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.
This one will go on eBay.
The one above is mine. 🙂
This is a shot of all the other covers that I’ve made. I"m pretty happy with how they came out now I need to make some more bookblocks. 🙂
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)
I really enjoy the images and art in the following blog. Arielle’s art blog highlights pages from her art journal. Interestingly she uses a lot of different media in the journal. I particularly like the pages that use an interesting background with a few simple visual elements on top, like the 2 examples below.
As always, all art property of the artist.
This week I finished 5 more journals. 4 are going up to my etsy account and one is going to eBay. All are smythe sewn- the style of moleskines. So I start with the book block, stitch it, then glue it and clamp it. Then that book block is glued into a cover.
For these I decided to make covers with flaps and straps instead of elastics. I thought it would be a nice deviation from what I’ve been doing. I’m particularly fond of the distressed brown leather. I like to call the color Choco-Latte, because it’s the color of coffee or milk chocolate.
The 4 below are the books on etsy. They are on there for $24.99 plus shipping via priority mail.
Lines and color, color and lines; if that’s something you like check out Ester Wilson’s blog. I’m in love with her sketchbooks. You can read her blog and then head over to her website and check out her sketchbooks on a page where you can flip through the books pages. Incredible. These 2 images are only examples of the artists work, she’s got a lot more at her blog where you can see her use of color and line.
All images propertly of the artist, Ester Wilson.
Here’s another blog that subscribes to my favorite sketchbook style- pencil, ink then color. I particularly love the image below of the yoga poses with the ghostly pencil sketches in the background. I love the lively lines of the pencils sketches and yet how simple they are. Following that is a sketch of a coffee maker… It’s a great layout of a page, well designed and a small blurb for journaling. I like it a lot!
Phew it’s been a busy week here at Comfortable Shoes Studio. I’ve been crazily busy with the DayJob as well as in the studio. Yup, fresh new books. I’ve got a stack of graph paper jotters, a group of cardstock hedgehogs, a couple of kraft paper hedgehogs and a 100% cotton hedgehog all headed for etsy.
I’ll post links to etsy when I get them loaded up. I’m pretty excited to get some leather books back up to etsy, it’s been awhile and the recycled notebooks seemed to be taking over my shop. While I was in the studio I cut several large notebook sized covers from this chunk of sleek black cowhide I’ve got, they will be fantastic with either white or red stitching…. Keep an eye out for those too. I’m going to work on designing the spines today.
Here are some pics to occupy you until then:
