Book #185

Leaves

Another stitching technique from Smith's book, called Leaves, which I quite like. I picked this stitch because the cover features some leafy paste paper that I made where I pressed leaves into the paint.

Book #34

Single Sheet X Sewing

This is a single sheet binding that I made using a technique devised by . He refers to it as an X Sewing on Raised Cords. This example is sewn onto flat cords, but it is the same sewing technique. I used board scraps for the pages and applied some of my own paste papers to the front and back.

This binding is in Keith Smith's book, "Sewing Single Sheets".

New batch of paste papers

I like to make a batch of paste papers from time to time. It is nice to be able to create my own decorative papers. Although I really enjoy marbling and traditional marbled papers are certainly some of the best decorative papers, imo, I also like the more informal look of paste papers. And they are much simpler and quicker than marbling!

Just a few from this morning to show. I tend to prefer simple patterns, low contrast. I find that I am much more likely to actually use the papers, if they are subtle, or not too busy. I'm also just not very good at the busy crazy patterns that some people do so well. So I stick with what works for me, although I did experiment a bit. In addition to the ones shown here, I actually did several others that are just basic brush strokes, back and forth, no extra patterning. (There are more photos on my Facebook page.)

I used cornstarch paste, mixed with acrylic paint, and I used a 98lb Canson mixed media paper.

Leafy paste papers

Just for fun, the next time you're making paste paper, use some leaves! Here's one that I did, pressing a leaf into the paint. I think it turned out great!

I used a small leaf on this paper. I just used the same leaf over and over, until I covered the whole sheet. It was quite a large sheet of paper, this is just one corner of it.

I did another sheet with a large fern too, that also worked well. I know it's been done before, but it was new for me!

Book and paper arts with a 5-year-old

Occasionally, my little boy requests that we make things in my bookbinding studio, and he doesn't mean block towers or Lego towns. Last week he asked if we could make a book. We have made blank notebooks before, just using a basic pamphlet stitch (his first attempt was over two years ago). This time we found printable booklets online so his book would have real content. The layout of the pages made them perfect for a stab binding, so this time Nicholas made his first Japanese-bound book, called "What begins with N?". He wanted yet another project, so we made paint. Using a simple recipe that we found online, we made three pots of sticky paint. This is esentially paste made from cornstarch with some food colouring mixed in. The result was a very translucent paint mixture, and when the papers dried, they were very slick and smooth. Could be a great concoction for paste papers. Some book and paper arts resources, if you have a kid who likes to make things: - Make Paper with Kids - Origami for Kids - Printmaking with fruit & veggies - Preschool Indoor Fun - Make your own mini books - Cereal Box Bookbinding - Making Paper Airplanes

Corrugated Cardboard

Once you leave the realm of archival materials behind you, there is no going back. When I first started making books, I never strayed from archival materials. Gradually, though, I have come to believe that not all books need to be (or should be) archival.

I've heard a bit about a movement in the art world to produce temporary art with the understanding that its existence is transient, temporary, and immediate; it does not need to be preserved; we simply cannot preserve everything, we do not have the means or the space to do so; so just enjoy it now and allow other works of art to take its place when the time comes. In this same spirit, I do not think it is reasonable to expect all books to be preserved and certainly many little notebooks and scribblers just don't need to last hundreds of years...how many little notebooks full of "to do" lists will be of interest to our future generations?

So, these are tremendously non-archival books (which are also not works of art, they are just silly little books that might be fun to use for grocery lists or such things).


Each is made using 10 sheets of cardboard; a mixture of corrugated cardboard, pressed board from sketchbook covers, scraps of Eska board and mat board, etc. I'm not sure what the life span is for acidic corrugated cardboard... 10 years maybe before it begins to deteriorate? There are some varieties of corrugated cardboard that are archival, but I have not made any attempt to find archival materials for these books. All the cardboard used in these books was cut from boxes and boards that were lying around my workspace. The Eska board and mat board sheets were archival, but after lying next to acidic cardboard, they are not archival any more.

I used some of my paste papers to decorate the covers and also used folded strips of contrasting paste papers to make the sewing supports. The books are bound using a technique from Smith's book, "Sewing Single Sheets." It looks nice, creating little Xs on the spine like this:


Also, the books open completely flat with minimal sewing visible on the inside, just a neat pattern like this:


At times, I still like to get serious and do things 'by the book' and use entirely archival materials - but there is lots of room for these more temporary books. Maybe I will just stamp a little message inside, indicating that the book might self destruct in ten years!

Bookbinding 101 - Making Paste Paper

Making paste paper is fun and messy. It is a simple process where you smear coloured paste over a sheet of paper, then make patterns in it using whatever tools you have on hand. I haven't done a lot of it, but I tried it recently and took lots of photos. And now I'm finally getting it up here on my blog.

So the first thing you need to do, is make some paste. You need to make some paste using wheat starch or corn starch, some people use rice starch or even wallpaper paste. For most starch pastes, you will probably want to make it with a ratio of about 1:8 (one part starch to 8 parts water).

Divide the paste into two or three containers, one for each colour that you want to work with. Tint the paste using either acrylic or watercolour paint. I like to use acrylic paint since it is more water-resistant when it's dry. So, add paint and mix it until it is consistently coloured. Inexpensive paint will usually result in colours that are pale so I suggest using the best quality paint you can afford.

Gather a few things to use as pattern-making tools so that you'll have them close when you're ready for them. You could use combs, forks, sticks, bone folder, rubber stamps, sponges, crumbled paper bag, your fingers, or anything that will make a pattern when pressed into the paste.

Dampen the paper before you start - dip it in a tub of plain water, or use a spray bottle to mist the paper. Let it relax then brush your coloured paste over an entire sheet of paper. I am using 80lb drawing paper here, but it can be any paper that has decent wet-strength. I also tend to start with large sheets so that there is lots of room. But you could do small sheets. I spread the paste right to the edges and onto the table to make sure the whole sheet is covered. A bigger brush or sponge will help spread the paste more quickly. Try to get a nice consistent layer of paste on the whole sheet.


Once the paper is covered with paste, grab one of your tools and start making marks in the paste by dragging it over the paper, or pressing it like a stamp, to create whatever sort of design or pattern you like. You can criss cross lines in opposite directions, do zig zags, splotches, curvy lines...etc, whatever you can come up with.

My examples are really simple - but there is an art to this process and a lot of history; the masters produce some amazing pieces.

Of course, I had to show my little boy what I was doing, so here he is at the other end of the table, doing his own paste paper. Although for him, it was really just finger painting.

If you don't like what's happening on your paper, grab the paintbrush and brush it out and start over again! Or try just adding another design over top of the first one, moving in the opposite direction.

When you are finished making the patterns, leave your paper to dry flat. When it's dry, the paper will likely be stiff and maybe curled at the edges. It can be flattened by pressing or you could try a not-too-hot iron. Though, you can also wax and/or burnish the papers if you have time, which will make them look really nice and they will be flat and less stiff.


This is what my yellow paper looked like when I was finished - and then later it was used on the covers of this little hardcover book.


More papers...


More books...



So that's how to make paste paper. Basically. If you're really interested in mastering this, there are some books available. But before you go, check out some of these links to see some great examples:

- Madeleine Durham's paste papers
- Paste papers by Sage Reynolds
- Paste papers by Peggy Skycraft
- Historic paste papers
- Paste papers by Threadborne

The texture book

This theme for this week's challenge was "texture." So I set out with a couple of things in mind. I wanted to create a paste paper using texture, and have various textures inside the book as well.


I haven't done paste papers much, so I had to play with it a bit to get something I liked. The resulting paste paper was made using a handful of crumpled paper to make the marks in the paste.


Inside the book, I used several different materials for the pages so there would be layers of texture. There are various types of handmade paper, a piece of leather, some corrugated cardboard, eska board, a couple sections of drawing paper, a piece of vinyl, some various sheets of cardstock, and some more paste paper too.

It is bound using one of Keith Smith's chain stitch sewings for binding single sheets.

You can check out the other books that have been done for these challenges by visiting the TJBookArts group on Flickr.