CSB Linked

The next Crossed Structure binding that I tried was the CSB Linked. The result is very clean and tidy, which I like.
In this structure, the two covers are cut separately; one with strips for sewing. The other cover has slits cut for the strips to slide through.


The covers are thus linked prior to sewing, unlike the previous CSBs that I have described where the second cover is attached after sewing is complete.



The sewing strips are slipped out and in though little slits in the front cover. Because the covers are joined before the textblock is sewn on, the covers are very secure. I made two of these, here is the back cover of the grey book, and the front of the brown book.

Bookbinding Etsy Street Team

A brilliant idea spearheaded by Flurrsprite. She has initiated an Etsy Street Team for the bookbinders and book artists (B.E.S.T.), with a new EtsyBooks blog and everything. Thanks maiko!

Bookbinding 101 - Water Lily Book Tutorial

I prepared a guest tutorial for the Sixth&Elm blog, showing how to make an Origami water lily. Now I have a new tutorial ready showing how to make a book using those water lilies.

Before starting this tutorial, you need to make three water lilies, all the same size, using the "Origami Water Lily Tutorial" first. You'll need some Origami paper to make the water lilies, or any other nice lightweight Japanese paper like the pretty pink paper used in this tutorial. So, go make 3 water lilies, then come back.

A single water lily:


When the three water lilies are finished, attach them to each other, back-to-back. Place one flattened lily in front of you. Apply paste to the flat surface of the lily and stack the second flattened lily on top – make sure to align them so the lilies both open at the same end. Apply glue to the surface of the second lily and stack the third lily on top. When they are all attached, they should open up like the first picture below.

The point where the three lilies meet is the spine of the book. To give it some stability, cut a short and narrow strip of paper and paste it over the spine. Use paper that is the same as the liles or similar in colour to keep it unobtrusive.

Click for larger photos.


Now the text block is finished and the covers can be made.

Cut two covers, the same size and shape as the flattened text block. Use binder's board or heavy cardstock. Also cut two pieces of decorative paper for covering the binder's board. These pieces of paper should be the same shape as the binder's board, but about 10mm wider all the way around. Cover both boards as you would for any other book. If you've never done such a thing before, follow the next few steps.

Once you have the decorative papers cut out, brush paste over the entire surface of the binder's board.


Lay the binder's board paste-side-down onto the back of the decorative paper. The edges of the decorative paper need to be turned in to cover the sides of the board, so start with the two longest edges. Bush paste onto the paper on each side then fold it over the edges.


Cut notches in the paper at each corner. Apply paste to the paper and then fold it over. Cutting the notches first will help the paper lie flat and make neat corners.


When both covers are done, it's a good idea to press them under a weight for a while, perhaps over night, to let the paste dry.

Now the lily-textblock just has to be attached to the covers. Place the flattened lily-textblock in front of you, and brush paste onto the flat surface – don't get any glue on the other parts of the lilies because you don't want them to get stuck together. Place the paste-side of the lilies onto the back of one of the covers. Then brush paste over the other side of the lily-textblock and stack the second cover on top.


That's it, it's done.

The whole thing should be pressed under a weight until the paste is dry. This will do two things: it will consolidate the bond between each of the pasted surfaces and it will prevent the covers from warping.

The water lily book in its plain ordinary closed state:


The water lily book in its fun flourishing open state:



When I first prepared this tutorial, I had completely forgotten where I'd originally seen the idea for this book. I came across it this morning so I wanted to add it here. It was an article by Viva Lloyd in Bound & Lettered. Thanks :-)

Using Leather Scraps

I was going to call this post "scrap booking" just for fun, but decided that I didn't want to attract the wrong crowd. Scrap booking bothers me - because it shouldn't be a verb and i really think it is just a big money grab for the people making the "supplies" - $1.75 for a single 12x12 sheet of paper??? Wouldn't real "memory items" like your actual ticket stubs be a better keepsake than some fabricated die-cut pretend ticket stubs? Come on.

Oh, that rant really has nothing to do with anything. Apologies to all scrappers.


Sometimes I need to do something different, and sometimes I feel like trying to use some of the small pieces of leather that accumulate around me. So I've made this bunch of books using leather scraps. I think the red book is my favorite of these.

I arranged and adhered the various pieces onto some nice St Armand handmade paper, then pressed them and let them dry for several days. Before making the books, I also coated the covers with PVA (!) then sprayed them with an acrylic matte spray. That seems to consolidate all the different pieces. And just for fun, when everything else was done, I used glitter glue to outline the blocks on the blue book.

For a change, I suppose structure wasn't my main concern this time around. So I kept the binding simple; all are bound with a very simple longstitch and link stitch combination.

CSB Protective

I'm really happy with the Protective version of the Crossed Structure Binding. I think this will be a great structure for some of my journals.

The back cover is cut with strips for sewing.



The front cover is just a square with slits for the strips to poke through.



The attachment of the front cover piece to the back cover surprised me, but it works. It just folds over the spine and is stitched in place. I used PVA on there too.



Then the strips are used as closures on the front, attaching to buttons on the wrap-around flap. Very medieval-looking.


These are my new favorite books. Since I've never made a book like this before, it seems really neat and novel right now and I will certainly be doing more them. But I still plan to do all the different CSBs - I think the CSB Linked is next.

CSB Basic

I am planning to work through each of the crossed structure bindings now. Arregui details seven different ways to make a crossed structure binding and I have only tried two of these. The one that I use most is the Crossed Structure Binding Basic (CSB Basic). So I have done this a hundred times but I went to Arregui's website to see the instructions again and discovered that it isn't so basic. She actually shows how to do the CSB Basic with three different sewings. So I did all three. And surprisingly, the way I usually sew them wasn't included so I did that too, resulting in four different books just to cover this one binding!

One big difference between this CSB and the others, is that the front and back covers are cut at the same time. For all the other CSBs, the covers are cut separately. I started with this template and used it for all the books, in four different colours.



I have always used the 3 inside strips for sewing but discovered that Arregui also shows how to sew the book using the other 4 strips. This makes an obvious impact on the appearance of the finished book. So I sewed two of these books on 3 strips, and two on 4 strips. And all four books are actually sewn a bit differently, one of each using kettle stitches and one with some extra wrapping around the strips...Arregui says this can be good in thick books to keep a consistent swell. Not necessary for my books but I did one like it anyway.


Then I just had to attach the front covers and I have four very different books all made using the CSB Basic instructions.


I like the alternate sewing on four strips and it seems to make the spine a bit sturdier...CSB Protective comes next.

Ceramic books

The first time that I participated in the Volcano Arts blank book swap, the book I received had ceramic covers, made by Bley Hack. Both front and back covers are ceramic, with a star detail on front, and it is bound using a chain stitch.

I showed this little book to my aunt, Ellen Fisher, who is a potter. This is a little collection of her work:


After I showed her Bley's book, she accepted the challenge and made a few ceramic book covers for me to play with. Each cover has a different detail. Shown here are the swirl, goose, and owl.


Only the front covers of our books are ceramic. I made the back covers with binder's board - this reduced their weight compared with Bley's book - as an attempt to make them a bit more practical. And they still weigh about 0.5 kg (about 1 lb) each. All of ours are bound using the Coptic stitch.

So I listed four ceramic books in my Etsy shop. The three above are still for sale, but this turtle book found a new home and it was actually the first non-leather book that I ever sold on Etsy.


Ok, so they are breakable. Who would want a breakable journal?! Doesn't matter, they are original and fun and different, that's what matters!

My Girdle Books

The Girdle Book was the last item on my original list of historical-bindings-to-do, and now they are finally finished. I have experimented with the Girdle Book a few times before, but these are certainly the most refined. This is also the first time that I have used any embellishments. The dark brown book is made with deerskin, a very thin suede split. The white book is lambskin, also a thin suede split.

These are not technically "bound" like Medieval girdle books. I just tried to make books that look like Medieval girdle books.


In The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding, Szirmai dedicates a few pages to the girdle book. It is a late medieval book structure, most originating during the 15th century, and it was represented widely in paintings - there being over 800 documented visual depictions of the girdle book. In the artwork, it is usually being carried by biblical figures, clergy, monks, nuns, etc. There are just 23 extant girdle books now and all but four of these are religious texts (Szirmai 236-7).


Generally, the girdle book was a small book, covered in leather with a long extension of leather at the bottom of the book. Sometimes the extension was left loose and just carried in the hand, or it was knotted so that the knot could be tucked under the belt (i.e. the girdle). So the book would be hanging upside-down. So if the carrier wanted to use the book, he could just reach down and bring the book up and it would be upside-right, and it never has to be detached from his belt. It seems like an efficient model. Imagine how easy it would be to read while traveling. If he was on the back of a mule (or whatever he would have been using), he could just read and not worry about dropping the book. As long as his mode of transportation has eyes, this would be ideal.

Some of the girdle books were very plain, but there are some examples of highly decorated girlde books with brass corner pieces, engraving, tooling, ornate fastenings and clasps, and maybe even a coat of arms or other adornment in the center of the cover. I kept my books embellished with the basics: corner pieces and one fastening. Medieval books typically had two fastenings - but I just play the "artistic license card" whenever necessary.

I keep buying stuff

Since I seem to be buying lots of stuff online, I am able to eagerly anticipate the mail delivery. If I didn't buy anything online then the mail would be just junk and bills. And that is no fun.

Yesterday I got a heap of mail!

I can always justify buying supplies, and I had recently ordered a few items from Volcano Arts. There is really nowhere in this city to buy bookbinding supplies, other than a few basics. So I got some great new colours of linen thread. I also got a bunch of silver corner pieces - which means I can finally finish a project I've been working on for ages.


Now, an online purchase that was entirely unnecessary, was this little collection of wooden printers blocks! I don't need these. I have no idea what I am going to do with them. But they are great! I bought these on Etsy from Sweetkate who has more of these and I am trying to think of a reason to buy them too.


Then there was a surprise package in the mail as well.


My Great Aunt sent a book to my son, the new children's book, "That Stripy Cat." The author of this book lives in Halifax (same city as me) and the illustrator, Tara Anderson, I have met her through Etsy. My aunt didn't know that, it's just a fun coincidence. I have one of Tara's paintings on the wall in my kitchen actually. Check out her stuff on Etsy, where she has lots of stripy cats. Her shop is GingercatPress.Etsy.com

So it was a pretty good mail day.

Pricing handmade books

I have been struggling with pricing ever since I started selling books. I started by selling on Ebay so I was able to see how much people were willing to pay for my books by using the auction system where the buyers were setting the prices. I did that for over a year before I joined Etsy, so the auctions helped me get started with my Etsy pricing. And then when I thought I had it all set, the Canadian dollar shot up and become near par with the US dollar so I needed to adjust pricing again.

Otherwise, the main factors are the number of pages and the book's dimensions. So price increases as the size and number of pages increase. Because I think the paper is the most significant cost element for me. Some bindings require significantly more effort and time too, so that can also be a factor. But I try to be consistent at any rate. So if there are 2 books in my Etsy shop that look very similar in size and style then they are the same price even though some other factors might not jive. But I want it to be predictable for the buyers.

Recently another Etsy seller with handmade books asked me about pricing and it was hard to compare since her books were mostly hardcover books (flurrsprite.etsy.com) I actually feel that fully casebound hardcover books should cost more than my leather journals. A hardcover book just has so much more time and effort in the cover with all the measuring, cutting, pasting, and drying time.

Actually when I first started trying to sell books on Ebay, they were all very traditional case bound hardcover books but nobody bought them. I watched the auctions for a while to see what people were buying and it was pretty obvious that leather books were rather popular. So I decided to try leather....and the leather sells. Since I've started selling on Etsy (Mar 9/07) I hadn't sold anything that wasn't leather until last week. But my books aren't very artsy either; I think they look good but they are usually plain, unembellished, etc. Artsy books that are well made should be higher priced too. Mine may have interesting or unusual bindings or whatever but they are not artsy.

So the hardcover case bound books and well-made artsy books should cost more, but I don't think most people are willing to pay what they are worth. First of all, I have found that when people buy a handmade book, they want it to look handmade. My traditional hardcover case bound books did not look handmade at all, and I even had some people question them thinking they had to be commercially manufactured! I think that makes it harder to get a good price for that type of book because the buyers think it looks the same as a book they can buy at W*lmart. So I try to keep my books looking handmade but still well made, of course. And I'm guessing that artsy books and artist's books typically don't fetch their real worth, as is the case with a lot of art.

Book Arts Videos on YouTube

It has never crossed my mind that there might be bookbinding videos on YouTube. I don't use the site very often unless someone else has recommended a particular video. Thanks to Christine Cox's newsletter from Volcano Arts, I am now very busy watching the collection of book arts-related videos available on YouTube. I've viewed a lot of them now and some are promotional, some are very badly made, some are not worth watching. In spite of all that, there are a few good ones that I want to annotate here.

ShitDisco "OK" - For anyone who loves a good pop-up book, this music video is a must-see. Also, it is probably one of the most original ideas in the world of music videos in a long long time.

Alice in Wonderland Popup - The quality of this video isn't great, but the book is really cool. It is an elaborate combination of pop-ups and tunnel-book structures depicting the adventures of Alice.

Medieval Helpdesk - This is really funny. A monk is learning to use a new technology (the book) and has to contact the help desk for user support.

Backing Silk to make bookcloth - So if you want to see how to prepare silk to be used as a bookcloth, this looks helpful. Although there is no audio. Looks easy in this video actually. I'm sure I'd still get paste soaking through making stains on the outside, though.

If'n Books Demonstration - You can watch a book being made in the midst of a rockin' and dancin' band.

A baby boy book

I wanted to make something to include in a gift for a baby boy, and I didn't give myself enough time to make the traditional hardcover photoalbum, which would be a logical choice. But I made a cute leather journal with a light blue cover and tan spine. The paper is heavy 80lb drawing paper and could be used for mounting photos but I think it is best suited as a journal with lots of paraphenailia and "memory items" stuck in it.

The actual binding is a really basic longstitch and kettlestitch, sewn directly through the spine. There is a simple tab closure on the fore edge that slides through a loop on the front cover.

I was rather pleased with this book so I made a couple more. One is dark pink, and one is teal suede. They are all lined on the inside with some super Japanese papers. These would be great pocket-sketchbooks too since they have really nice drawing paper in them.

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!

Crossed Structure Binding

I included the Crossed Structure Binding on my list of historical bindings to do; however, I am not sure that it really qualifies as an historical structure. I actually make a lot of these books, using the Crossed Structure Binding Basic (CSB Basic) technique as described by Carmencho Arregui on her website. This structure works really well with a leather cover so it has become one of the styles I use often when making journals (see first pic).

Based on the information on Arregui's website, the CSB is her own invention, the idea for which came to her when she was doing her restoration work with historical longstitch bindings. So, the CSB isn't really an historical binding; rather, it is inspired by some historical bindings. Good enough.

I will have to explore some of the other techniques she has outlined on her website. The only other technique that I have done is the CSB Solo structure, which works well with a paper cover (see second pic) but not with a leather cover. Arregui suggests that leather could be used if it were pared very thin and also laminated with Japanese paper. But I haven't tried that.

Arregui also has details on her website for the CSB Protective, Linked, Expander, Marcopolo, and Hidden models and I have tried none of those.

My list of historical bindings to do, has only one more item and that is the girlde book. I have two started and hope to get them finished soon but they are taking longer than a lot of these other bindings. Then I'll have to start on a new list of bookbindings I haven't tried yet, and do some of these other CSBs.