Part 2: Binding Practice

The online course I was taking, Extending Embellishment, finished long ago, and although I hadn't completed all the tasks, I had to set it aside for now if I am to meet my bookish deadlines.

So since mid-September I've been working on two book projects simultaneously, with a slight leaning towards the wedding album I am making for my friend, as the deadline for it is sooner. When the album is finished, I will blog about it in greater detail, but I thought you might enjoy seeing my practice-run of the binding.

Initially I had planned to make a porcelain covers, and to use a combined coptic and celtic binding, which the bride had seen on some of my other books and loved. However, photo albums are largish and heavy, so I scrapped the porcelain covers.

A little more research convinced me that a coptic/celtic binding might not be sufficient for a decent sized wedding album. The problem is that these are across-the-spine bindings, and especially after my time bookbinding in Paris, I now understand the greater strength that binding along the spine imparts to a book.

I spent some time reading Keith Smith's volume, Exposed Spine Sewings, and was pleased to find what seems a very happy compromise. Smith suggests a mixed binding, part across the spine, and part along it. Perfect! (Hopefully!)

In the end I have opted for a combination of a celtic binding and the icicle. The former is a binding with which I am quite familiar, while the icicle is new to me. It has packed raised cords combined with spine stitches and is very attractive, while providing good, firm spine support.

As it was completely new to me, and I had to teach myself from Smith's book, I thought it was advisable to have a trial run. It was certainly worth it, as I was a bit over-zealous with my cords, pulling them a little too tightly, and as a result the cover pops open.

Icicle binding and coptic headband

Nevertheless, I was encouraged and am now in the middle of binding the actual album. It looks good so far, but there is still a way to go.

Next time, I have some photos of  tests for my Book*Art*Object work to show you.

Experimenting with Hilke’s Headbands

I’ve been continuing to test different bindings for my friend’s wedding album. I’m looking for something which will allow me to use an open spine with exposed stitching, but still provide enough support to the album which will be quite heavy.

I think I will need to use some cords, but while I wait for Keith Smith’s third volume with the instructions to arrive in the post, I thought I would try some headbands. I popped over to Buechertiger’s site, thinking I would need to buy her self published book on coptic headbands, but I found that on her blog there is a detailed post with step-by-step photos explaining how to  make a “Simple Two Coloured Coptic Headband”. Thank-you for your generosity Hilke! This is much appreciated as I haven’t really been sure how much I like the look of headbands.

As you can see, they turned out quite nicely, and I think I can say I do like them now! And if you look closely you will see that they are in fact two colours, but they are very similar shades, as I thought the pattern on the fabric was complex enough.

I also tried out a couple of other new things with this book. I made my very first book fabric, backing it with tissue using wheat starch paste. Inspired by Paper Chipmunk’s recent successes, I took my method from this video on youtube, but don’t be misled by the ease and expertise you see here! What a kerfuffle! Talk about “paper wrestling”!*

I was amazed when later that evening I ended up with a beautifully stiffened sheet of fabric which covered the boards really nicely. I can definitely see the difference (previously I used an acid free glue stick to attach the fabric directly onto the book board).

I also used a different paper for the book. I was thinking of a book for writing, rather than drawing or painting, and so I chose Mohawk Superfine Text. It is beautiful paper, but not as strong as the cartridge, watercolour paper or BFK I’ve used in the past. As a result I tore one of the signatures, and marked some of the others at the top when working the headbands. I think I might leave this paper until I am more proficient with these particular bindings. A good lesson learnt.

 

* See Claire Beynon’s poem “Paper Wrestling”

September catch-up

Apologies for ignoring you this past couple of weeks. I wish I could blame it all on Google, but the truth is I’ve had a couple of infections and have been struggling with extreme lethargy!

In an effort to keep my spirits up, any energy was quickly channelled into something creative.

It’s pretty hard to work on anything new requiring inspiration or courage to push the limits, but I have done a bit of “scribbling” as planned.

Below are a few examples which I think may hold some potential.

 

Ink, graphite.

 

Ink, aquarelle. This one is just a study really, but I like the idea of the ink marks floating over a hazy “moon”.

 

Ink, aquarelle

 

While I’ve been enjoying playing with these drawing materials, I’ve found the lack of a fully satisfying finished product was becoming frustrating. I’m doing these drawings primarily in the very first journal I made, the one at the bottom of the picture below, which you can also see here. It’s the very last empty journal I have, so I decided it was time to put some of the papers I’ve collected to use, and to get my binding skills back in practice.

The red journal below is the result. It’s filled with acid free cartridge paper and has a combined Celtic/Coptic binding. The two centre threads in the Celtic weaves pass through the same hole, which was an experiment, but I think it has worked well.

I find it’s a good to combine working on something with a nice concrete outcome (like a journal) while doing something exploratory and with results that are less tangible, so far.

Celtic Binding

The past fortnight has been really busy and tiring for me. As well as my weekly class at Studio West End (SWE) I went to a full day workshop on folded books. I am learning a lot and looking forward to having more time to play with this new knowledge and integrate it into my work.

Last week at SWE I learnt how to do celtic binding. My family's ancestral roots are in the south of Ireland at Maynooth and so the idea of doing celtic binding is very appealing to me. There is a traditional form which Keith Smith teaches, and my teacher Adele Outterridge has modified and extended this. So far I have made two books with celtic bindings, but it is so pretty I am sure I will make many more.

As soon as I tried to set up to take some photos of the books for the blog, Claude had to help!

But eventually I managed to move him far enough away to focus on the bindings....

Above: This is my first attempt, using Adele's modification. I think the
paper on the covers is Japanese - I bought it ages ago.

Above: this one is just made with printer paper and some coloured art paper I had lieing around, although the thread is the proper waxed linen (this helps the sewing to sit nicely). This is two of the celtic cross-overs (Keith Smith style) joined by 3 coptic stitches in the centre. This is a variant of a variant developed by Adele!

You might remember that a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I was going to try etching. Well, that is progressing slowly but surely...I've made it as far as the first etch of the plate and this week I will ink it up and see how it looks. In the mean time I thought you might like a look at the plate...

I have to confess I find the fine detail on the plate quite intoxicating.