Friday’s are on of my favorite days of the week. It’s the start of the weekend and usually means that I’m going to have 2 days off in a row (not this week but we don’t have to talk about that!) But something new that I’ve found are d’blogala and the blog’s Art Journal Fridays! Every Friday the blog features a new writing prompt, and they are GOOD. THey start with a basic premise- suck as "draw a grid on paper." Then the prompt turns to mroe specific, us whatever you want to decorate the grid with whatever you want. I love that kind of prompt.
So now I have another thing on Fridays to look forward to!
I’ve got 4 sales up on ebay. 3 leather and 1 hardcover. That means that some of my books could go out my door for lower than normal prices, even the buy it now on these items is low, especially on the black leather peek-a-boo binding.
Anyway, head over to my eBay and check them all out.
I wanted to write a little bit about originality. The topic came up on a discussion group I’m in because someone made a book with an unusual cover and someone else asked a related question using a related material. In this case the book was made with a cassette tape cover and the question was if one could use the actual tape to bind a book. Someone in the group responded immediately with the response of “Don’t make a cassette tape book, someone else in this group is already making one.”
First off I think the purpose of being in a group online is to gain ideas, learn new techniques and for inspiration. This person became INSPIRED by the previous poster’s materials and was using that as a springboard for their inspiration; in my mind exactly why one might join a group. Secondly, in terms of originality, we’re talking about a centuries old art/craft that is gaining a revival but that means that in some terms it’s all been done before. This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen a cassette tape book and I’m sure it won’t be the last. It’s been done before but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be done again in a new and original way. In this case- the 2 halves of the cassette were taken apart, attached to board and decorations placed on the board, original.
If I got my undies in a knot every time I saw a limp leather long stitch book, my feet wouldn’t have any circulation; ya know what I’m saying? The simple fact is that when working with a centuries old art/craft you can’t get upset when you see something similar on the net. I’ve been putting my work online for over 6 years now and I’ve seen blatant rip offs of my patterns and designs, and I get pissed momentarily and realize that’s the permeability of the web, one of it’s great features. If I don’t want someone ripping off my design I shouldn’t put them up on the ‘net. When I gain inspiration from someone I try and give them credit and I think that’s simply courtesy.
My main point is here is that bookbinding is a centuries old art/craft and essentially with the exception of a small handful of us, it’s all been done before. Even if you’re attaching something unusual to the covers of a book it’s been done. So can we all untwist our undies and get back to making and enjoying books?
I meant to post some pictures about my hard covered books,
showing the covers before attachment. So here ya go:
This picture above is of the covers finished but not attached to a book block.
This shows one of the covers "inside" before additional support is added to the spine. My favorite additional support is tyvek. But you could add a nice washi paper of any paper really and glue it in along the spine. Then glue in teh book block.
Martha Stewart has a screw punch. I couldn’t resist when I went to Michaels and I saw it. It’s larger than my wooden screw punch has a rubberized grip and storage in the handle for tips. In a few tests it’s slips through paper smoothly and without issue. It looks like the tips from my wooden screw punch should fit right into it. The large tips look as though they will cut through binder board with no issue but the smallest tip isn’t long enough. However if it will take a standard tip from Talas then no worries. At $24.99 it’s a good price, especially if standard screw punch tips fit it. The punch comes in a cardboard box, covered in brown paper with a clear plastic window to the inside. It closes up with a baby blue elastic.
It seems that Martha Stewart has a whole line of scrap booking and paper working supplies that are only available in Michaels stores. The line is completely coordinated with the other parts and pieces in the line. What does this mean for the average bookbinder and art journaler? Lots of possibilities. It would make it easier to coordinate pages, layers of paints and inks with papers and embellishments. It also means a higher price point. Anything “Martha” does comes with an additional price tag. But I’ll point out that the screw punch I bought was only $24.99, comes with it’s own storage, works really well and comes with 3 standard tips; not a bad deal overall.
I did notice that a lot of the paper by the piece at Michaels had changed. It looked as thought they had changed vendors or something of that nature. I was not as impressed as I have been in the past. Also the large stacks of paper that they have offered in the past have changed as well. This looks as though this is a repackaging by the vendor as it’s the same brand of paper but packages are different. They now offer 10 packs of a single style of paper, which is good but the colors are VERY limited and some of the other shade and styles that used to be offered in the large stack of 100 sheets have changed too. For someone like me who will buy 6 packages of card stock at a time this doesn’t bode well. I stocked up this time but I’m afraid the next time I go in things will be again different.
I didn’t stop at AC Moore this time out but the last time I was in I noticed a change in the layout of the store as well as the product in the store. Where Michaels is headed toward the higher end of the money chain AC Moore seems headed into the value end of the pool. There is no issue with value per se until it affects the quality of the products. I like value but I don’t like shoddy tools or supplies. They make the job of the artist and craft person harder. Not to mention that it devalues our work. People think that if they can head into their local craft store and buy supplies on the cheap that they should be able to buy the work of an artist or crafts person more cheaply than ever before.
I’ll end my rant now.
*note: I tested my old screw punch tips in the Martha Stewart punch it’s a no go. BUt it’s pretty close so I imagine that It will be super easy for me to make a small chuck that fits inside the handle and fits around the tip. A little thin brass tubing and a dremel and I’ll have a chuck that will fit my old tips as well as those form Talas.
Let’s talk about leather, black leather, distressed bomber
jack brown leather and baby bottom smooth deer hide. Well there’s not much to talk about really, other than it makes
some very sturdy notebooks, sketchbooks and journals that will survive time and
maybe even some serious abuse.
For awhile now I’ve spent a lot of time making recycled
journals and simple hedgehogs with wrap around covers there’s nothing wrong
with that as it keeps me making books but what I love to make are notebooks and
journals like these below:
The really beauty of a journal like this is that because of the style of its binding it can expand to hold a whole lot of stuff- odds and ends, paint, and emphemeria. The card stock pages are made to withstand abuse and hold all the stuff someone might choose to glue on those pages. Even stuffe3d the strap and flap will wrap around the journal and hold it shut.
160 cardstock pages (110lb) wrapped in heavy smooth black cowhide, flap and strap closure, long stitch sewing style so that it expands to hold anything, It will be on eBay starting tomorrow with a low buy it now price as well as an auction option.
I made a few covers book board and paper from my stash of decorative papers. I made them to specifically cover hedgehog book blocks. So each cover is 3.5×5.5 inches and the spine is .75 inches thick.
To go with these covers I made some paper covered hemp cored headbands. These are glue on style and you probably can’t see them in the pictures, but they are there. I used dark red/burgundy colored washi paper. I used it because it’s thin, glues easily and I knew would wrap around the hemp cord with ease. I also knew that once it was glued up it would become stiffer than it was before and even with that the washi would absorb glue easily as I stuck it to spines. I’ve seen several other methods of making end/head bands before with fabric, paper and one I particularly liked was one that uses ribbon.
I’m listing one of these to etsy, one to ebay and keeping one.
I’ve added a new page tot he left of my main page. I’ve copied the text and images into this post so you can see it. I’ll update it periodically when I come upon some new websites with tutorials. If you have any suggestions leave a comment below.
So you think you want to start your way into this fantastic hobby of bookbinding? HEre area few tutorials, and beware binding can be addictive… like crack…
Coptic Style Tutorials: CHeck out this Youtube video:
There is no sound so don’t worry!One of the things that makes that video so great is that he’s showing a single needle tutorial with the covers attachedi n the correct way. See how his cover and spine edge of the signatures are even- the covers don’t overhang the spine? Yup, that’s how they should be. It shows a few good things- tensions are correct and the cover is attached properly.
This little gem of a tutorial is written from the stand point of a teacher as a classroom aid. (I remember those days, wish I’d had time to teach my students how to make a coptic book.) This is also for a single needle coptic book. (Image above is from the website.)
This tutorial is also for a single needle chain stitch. This tutorial features some great clear images of the sewing process. However, I disagree with the author in the section written on threads. The weight of the thread comes into play not because of "knotting between signatures" but because the thread lies in the fold of each signature. The thicker the thread the larger the stack of thread and paper along your spine, which causes the distinctive "coptic" spine flair that makes coptic bound journals so great for collage work. If you have knotting between your signatures you have other issues…. That being said this tutorial is one of the better out there. (Image above is property of the article author.)
This is not a true caterpillar stitch but it’s like a mini version. It’s from Evil Rooster, a website I love for it’s name not to mention that the site owner makes some great books. One of the many things that I really lie that is done on evil rooster is the use of stitching cards to learn new techniques. I have half stitched books, Evil rooster has card. I like the cards because you wouldn’t be tempted to sell s technique card like you might be tempted to sell a really col experimental technique journal…. Not that I’ve done that or anything….(Image belongs to Evil Rooster)
So you think you want to start your way into this fantastic hobby of bookbinding? HEre area few tutorials, and beware binding can be addictive… like crack…
Coptic Style Tutorials: CHeck out this Youtube video:
There is no sound so don’t worry!One of the things that makes that video so great is that he’s showing a single needle tutorial with the covers attachedi n the correct way. See how his cover and spine edge of the signatures are even- the covers don’t overhang the spine? Yup, that’s how they should be. It shows a few good things- tensions are correct and the cover is attached properly.
This little gem of a tutorial is written from the stand point of a teacher as a classroom aid. (I remember those days, wish I’d had time to teach my students how to make a coptic book.) This is also for a single needle coptic book. (Image above is from the website.)
This tutorial is also for a single needle chain stitch. This tutorial features some great clear images of the sewing process. However, I disagree with the author in the section written on threads. The weight of the thread comes into play not because of "knotting between signatures" but because the thread lies in the fold of each signature. The thicker the thread the larger the stack of thread and paper along your spine, which causes the distinctive "coptic" spine flair that makes coptic bound journals so great for collage work. If you have knotting between your signatures you have other issues…. That being said this tutorial is one of the better out there. (Image above is property of the article author.)
This is not a true caterpillar stitch but it’s like a mini version. It’s from Evil Rooster, a website I love for it’s name not to mention that the site owner makes some great books. One of the many things that I really lie that is done on evil rooster is the use of stitching cards to learn new techniques. I have half stitched books, Evil rooster has card. I like the cards because you wouldn’t be tempted to sell s technique card like you might be tempted to sell a really col experimental technique journal…. Not that I’ve done that or anything….(Image belongs to Evil Rooster)
The binding above is what Cailun calls a tacket binding. Keith Smith refers to it as a coiled line in 1,2 &3 Signature Bindings. Never mind what it’s called take a look at CaiLun’s photos and make one. Hot stuff!
