Book #273

Tegumentum Spadix

I tried another of the bindings from Langwe's book for today. The attachment of each signature is similar to a tacket binding. The original book had a parchment cover, with parchment reinforcement on the spine and inside each signature and the cover was closed with a hook and eye. I have used a sturdy handmade paper rather than parchment, but otherwise I have tried to duplicate the structure - including the hook and eye which I fashioned crudely from a bit of wire.

Book #233

Hardcover Pamphlet 1

Still working from the Pamphlet Binding book that I mentioned yesterday, this is a paste-bound pamphlet bound with a hardcover. Full cloth with an inset label.

Book #202

Single Needle Coptic 1

Today's book is an example of a single-needle chain stitch binidng, often referred to as a Coptic stitch. I included the multi-needle version of this ages ago (Book #3). The main difference in the appearance, is that the single-needle version requires a kettle stitch at the head and tail, whereas the multi-needle version does not. This little book has my suminagashi paper on the covers. I am not particularly happy with the cover attachment on this book -- I need to work on that.

Book #189

Slotted Longstitch 4

Yet another variation on the slotted longstitch binding. This one, obviously, with hidden stitches.

Book #144

Embroidery Binding

I just learned this stitching technique from Deb Eck, who designs these binding patterns, inspired by her knowledge of various embroidery techniques. The pattern on this book has its origins in Elizabethan black work. Check out some of her very impressive work at debraeck.com.

Book #120

Japanese Cash Book

The book I made for today is a copy of a Japanese cash booklet that I acquired some time ago. I have photographed them together since the original looks much more interesting than my blank copy. The original, as you can see, is handwritten on traditional washi. I was told that it originated in the Meiji period. It is a curious item and I think it is probably a one-of-a-kind homemade notebook, quickly whipped together by its owner. Inside, there is a multi-page accordion booklet. Each page is folded along one side so they are a double thickness, as is typical of Japanese books. They are bound to the covering wrapper, using a twisted paper cord.

Book #60

Two-rod Scroll

As I mentioned yesterday, I am going to present some different scroll formats. The single-rod scroll seems to have East Asian roots like the Makimono, but other cultures developed the double-rod scroll where the paper/parchment had a rod at each end so it could be rolled off one end onto the other while reading. Handy for very long texts, surely. It seems to be most commonly used for religious documents, specifically the Torah and the Qur'an.

I have searched the Web and my books, but cannot find any special name for this type of scroll. Please leave me a comment if you know of a special name given to this type of scroll with two rods.

Book #28

Japanese Handscroll

Scrolls, of course, emerged prior to the codex book form. This one that I have made is based on the structure of the traditional Japanese handscroll, or Makimono.

Book #20

Secret Fold Book

This structure is sometimes called a Secret Fold or Hidden Book or other similar names because of the way it can open up into different shapes. It works well for artist's books with only minimal content or secret messages or for displaying quotes like my Freak Flag book.

If you want to try this one, I posted a tutorial here on my blog way back in 2007, showing how to do this structure with a hardcover.

Book #17

Spanish Ledger Binding

I just finished making this replica of a Spanish 17th Century limp vellum ledger. I used an old parchment document for the cover, folded with turn-ins so that the original writing is hidden on the inside. I constructed the traditional toggle and loop closure elements from strips of vellum.

flickr friday - WHITE

A surprising number of items in my Flickr photostream tagged with "white", over sixty. Follow this WHITE link to see them all. Or, here are a few of them, randomly selected using the Flickr badge tool:

Snow Storm Hardcover Journal

I made this journal a couple days ago for the Trans Canada Etsy Team's February Challenge. The theme of the challenge is Snow since we still have lots of it around the country, even if it was scarce for a few days in Whistler! Visit the TCET blog to vote for your favorite item in our snow-inspired challenge (hint: pick "D"!) This journal has a white leather spine and the covers are finished with beautiful Japanese Chiyogami paper that has fine gold and silver bursts that remind me of whirling snow during a blizzard. There are 256 pages of gorgeous snow white cotton paper with torn edges.