Structure and Action in Codex Binding

The third class I had at PBI was with Gary Frost and we covered a lot of material and worked on three different historic bookbinding models. We started with a simple struture called the Cartonnage and Free Leaf, which produced the smaller booklets shown above, which are not sewn. The second project was a sewn board structure, which is a wonderful style for edition binding - the one shown above bearing the label "Post-Digital Bookbinding".

The third book was a wooden board binding, which is based on a 16th Century struture. The textblock is sewn onto split alum tawd thongs. It is a drawn on board structure, so the thongs are laced into the wooden board covers.


The hardest part was drilling and chisling the slots in these hard oak boards. But it was worth the effort. The spine is lined with vellum and it is tucked under the boards on the sides and pasted to the inside of the covers - creating a wonderfully satisfying opening action!


The last thing we had time for, was pasting leather along the spine and wrapping it up with string like so,


This photo shows my book on the left, which I decided to cover only partially with the leather. I opted to leave the top third of the spine exposed so that I can always see the work that I did on the spine. The other book, by another member of the class, has a full spine covering. The strings were left on there for a day, then removed. So the raised bands across the spine are nicely emphasized as a result. I still have to turn in the leather at the end - it isn't meant to flap loose like this but we ran out of time at PBI. I'm back home now, so hopefully I'll get this finished soon.

Binding Dimensions: Shape, Size & Structure

I have also just finished a class with Gabrielle Fox here at PBI, where we made a couple of books using a sewn binding. The first was made with a handmade paper cover and the second with a hardcover.


This book with the paper cover has blank pages and is sewn onto linen tapes, which are then laced in at the spine. The tapes have to be anchored, so I used buttons on there to make the anchor a bit more decorative.


The hardcover book has been sewn the same as the first book then we added a hollow tube on the spine and cased it into a hardcover, resulting in a very classic-looking hardcover book. This is actually a printed book of poetry by Reid Bush, called What We Know and it was printed by Larkspur Press. I decided to go with a full cloth covering, and I added a raised bird in flight on the front to reflect the imagery of the title poem.

One more class to complete!

This is a book, but maybe not a codex

The first class I started here at PBI was titled "This is a book (but maybe not a Codex)" and the instructor was Bill Drendle. The objective of the class was to use book forms and content differently than might be expected, disregarding restrictions of a traditional codex.

He presented us with found books and comic books, stamps, found papers and objects of all kinds in an attempt to inspire us. We made rebus books using pictures and text, as well as books containing lists and found dialog. In the end, I made five "books".

This concertina structure was made to accommodate a list, and I had decided to go with a list of alternative subcultures so the materials and imagery were thus influenced.


Another very simple structure he showed us, is this round book made with circles. In my example here, all the circles bear the same image and it sits on a base so you can spin it.

PBI and Ox Bow

Yesterday, I arrived in Michigan to attend Paper and Book Intensive at Ox Bow. This is a 10 day program with about 70 other book and paper people. Each participant takes three different "intense" classes. I have the great fortune of having William Drendel, Gabrielle Fox, and Gary Frost instructing my three sessions. A description of the classes is available here on the PBI website. Ox Bow School of the Arts is located near Saugagtuck and just beside an ox bow lagoon. This afternoon, I finally found some other Canadians on campus!

New Travel Journals

As the summer approaches, I start thinking that I should make some travel journals for my Etsy shop. I suppose any journal can be used as a travel journal, but I made a few recently that are more specifically designed for this purpose. These are not very big and they have a simple strap to tie on the front, so if you tuck anything inside, the strap should keep all your loose bits safe in there. I backed the leather with pages from a road atlas. The pages in these journals are four different kinds of paper: unlined white cotton paper, lined notebook paper, cream Strathmore charcoal drawing paper, and a section of unlined coloured paper at that back. Also at the back, I've included a set of pockets made from cardstock so that ticket stubs and other mementos can be tucked away safely. Available on Etsy.

Over and Over and Over

It is unusual for me to make a whole bunch of books that are all the same. Even the few "editions" that I've done have never been more than a few. I am now, though, working on an edition of thirty. Quite an adjustment to switch myself into a kind of assembly-line production mode. So far...

The signatures as they were when I got them from the print shop:


Sewn with endpapers, and backed:


Boards cut and sanded (by hand, i might add, i do not have a board cutter):


Some of the cases:


Phew.

The whole thing is now on hold, though. I will be heading off to PBI soon so this set of books will have to wait for me. When I get back, I'll be taking the cases to have some text embossed on the spines...then after that, I'll put them together and eventually they will all have their own Japanese-style wrap-around cases too...

More envelope patterns

After I mentioned my collection of envelope security patterns, I happily discovered that my fascination is not unusual. Apparently lots of people are drawn to envelope security patters, collecting them and/or making things with them. I've even turned my mother into a collector since she is now saving them for me! On Flickr, there is an entire pool dedicated to Security Patterns. If you have pictures, you could add them to this pool. There is also a great collection of pictures in a set called "Security Envelope Project" where she collected envelopes to make buttons. I got a photo from Joycelyn (Bookclasp.com) showing a collection of envelopes she has been saving. Judy, who reads my blog, showed me some things she has been making with security patterns. She mentioned that the collaged birds in her work are a tribute to her late Grandmother who used to call her blue parakeets, her little bluebirds of happines. That's certainly a wonderful use of envelope papers! Judy, thanks for allowing me to share these pictures. Fellow B.E.S.T member, OliveArt, has been using envelope security patterns too. She combines the different security patterns to make new patterns. These books also have envelopes for the pages! I recently purchased this set of buttons from Janick, of Neawear on Etsy. This is not very typical of Janick's work (she does fabulous wall art!), but I found these little envelope buttons buried in her shop so I grabbed them. Some other things I've seen on Etsy: Matchbook notebooks by girlindustries Alphabet magnets by bloodandgold Gift tags by swirlyarts Wrist cuff by bettydeath Let me know if you have envelope security pattern collections or art projects that you want to share. I'd love to see pictures!

Jumble of odds and ends

In addition to my own jumble of odds and ends, my Dad recenly presented me with some stuff he had. What am I doing with all this? I had everything spread out here trying to get it all cleaned up to make it suitable for more steamjunk, er, I mean, steampunk books, of course. As you can see, I've got quite a supply of odds and ends...considering each book uses only a couple bits, this stuff will keep me going for a while. Here are a few new ones - I particularly like the one with the old telephone piece on the front.

April 22 is Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! Since 1970, April 22nd has been recognized as Earth Day, meant to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It is now recognized as an international event in over 170 countries. If you are in Canada, check out Earth Day events in your area on theEarth Day Canada site. I have been making different kinds of recycled books lately. I save a lot of boxes from food packaging because some of them have fun pictures and designs and sometimes I'll get a box that is an interesting shape... I save a lot of stuff, can you imagine how my little bookbinding studio must look with all this stuff in there? the room is very crowded... And if I'm going to save it then I also need to use it for something! So I just made a bunch of small notebooks using these saved boxes - two different styles. Some fan notebooks, bound with a single screw post in the corner. And a few stab-bound notebooks where most of the pages are box tops and side panels so the end that is sewn had a pre-existing crease. This gives all the pages a decent hinge allowing the notebook to open quite well. You can also use boxes to make mailers, i.e. sturdy envelopes. This is particularly useful for people like me who sell stuff online and always have to find/buy shipping materials. If you want to see how it's easily done, there is a quick tutorial for making a granola box mailer on the TCET blog.

Security Patterns

I have an unusual fascination with the security patterns on the inside of envelopes. I actually have a notebook where I stick bits clipped from envelopes... so yes, it's a quirky little collection of envelope security pattern clippings. But some of them ARE really neat. This is one reason that I save all the old envelopes. The other reason is that I like making books out of them. In fact, sometimes I am so eager to save the envelopes that come in the mail, that I misplace the contents. I once misplaced a cheque only to find that it was still in the original envelope, tucked safely in my box of saved envelopes! I've done some books like this before and they were a lot of fun to make. It takes a while to accumulate enough materials to do them so I haven't made any since last fall. Here are my newest ones, see how many security patterns you can find :-)

Happy Easter and Happy Birthday

Happy Easter
We tried making some silk eggs today, something I'd never heard about until just yesterday when I saw it online - check out these amazing examples at Our Best Bites. My selection of silk was limited since I didn't have time to go thrift shopping for a better selection; however, it certainly worked. Now I'll be checking the ties every time I go to a thrift store in preparation for next Easter.



Happy Birthday
And sometimes my birthday happens to be the same day as Easter, and this year, so it is. Happy UnBirthday to everyone who didn't have a birthday on April 12th! (That's from Through the Looking Glass - an unbirthday, of course, can be celebrated on any day that is not your birthday.) And for those of you who are getting a reverse birthday gift from me (because I like to follow a few Hobbit customs too), I hope you have fun and find them useful.

Recycling again

Books made from cardboard. Yeah, the purist bookbinders will cringe. These aren't exactly archival. They are just fun notebooks - not everything needs to last forever.


You see, for a lot of my handmade journals, I use paper from large sketchpads for the pages. Each time I finish with one of these sketchpads, I'm left with the large cardboard sheet from the back. So once I accumulate a stack of them, I cut them up and turn them into these cardboard books. It makes sense to me.


I have found that paste papers look great on these. My paste papers are obviously really basic, nothing fancy, and so I think they suit these books rather well. Making cardboard books gives me an excuse to make paste papers.


These are bound using one of the stitching techniques described by Smith in his book Sewing Single Sheets. There are folded strips of paste paper used as sewing supports, and sewing creates small Xs along the spine.

My stack of cardboard was almost to the ceiling when I started on these so I have lots of them.

A little Steampunk inspiration

Steampunk is pretty cool. Who wouldn't want some of those sci-fi inventions from Jules Verne and HG Wells sitting around, just looking cool in the backyard? Maybe some flying contraptions and alchemy gear in the attic? Wikipedia has a good summary of steampunk and its origins if you want to read more about it. Somebody recently asked if I could make Steampunk journals... well, I never turn down a challenge.

2009 Edible Book Festival

Every year on April 1st, Edible Book Festivals are being held all over the world! This year, the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team hosted a virtual event since we are too widespread to actually get together in the "real" world. All the photos submitted to BEST's event can be seen on Flickr. A summary of the B.E.S.T entries is available on the B.E.S.T blog. 1. 2. 3.
1. My kid's entry, The Giant Jam Sandwhich 2. One of my entries, Chorus of Mushrooms 3. My other entry, Limp Bindings from Tallinn Visit the main organization's website at books2eat.com

Paper for Marbling

Over the past couple weeks, I have tested several different papers for marbling. I thought I would share the results. I was using acrylic marbling paints on a carrageenan base for all my tests. First of all, all the papers I usually have on hand were terrible, such as: Strathmore Drawing paper 400 & 300 series, Strathmore Charcoal paper, Canson Biggie Art papers, and several others. With most of these papers, very little paint would stay on the paper - I would just begin to rinse off the size and the colours would start fading. I tried to do less or more gentle rinsing on a few sheets, which preserved the colours better, but the paints are still rubbing off after the sheets have dried. Frustrating. Not good. But I did find a few papers that work wonderfully. 1. Japanese calligraphy paper from Yasutomo & co. 2. Hilroy Studio Sketch Book, "for pencil and colour markers" 3. Color & Co Art Paper for Kids, "Drawing & Painting" 60lb paper 4. White Kraft paper rolls 5. Canson MiTeintes - I got mixed results with these papers, sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn't I asked around trying to find out why so many papers are unsuitable for marbling. It seems that most paper is treated to such a great extent to make it acid free, then buffered and polished and shined and whitened or whatever... the paper just becomes unsuitable. Really, I don't know enough about paper making or the processes used by these various companies to know any specific reasons. I just know which papers worked for me. In the list of good papers, numbers 1 & 3 were also the best papers for Suminagashi marbling.