Book #42

Twined Binding

My attempt at the intricate twined binding sewing. The "twined binding" was devised by Roberta Lavadour and she explains it in detail in The Bonefolder, Vol 4 No 2.

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.

Face on the spine

I saw a book done like this when I was at PBI in May. It had the face of Marilyn Munroe on the spine and I thought it was just absolutely fabulous, and sorry I can't remember who had made it. EDIT: Recently I was looking through some photos from my PBI trip and it suddenly became very clear to me who made that Marilyn Munroe book. It was Roberta Lavadour (I'm 99% sure).

The face on my book here is from a sketchbook cover and I had accumulated quite a stack, 20 or 30 of these images, so I had lots to work with.




So by carefully wrapping the same image around each section, just moving it slightly each time, I was able to get the face onto the spine. Then I just added the rest of his head on the front cover. All the materials in the book are either repurposed or 100% recycled; it's bound with four rows of chain stitches.