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.

Coptic binding

Here are the two coptic bindings I've completed this week. I learned the technique from Adele Outteridge, an artist who I mentioned here. The covers are Japanese fabrics I bought ages ago on Ebay, enticed by their beauty to believe that despite my hopeless skills as a seamstress, I could make something from them. The larger book is filled with a mixture of Canson 300gsm watercolour paper and Rives BFK, a printmaking paper, and sewn with waxed Irish linen thread. The smaller book on top has pastel papers and brown linen thread.

I have to say I am completely entranced by this binding. It's so satisfying to make something so beautiful and practical, and I love the fact that you can sit and tear paper for the sections/ signatures and sew the binding even when you're not feeling 100%. I know what my friends will be getting for their birthdays...