binding

Today's binding is an Ethiopian binding. The signatures are bound with an unsupported chain stitch, and although many of these wooden books were left uncovered, some were covered partially or fully in leather. The split braid leather headband was another traditional feature; this was my first time making them. I was so pleased with the split braids that I photographed them before attaching them to the book.

Book #355

ARCH. CAP. S. PIETRO,
Distribuzioni, feste e mandati 31

This is the last binding that I have to show from my models of Langwe's Limp Bindings from the Vatican Library. It was another tricky one that was originally two distinct textblocks that were bound independently and later combined into a single volume.

Book #354

Stamp. Pal. IV 957

Another of the limp bindings examined in Limp Bindings from the Vatican Library. This model is based on a bound thesis that was written in the 1520s.

Book #353

Arch. Chig. 631

Another limp binding based on the research of Monica Langwe and this one is modelled after a financial records book from the 1690s. It was a tricky one to emulate since there are two distinct textblocks inside, bound separately then combined.

Book #352

Herringbone

Today's binding is a basic (albeit awkward) herringbone stitch on double cords with a kettle stitch change-over, used as an exposed binding.

It was awkward because rather than using normal cords, I cut thin strips of leather for the cords which are not round. The herringbone effect would be more evident if the cords were actually cords.

Book #351

Pearl Binding

The pearl binding is described by Smith in his book Exposed Spine Sewings and he credits Betsy Palmer Eldridge for showing this to him. It is a very solid binding and makes the book block feel really secure - in comparison to some exposed spine bindings anyway.

Book #350

Arch. Cap. S. Pietro, Ricordi 11

Today's binding is another model of an historical record book (from the 1500s) described by Langwe in her book Limp Bindings from the Vatican Library.

Book #349

Broken Herringbone

I have returned to Smith's 3-section sewings for today's book. This particular book also features my first attempt at batik, which I backed with cloth so I could use it as book cloth.

Book #348

Group Gathered Lap-group

Today's book completes the set of four of different flat support stitching techniques that I learned from Bookbinding for Book Artists. This one looks nice as an exposed binding with the stitches gathered in groups of three.

Book #347

Flat Through Support

This is the third book in my current set of four. This time the flat support is actually pierced and sewn through. The appearance is a bit like a split tape, but this is much simpler.

Book #346

Flat Lap Loop

Continuing on the theme of the previous book, this binding is also used when sewing on flat supports. This time, the thread loops around the sewing support on the outside of the signatures.

Book #345

Flat Loop

Today's book and the three subsequent bindings that I have ready, are all techniques used when sewing on flat supports. These techniques are discussed in Smith's book Bookbinding for Book Artists and he gives credit to Betsy Palmer Eldridge for teaching him. The first one that I am showing today is called just flat loop and the thread loops around the sewing supports - creating a double thickness of thread on the inside of each signature. It provides the benefit of adding swell when you need it, and it locks the thread in place at each support as well.

Book #344

Arch. Cap. S. Pietro, Quietanze 15

Another model based on a book examined by Langwe. A very nice structure with a raised cord sewing and endbands, tacketed to an outer parchment cover - although I used paper for my cover.

Book #343

Stamp. Pal. V 1149

Today's book is bound on double raised leather cords and tacketed to a cover wrapper. This is modeled on one of the books examined in Limp Bindings from the Vatican Library.

Book #342

Stamp. Pal. V 1852

Back to my efforts of recreating the bindings examined in Langwe's book Limp Bindings from the Vatican Library. Today's model is based on a book from 1564 that had its signatures sewn directly to a parchment cover using this very tricky method that is supposed to have a tidy little bead chain formed along the top and bottom of each set of stitches - I tried but the technique looks much better on the original.

Also, it is World Book Day! A good thing to celebrate.

Book #341

Exposed Spine Board Binding

This is a tidy binding that I learned from one of Keith Smith's books (Vol V). The exposed board is only visible inside the book.

Book #340

Bound Concertina, unsupported

I had an example of a bound concertina with a supported sewing just a short time ago (Book 332) and this is now the follow-up book using the same idea of sewing signatures to the mountains of the concertina, but this time with no spine support.