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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #333

Twisted Span

Today's book is bound with a 2-section sewing that Smith calls the twisted span. It is described in his book, Quick Leather Bindings.

Book #331

Stem Binding

I have decided that this stitching pattern looks like little stems, like flower stems. If you are looking for instructions for this one, check Smith's book 1, 2, and 3 Section Sewings and look for the one he calls Pinched Ps.

Book #324

Raised Cords for Single Sheets

There are times when it is necessary to bind a stack of sheets, rather than signatures. Keith Smith wrote a book about that too - Sewing Single Sheets, which is Vol 4 in his series of books about non-adhesive bindings. That's where I learned this particular binding, which is sewn on raised cords. When I was making the cover, I knew this was going to be Book #324, so I let that fall on there just for fun.

Book #307

Pisces

I have a few more bindings from Smith's book (1,2 & 3 Section Sewings) this week. Today's is a 3-section binding called Pisces.

Book #275

Folding Vs

Allowing myself to take one day off last week was obviously the beginning of a very slippery slope. But I am back today with another of the 3-section bindings from Smith. This time I picked one that he calls 'folding Vs' and I repeated it so that I could bind six signatures.

This journal is available in my Etsy shop.

Book #274

Yesterday I finally missed a day in this mad blog project, gasp! I may have to admit that the remaining 91 bindings will take longer than 91 days to appear on my blog. I have been extra busy lately anyway so it has been more difficult to find the time for everything. There are several bindings left on my list that I want to include, but they are not structures that I can learn and produce in a single day. So I would prefer to take my time and do them well, rather than force out substandard work every day.

Vertical Ts

But for today, I have another of the 3-section bindings from Keith Smith's book (1,2, & 3 Section Sewings). I repeated the sewing three times to make a journal with nine sections.

This journal is available in my Etsy shop.

Book #270

Sevens

Another three-section binding described in Keith Smith's book.

Book #268

Horseshoes

This is another one of the 3-section bindings from Smith's book. I repeated it three times so that I could bind nine sections.

This journal is available in my Etsy shop.

Book #267

Coil Springs

I have tried another of Keith Smith's 3-section bindings for today. I tripled it and used it to bind nine sections.

This journal is available in my Etsy shop.

Book #252

Raised Cord X2

This binding is similar to the one I showed yesterday; but, the Xs on this binding are formed across the thickness of two sections. I also used triple cords so that I could do, what I call, the hen's foot board attachment. The covers on this book feature some of my own shibori dyed paper.

Book #251

Raised Cords X1

Today's binding is an exposed spine with raised cords. The stitching is one that Keith Smith describes in his book and he refers to as "1-section X" because each x is formed across the thickness of one section. This particular book features my own Suminagashi marbling on the covers, which was done with inks that I ground from jet and ocher.

Book #250

Hash Marks

This is a stitching pattern from Keith Smith's book Quick Leather Bindings, although I've used it here on a simple paper wrapper. It is a 4-section sewing even though it kinda looks like it might be only three. The cover is Saint-Armand paper, and the pages are all handmade paper that I made in my papermaking class as PBI earlier this year.