Book #156

Italian Paper-covered binding No. 2

Today's book is another example of a paper-covered binding from 16th-17th Century Italy. It is bound using the same sewing technique, but this version has only a primary wrapper so the stitching remains visible.

Book #131

Barber Pole

One of Smith's two-section stitches, called the barber pole. It is trickier than it looks; getting the twists to be even and straight requires more effort than you might imagine!

Book #126

Multi-section 5-hole Pamphlet

Building on yesterday's theme, this is another multi-section pamphlet binding. It uses a 5-hole pamphlet stitch with three pierced sewing stations and two passive sewing stations at the head and tail.

Book #117

Sewn Board Binding

This is an example of the elegant and practical sewn board binding that I made in a workshop with Gary Frost a few years ago. Gary designed this particular structure himself and I saw a nice summary of its features on this blog, if you are interested in learning more about it.

Book #110

Pinking Shears

This one is called pinking shears for obvious reasons. Yes, I know there have been a lot of these simple 2-section stitches now, but I did this batch of posts all in advance so that I could focus on some other things. This is the last one that I'm going to show in this little series for now. I'll try to come up with something different for tomorrow!

Book #68

Flat Back case binding, quarter cloth

Another case binding, flat back with quarter cloth.

Book #15

Inter-laced Running Stitch

Another traditional embroidery stitch used for binding a pamphlet.

Book #4

Tunnel Book

This is an example of a tunnel book that I made when my son was small. Today is his birthday, he is now 10 years old. Happy Birthday Nicholas!

flickr friday - ORANGE

Autumn is in full swing here. The leaves turned bright red and yellow and orange and now most of those leaves are on the ground and the trees are looking rather bare. It is the fabulous orange colours of Fall, though, that inspire today's Flickr Friday post. You can follow the link to see all the photos that I have on Flickr tagged with ORANGE, but here is a sample, randomly selected using the Flickr badge tool:

My first pop-up book

This is my first attempt at making a pop-up book. I didn't attempt any amazing pop-up structures; I just attached my trees to little pop-up squares made with two cuts on the fold.

I've submitted this book as part of a BEST challenge so you can vote for it if you like it! Or vote for whichever you like best - by visiting the BEST blog. There are some really great entries in the challenge this year.


So, this is a Time for Patience. A handmade pop-up book to celebrate the procrastination innate in leaf raking. No sense starting until every leaf has fallen.

It is a 2-page pop up. So the first pop-up spread is a tree, barren of leaves, except for one at the top.


The second spread is a wider scene of that same tree and a couple others, with the rake and the raker and the fallen leaves, all waiting patiently for that last leaf to fall.


I also collected a few leaves and made some rubbings which are used on the covers of the book. Leather spine.

Hardcover Pamphlets

Last week when I made that book cloth for the little winter book, I also did a bunch of other cloth at the same time. I've now finished a couple more hardcover pamphlet books using those fabrics.

I used an orange bandanna for this one. Orange pages inside and yellow handmade paper pasted down on the inside of the covers. A strip torn from the edge of the bandanna is tied around it.


This one has a geometric navy fabric on the covers. I found it in the bin of remnants at the fabric store. The pages are super nice Mohawk Super Fine paper. On the inside of the covers, I pasted some Argali handmade paper from India. The Knot of Eternity is printed on the inside of the front cover. In Tibetan Buddhism, this knot represents life in balance where everything is in harmony. It also represents the teachings of the Buddha, which are considered eternal, no beginning and no end.

Halloween Treats

Halloween Treats for my Etsy customers on October 31st!!

I have just whipped up these little Halloween accordion books. They are quite small, about 2" at the widest point. And they were made quickly from scraps and inexpensive materials that I had lying around. Nothing too impressive or high quality, but they are cute! And they really are little accordian style books, with a front and back cover and folded pages and all that there should be. Lots of fun!

Right now I have only these two: I have a Jack-o-lantern that still has one of its leaves and a bit of vine attached - and dark orange pages inside. And I have a witch (or wizard) hat, garnished with a tiny jack-o-lantern tucked into the hatband. The hat has dark navy pages inside.

These little books will be given out as treats to anyone who makes a purchase from my Etsy shop on October 31st. I have only two right now, but if necessary, I will make more! So, you might not get one of these pictured here if I have to make more - but they are likely to be similar.

I will give one of these to anyone who makes a purchase on October 31st between 12:01am and 11:59pm (Eastern/Etsy time zone).

(If I don't have two sales on Etsy on Octber 31st, I will randomly select someone to get the extra book(s), from all the people who have left comments on my blog during the month of October!)

Bookbinding 101 - Chopstick Notebook

Here's a simple pamphlet binding that can be done by binding the pages to a stick. I have used a chopstick, but it could be anything…a twig, wooden spoon, toothbrush, etc.

Required stuff:
- Several sheets of paper for the pages (10 – 15)
- One sheet of decorative and/or heavy paper for the cover
- One chopstick (or suitable alternative)
- A pencil
- A needle and some thread
- A utility knife

First thing, you need to prepare the paper for the pages. Each sheet of paper has to be the same height as the chopstick. My chopstick is 9”, so I have used 15 sheets of standard photocopier paper, cut to 9” high (A). Stack them neatly, then fold the entire stack in half (B). More pages will make it harder to fold and it might not like to stay folded, so it is a good idea at this point to press it overnight (or a week, the longer you press it, the better it will fold). So put it under something heavy (C).

Once the paper has been pressed, you can make the cover using a piece of decorative paper, or paper that is just a bit heavier than the pages. The cover paper needs to be cut the same height as the chopstick (9”) and twice as wide as the folded pages. Then fold it around your pages (D).

Now mark the spots on your chopstick where you want the sewing stitches to be (E). I have marked 6 spots, but it can be any number and they can be in any position. It is probably a good idea to have one close to each end for the sake of stability, but otherwise it really doesn’t matter. Use a utility knife to cut a little grove around the chopstick at each mark (F).

Open the folded pages and lay the chopstick along the centre fold. Mark the position of each chopstick-notch along the centre fold (G). Using a awl (or a needle if you don’t have an awl), poke a hole at each mark (H). Make sure the holes go all the way through every sheet of paper including the cover.

Start sewing. Place the folded paper on the table. Align the chopstick along the outside folded edge, so that the notches you made are lined up with the holes in the paper. With a threaded needle, go through the first hole from the inside to the outside (I). Pull it through until there is just a couple inches of thread left on the inside. Wrap the thread around the chopstick, then put the needle back through the same hole (J). Pull the thread all the way through until the loop around the chopstick is tight. The thread should be resting comfortably in the notch you made.

Repeat this for the next hole. Put the needle through the second hole from the inside to the outside (K), go around the chopstick then back through the same hole (L). Pull it tight so the thread is resting comfortably in the second notch on the chopstick.

Do the same thing for all the holes (M). At the last hole bring the needle back through the hole so the end of the thread is on the inside (N). Make sure the thread is pulled tight around each notch in the chopstick. If it is loose anywhere, tighten it.

Now the ends of the thread can be knotted. With the needle still on the end of the thread, pass the needle under the last stitch (O). Pull it through until there is just a small loop, then put the needle through that loop (P). Pull it tight to make a little knot and cut the thread so there is just a tiny end remaining (short enough that it won’t stick out the top of the book) (Q). Repeat the knot with the other end of the thread and cut it short.

Admire your work (R). Embellish (S).

Wah-la! The notebook is complete.

If you have used this tutorial to make some notebooks, I'd love to see them! I have set up a Flickr Group where anyone can add photos of chopstick notebooks. Or just post links here for me!

Summer collection

I do a lot of work in brown. Various shades of brown and tan seem to be the most popular for my leather journals. Followed by black and red. But a lot of brown. I got an order this morning for two big journals, one brown and one black. Nothing new there.

But before I do any more brown books, I had to finish my little "summer collection" to brighten things up a bit. The other day I pulled out all my most colourful leathers and papers to see what I could come up with.

So I ended up with teal suede with blue paper, orange leather with white paper and pink fastener, dark pink leather with light pink paper, light blue leather with grey paper, black with green paper, black with yellow paper, and salmon with cream paper! All are small, 5.5"x4.5" or smaller. I listed the little salmon book on Etsy today.

Now, back to the browns.