Paper and Threads

I selected the "Two Sewn As One", or Double Pamphlet, book for August.  It can be found under both names.  Two signatures are created, and then opened with one sig valley fold down and the other valley fold up.  The 3 (or 5) holes are punched together, through both folds at the same time, and then sewn using a standard pamphlet stitch.  There are two folds visible on the spine, but essentially no thread. 

If you want a cover, the paper is folded in half, and placed between the signatures, with 1/2-1" of the cover mountain fold to the right of the sigs center folds, and the rest of the cover to the left.  It can also be punched at the same time as the signatures and sewn with all 3 layers together.

Here is my book, made with a cover and center mountain fold between the sigs.  It was so plain that I stitched on a print of a collage I did that was inspired by Venice.

You can see the placement of the cover fold, and the flaps I added, in this photo.  Imagine that you were going to open both signatures and the cover - moving them all the way to the left at the same time, and you will see how they are layered for stitching.

I then wondered if there was another way to attach a cover, and made the following small samples. In the book on the left, I added the cover after the two sigs were sewn together by going through the holes from the back sig to make another 3 hole pamphlet stitch.

In the book on the right, I stitched a decorative paper in, wrong sides together, as I did with the orange cover in the first book.  I then attached the book to the cover by gluing on the decorative paper on as end papers.

These are very easy books to make and can be bigger than the usual pamphlet stitched book. Does anyone have a source for large sheets of sturdy, cover weight, decorative papers? 

This month I also made another fabric book cover.  The idea and the measurements came from a Quilting Daily Webinar presented last week by Christina Lane and Diane Gilleland.  I used some of my New York City fabric, and red lining fabric, for this cover which fits a Moleskine Cahier notebook.  I really like it and can see it as a perfect small gift.

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 Making a Coptic Book from a Thrift Store Book: 

I bought this 8 X 11" book for $2 at a New York City thrift shop so I could try converting it into a Coptic book with watercolor paper.

I removed the page block and the book board inside the book cloth in the spine.  I cut the spine book cloth down the middle, folded it to the inside, and glued it in place.  Seven holes were punched in the front and back covers and I sewed in 4 signatures of 140 lb watercolor paper.  I plan to use this book for more watercolor painted figures.

A Quilted Book Cover for a 6 X 8" Notebook:  Quilting Arts Gifts Magazine from Holiday 2011-12

This is another book idea that I liked, and I finally made it this past weekend.  It is a quilted cover with front and back cover pockets for pens, index cards, and extra papers. The taxi fabric is the pocket.  Here is the front.

Here is the back:

Here is the inside of the front cover:

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We are in the middle of a heat wave, and I prefer being in air conditioning as much as possible.  I am taking Mary Ann Moss's summer fun class called SEWN, in which we are making patterns on paper and then using those painted sheets in various projects. 

This week I made a book for the pattern sheets that I created in Central Park each morning over the July 4th holiday.  I wanted to remember those mornings and wanted to save the paper - intact.  So I had to design a book structure that let me put them in without punching holes in the pages.  I accordion folded paper, every 1/2", making 5 valley folds and glued the left edge of the pattern pages to the right side of the valley - like you do for flag books.  Then I made two covers and stitched the accordion between them using the Coptic stitch/accordion format.  Two more pages of patterns were used for the end papers and a few random small pages were collaged onto the backs of the other pages. This book measures 7.5 x 11".

It felt good to know that I'm really learning how to make and use the various book structures for handmade books.  Here are a few photos.  The covers were made from more sheets of my paste paper.  This paste paper design was created by rolling a pink rubber ball over the surface of the paper.

This week I also made a pamphlet stitched book of watercolor paper using the basic instructions for Teesha Moore's 16 page book.  It uses a single 22 x 30" sheet of watercolor paper and creates an 8 x 10" portrait  book.  I modified the instructions for our second weekly SEWN project - and created octagons of my patterns mixed together with scraps of other papers left over from end papers etc.  I laid out two octagons on the book cover, filled in the surrounding areas with more scraps and stitched it all together on my sewing machine. 

I will use this book for more figure drawing practice - drawing with my paintbrush, so I put a print of my first few figures on the front and inside flap.  Then because I've never done it before, I added beads, as dangles, on the spine.

Readers of this blog may know that my challenge this year was to explore one new bookbinding structure each month.  This is a photo of the books I made since January 1, 2013. 

Posted by Shirley at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

I'm posting this set of journal photos to share with other class members in Mary Ann Moss' SEWN Class.   

I LOVE to make books - and this year challenged myself to make one new book structure every month.  It is great fun and I'm learning lots.  But making this book for the SEWN class was as much fun as any that I made since my last Remains of the Day book in December 2012.

I cut 2" squares of paste paper that I made this Spring - and two montypes from a Gelli Arts plate - and made a cover with a back flap.  The paper squares were spot-glued to 140 lb watercolor paper with a UHU glue stick and then machine stitched in place.  I added a spine strip to reinforce that fold, and a folded decorative strip for the edge of the flap.

Seven folios of different sizes of watercolor paper were stitched in with a pamphlet stitch- and soon I will start painting patterns in my sample book as part of the Class 1 Homework.

Posted by Shirley at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am making Folded Books for July - as part of my year long Bookbinding Challenge. 

My first book, a Folder Journal, was adapted from an article in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine from Jan-Feb 2011 (Heidi Sekovski and Karin Winter).  Here is my sketchbook page, with collage samples of my materials and a small painting of the book cover.  The book is folded from a classic manilla file folder and then constructed by machine sewing, gluing, and stamping, etc. 

I covered the "pages" and "pockets" of the book with an MTA bus and subway map from New York City and colored the manila folder with stamp inks,  I made cards for the pockets with watercolor paper/paint which was laminated to graph paper on the reverse side. 

Here are the front cover, two page spreads, and the back cover. I am adding an index card to each pocket with specific To-Do items for the days. But when I'm ready to retire the journal, I can write or draw on the graph paper on the back of each card.  Note:  The spine is a 1" strip of my dyed fabric, sewn to a two inch wide strip of the map.  I then glued it over the spine.

I also made samples of 7 other types of Folded Books - all taken from Alisa Golden's 2010 Lark book  called Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures, & Forms.  None of the other books in my library has so many different types of folded books, making it a great project for this month.  Note:  This book contains material from her first  two books, with additional material, but it is not immediately apparent from the cover or title page.

Here is a photo of all 7 sample books - laid out on a 14 x 17" piece of cardboard for a size comparison.  

Top Row:  Shorts Book/Ox-Plow Pamphlet, Pants Book/Simple Accordion, Snake Book, Twist Card

Bottom Row: T-Cut Book, Guest Book, and Crown Binding

I think that I will enlarge some of these and make them as cards and quick gifts.  My favorites are the T-cut book and the crown binding.

T-Cut Book: I glued in the Venetian Paper on the front and back of the "doors" that open and on the inner layer.  I can imagine many ways to decorate the doors and the inside to make artist books or cards/letters.

Crown Binding:  This is an amazing structure - once you get the spine folded.  There are actually folded tabs that hold single folios in place.  In the first photo, the triangle tabs are folded down over the folio.  In the second photo, I unfolded the top tab so you could see how the folios are held in place. There are 4 folios in this sample book.   I glued the finished book into a soft blue cover.

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