The Complete Wiki Shakespeare

The Bookbinding Etsy Street Team is having a challenge to create a book for World Book Day. One of the things marked by this day is the anniversary of Shakespeare's death. So my book for this challenge is all about him. I intended to do something using a list of all his plays. So I visited Wikipedia, selected the complete list of plays that I wanted and attempted to "print selection..." but I fumbled and just sent the entire document to the printer. So, unintentionally having 22 pages of Shakespeare content in front of me, I changed my direction and made this little black book of Shakespeare Wiki Content.

This is a small hardcover book, with black book cloth on the covers. I cut a circle in the cloth and put a photoshoped image of Shakespeare under the cloth peeking through. I used the ream of accidentally-printed paper to create the pages for this book. I cut them up to make a book that is 4¼" x 4¼" (11cm x 11cm). So all the pages have text and images printed on one side.



After completing the black book, I still had some of the paper left, so I also made the three little notebooks shown here. The covers are heavy white cardstock, and they are sewn with black linen thread. The covers are decorated with bits of text and images cut from some of the scrap page.

World Book Day is April 23rd, so there will hopefully be other BEST members creating books for this challenge as well. They have been compiled with photos and descriptions on the BEST blog.

Atwood Flag

Sadly, a local independent bookstore has gone out-of-business. Happily, they had 80% off the last couple weeks and there was some stuff they were just giving away. So I am now the proud owner of this large Oryx and Crake promotional flag. I am an Atwood fan, and I remember hubby buying this book for me on his way home from work, the first day it was available (and possibly he got it from this same bookstore since he worked nearby at that time). Anyway, here it is, my Atwood flag. So what to do with almost 10 square feet of Atwood flag? It's just hanging in the basement right now - since it even came with a nice dowel for hanging. But of course I'm trying to decide how I might use it to make books...

My own stash of Nag Hammadi codices

Here is the most common photo of the Nag Hammadi books; I have linked this back to Wikipedia since its copyright is in dispute so anyone who is interested can go there to read about it. The books were just discovered in 1945, so the photograph is not so old. The books, though, are very old, dating from the 3rd or 4th century.


There aren't many photos of these books, because they were dismantled for preservation, I believe. The content of the books is the primary point of interest for most historians... I, on the other hand, just get annoyed when I google this topic and all I can find is the content! Nothing about the structure!


Ah, but I was very fortunate to attend a great workshop where I learned how they were made and have since created my own nice stash.

So many little books

So, um, since the initial triad, the number of itty bitty books around here has just exploded.


I am preparing for a spring sale locally, at the end of April, so now I have a cute little display of teeny weeny books and a bunch of book-earrings all set to go. When I made the books for the earrings, I reinforced the spine on the inside of the cover, and punched a little hole to feed through a loop that could be attached to the ear wires. I got these great handmade sterling silver ear wires on Etsy (of course) from a shop called CanadianRockies.

Asymmetrical Favorites

I just spent much of my evening looking at Deckled Edge Bindery's books on Etsy and Flickr so I decided to share a few of my favorites.


These are all gorgeous. And I did have the opportunity to see one of Jen's books up close and in my hands, although just temporarily, and it certainly was fabulous, so pretty, and just wonderfully made! I already have enough trouble with 90 degree angles, attempting some of these styles would send me spinning! Check out her stuff at Decklededgebindery.Etsy.com

Edible Books

Starting in 2000, the International Edible Book Festival has been happening around the globe and it is typically held on April 1st. The first year, there were festivals held at various locations in France, Australia, and throughout the USA. Since then, it has spread widely and has included participants in as many as 15 countries.

Some great entries from previous years that I've seen around the web:

My First Book of Shapes by Katherine Ng






Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Bread by Aimee Meyer





Tail of Peter Rabbit by Judy Baily






Passover Haggadah by Gene Epstein






Pages of Peas by H. Mc Pherson






I have never attended a festival for this event; but, this year Tulibri invited others to submit photos for a virtual gathering. I almost missed it - which means I gave myself only a single afternoon to think of something and execute it! Two very chintzy concepts were realized. So for lunch, my little boy and I created Dr Toastus with a chunky exposed-spine chain stitch binding.


Later, I documented Life of Pie.

A book came in the mail

Today was a good mail day. I got the most recent newsletter from CBBAG. I like getting these and reading about what's going on with CBBAG; it makes me feel like I'm part of the group...even though everything they do is in Toronto so it's too far away for me to play.

But also, I got the "Penland Book of Handmade Books" today! We had a Chapters gift certificate that had been lingering for a few months and nearly forgot about; sheesh, I don't understand how I could let that happen. So I finally used it to buy this and it arrived today. I haven't had much time to look at it. My little boy was quite disappointed with the mail today and when he saw what I got, I think he knew it could take me away for hours, so he wouldn't tolerate anyone looking at it for more than a few minutes. I didn't realize that with each of the featured artists, the book also includes a how-to-do-something-that-they-do section, so that is a nice treat. I'll have some new things to try, can't wait!

Some photo albums

I got some gorgeous Japanese silk remnants from one of my favorite Etsy shops, FromJapanWithLove. I backed the silk with Japanese Mulberry paper so I could use it as book cloth and decided to make some photo albums. The remnants weren't very big so these albums aren't very big, one standard 3.5 x 5in photograph will fit on each page. The red one is my favorite, the red and cream silk is amazing.



The brown album is actually done with a Pashmina-Silk fabric that I got from an Etsy seller, SouthamptonCreations. (These two Etsy sellers are actully mother and daughter, which I only came to know afterwards; a fun coincidence.)

I haven't made a photo album for a long time; these small albums that I finished tonight are the first of this kind that I've made in, um...maybe 4 years. When I took my very first bookbinding course, we made a photo album and I was so struck by my ability to make something so widely practical, that I made many many many. I made several for myself (which I just gathered together for the photograph below), and I made several to give as gifts to everyone I knew, and I kept it going until people were tired of seeing them. And now that I've looked at all these albums that I made for myself...I want to make new ones for myself...I could do them so much better now! Great, another project on my "to do" list.

Really Mini

So I made three books tonight.


A few months ago I was supposed to attend a workshop on making miniature books. The workshop was canceled, though. So I got mini book instructions from an Etsy seller called dingo and just finally got around to trying them tonight. They are so small that I lost one under my bone folder; couldn't find it anywhere and was beginning to think that I must have accidentally inhaled it...but then I found it. Phew. The instructions were great, very easy for me to follow so once I adjusted my thinking to accommodate for such tiny measurements and precise folding, this was quite fun.

Here DH agreed to model the books for me:

Love UniquelyCovered

As a result of the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team's most recent book swap, I now have one of Linda's books all for myself! Here it is:


I really love the sewing supports! Linda sells her books on Etsy at UniquelyCovered.Etsy.com. She has quite a range of blank books, some with the exposed spine like this, and also case bound, and she also uses wood and metal and leather as well. She also has some cool jewelry, or wearable art, she calls it. Thanks so much Linda!

H.E.L.P. International

The members of the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team are donating books to raise money for H.E.L.P. International in support of global literacy. The complete catalog of books still available is on the B.E.S.T. Blog.


Also check out the following links:

• Website for H.E.L.P. International
• More Info about B.E.S.T. Charity Events
• Books already sold for this event

Playing Dress-up

Oh really, I don't normally play dress-up with my journals but I couldn't help it this time. When I finished this book, I just had to dress it up and take pictures!

Dressed up as a Monster


Dressed up as a Messenger Bag


Dressed up as...a journal :)

Travel Journals

I've been having fun making some travel journals. Nothing new with the bindings, but I've been playing with the overall design a bit. The first one here is very small, definitely a mini journal. It has lots of pages, plus an envelope in the middle, and a little zip-lock baggie bound in near the back. And of course the leather is lined with part of an old map. As well, rather than one of my standard closures, I've attached an elastic which seems like it might be better when you're on the go. This little book has a combination longstitch and link stitch binding.


This purple book is bigger and better. The pages are mostly white card stock, but there's also one section of lined grid paper. There is a purple envelope near the back, as well as a double pocket page in the middle made with some pretty translucent craft vellum. This one also has an elastic closure and the binding is one of my favorites, fondly known as the longstitch-through-a-slotted-cover.

L'Anse Amour

I recently came across this collaborative book arts project. Robin Smith Peck, Kevin Major, and Tara Bryan have created this work based on their visit to the inlet of L’Anse Amour, in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. L'Anse Amour, Labrador is the site of a 7500-year-old burial site of a 12-year-old boy surrounded by evidence of intriguing ritual. This book is their interpretation of the site and its stories. You can check out the book in significant detail by visiting Tara Bryan's website: www.tarabryan.com.

I spent quite a while browsing Tara Bryan's site. She also has several of her other artist's books displayed there. Some wonderful accordion structures and fabulous linocuts and letterpress work. Bryan was one of the contributor's to the CBBAG Millenium in a Box project, with her World Without End tunnel book.

Using split tapes

I tried another blanket stitch today. This time it is done using split tapes as supports. This is actually an entirely different stitch than the blanket stitch that i tried a few days ago. On this one, the beading is formed after the sewing is complete whereas the other blanket stitch creates the little beading as it is sewn.


I like the idea of this particular binding and it seems more structurally sound than the unsupported blanket stitch; although, I found it incredibly frustrating when my sections wouldn't stay aligned! I went to great lengths to ensure that I had the sewing stations all punched correctly and wonderfully aligned, but the sewing process caused the sections to go askew anyway. Hurmph. I'm sure subsequent attempts would prove to be more aesthetically satisfying than this one. I was especially unsatisfied with the board attachments on this, but...enh...the next one will be better.