Paper and Threads

I make my sketchbooks for general drawing and this is my newest one.  When I started drawing again in 2006, and wanted to learn how to paint with watercolor, I couldn't find any reasonably priced sketchbooks with 140lb watercolor paper.  I used several types of inexpensive sketchbooks until #18, including the landscape format one by Moleskine.  I finally took a one weekend "cased-in" bookbinding class in 2008 and have made my watercolor sketchbooks since then. 

Paper: Fabriano Artistico 140 lb Soft Press  Endpapers: Canson Mi Tientes colored paper

Signatures: 6, each with 2 folios for a total of 48 pages. 

Cover:  The cotton fabric was dyed using a modified shibori technique and then fused to 45 gram Thai Mulbery paper. 

I make pen pockets, and rotate them among my sketchbooks, so I can easily carry a pencil, eraser, and several Pigma Micron Pens while sketching.

The open book showing the dyed fabric used to make the bookcloth.

Posted by Shirley at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We will be leaving for Paris for a short vacation, and for many years I included "Mickey" on one of the first few pages in my travel sketchbooks to Europe.  He is a character in Maurice Sendak's book In The Night Kitchen, and during the night he creates a bread dough airplane in his dream/imagination. 

When we go to Paris I also include a painting of the Eiffel Tower, on the page with all of my contact information in case my sketchbook is misplaced.  Years ago I searched the internet for images since my photos were not sufficient to draw it, and I found a tutorial.  This is complicated enough for me!

http://www.paperandthreads.com/2019/07/_we_are_going_to.php

This is my blog entry for the Paris sketchbook which I recycled/made from a Paris book - with 140 lb watercolor paper. 

Posted by Shirley at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A Quarter Bound Cased-In book made with 50 sheets of copy paper - 5 folios per signature and 10 signatures:

The copy paper (grain long) was cut 6 inches in height and then folded in half to make folios.  The finished book is 6.25 inches high and 4.75 inches wide.  The book was covered with black book cloth and paste paper made with acrylic paints.  The end papers are solid black. 

My friends made the books on the left, in a group bookbinding session, and I made the book on the right. The copy paper can be used for drawing with a Sakura Pigma Micron pen.  I used the first one I made for 100 pages of ink drawings, and the size makes it easy to carry around. 

Posted by Shirley at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Quarter Round Cased-In book made with 50 sheets of copy paper - 5 folios per signature and 10 signatures:

The copy paper was cut 6 inches in height and then folded in half to make folios.  The finished book is 6.25 inches high and 4.75 inches wide.  The book was covered with black book cloth and paste paper I made with acrylic paints.  The end papers are solid black.  It was photographed on another section of the same sheet of paste paper which I will use to wrap it as a gift.

Posted by Shirley at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm working with a very enthusiastic and talented bookbinding student each month, and our projects for August were:

1. Make lots of sheets of paste paper.

2. Use the paste paper to cover binders board while constructing a 10 X 14 inch portfolio.  

This is another sheet of paste paper that I made with a 10 X 10" Lego base plate and corn starch paste with black acrylic paint. 

Inside:  These paste papers were made with an adhesive spreader as a comb.

I made one portfolio previously using the instructions in Alisa Golden's book Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures, and Forms.   The instructions were easy to follow again, 6 years later!

Posted by Shirley at 6:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)