An edition of popup cards

Earlier this year, I made an edition of fifteen cards for a card exchange. Inspired by a line from Arthur Miller's play, Death of a Salesman, I made these popup cards featuring a nighttime cityscape.

The front of the card has the text, "Gotta break your neck to see a star in this yard," as spoken by the main character, Willy Loman. I used antique brass type to print it, black on black.

Inside, the cityscape is made from an original lino carving, hand printed onto some of my original marbled papers. The city and the background sky are then partially obscured by the foreground tangle of trees and weeds.

Book #326

Side Bow

And another 3-section binding from Smith's book - and I quite like this one.

Book #272

Tegumentum Rubrum

The book that I made for today is a binding that Monica Langwe examined in her book, Limp Bindings from Tallin. It is a tacket binding and a cover of two layers of leather with a toggle closure.

Book #231

Saw Kerf Binding

This method is suitable for binding single sheets or rebinding books. I used it to rebind one of my favorite books, of which my only copy was a tattered perfect-bound paperback. Now it looks much cooler redressed in its hardcover suit and Ann Muir marbled paper.

There are instructions for this saw kerf binding in Pauline Johnson's book, "Creative Bookbinding" (which has a few useful bookbinding tidbits but is mostly just a wonderful 1960s time-capsule).

Book #172

Dashes

Another of Smith's 3-section sewings today.

Book #146

Simplified Binding

The name of this structure is deceiving. It is a simplified version of a traditional fine French binding, but still a very detailed and precise structure. I made this book with a leather spine and paper-covered boards, in a class this week taught by Eileen Wallace. (Eileen is also responsible for creating the beautiful paper on this book.)

Book #118

Yamato Ledger Binding

Today's simple book is a traditional Japanese ledger structure with a Yamato binding.

Book #105

Bars & Arrows

I find the appearance of this this particular two-section stitch to be a little awkward, but it is still quite simple to produce. Smith calls this one bars & arrows.

Book #97

Australian Piano Hinge

This book is made using a technique that I found described on Alisa Golden's website. She says it was originally called "Flat-Style Australian Reverse Piano Hinge binding" and she nicknamed it the Australian Piano Hinge, which is a little easier to remember! It is a nice structure combining an accordion with folded signatures. I have made this example using two accordion spine pieces.

Book #70

Flat back case binding, full leather

A flat back case binding, full leather.