Another book

Finished another book off and added an image to the cover from a print block I carved from an eraser some time ago. Have started a couple more. Perhaps they will become presents for people?

Last week's printing was based on, yet again, an old print block which needs modifying but I have not got round to sorting it out yet. Perhaps I will just start again.

Sewn Boards Binding

I learnt a new bookbinding structure on Saturday at a workshop with the lovely Lesley Crawley. It was similar to French Link, but with a covered spine and soft covers. I have finished a second one since then and might make some more if I have some free time.

A lovely variation of covers - wrapping paper, marbled paper, double sided paper and mixed media.

All had book cloth spines

We all produced one complete book on the day with a second book as work in progress.  I am sure everyone will have gone home and completed them.

More TSG Summer School

A view of the peaceful surroundings at The Hayes Conference Centre. This is the smaller of the two lakes viewed from the bird hide side. Lots of benches for contemplation.

I also ended up making this small layered book which was meant to resemble a walnut shell.

Another Book

Finally located the photograph of one more of the books that have gone off to be part of the Cut-Fold-Bind Group exhibitions over the coming weeks.  Mislaid it in transition from my phone to the desktop …. hopeless at times? This one used some textured paper for the cover that arrived wrapped around a present. The binding is stitched with two curved needles, used in pairs and one long piece of thread with a needle on either end. Such fun!!

Bogged Down

I have been busy for the past week making books for the Cut Fold Bind group for upcoming events.  I have forgotten how to do lots of things so it took me twice as long.

A Little Fishy Book or Two

This week I have spent a little bit of time finishing off a couple of books from bookbinding class.  I have added some cardboard cut out fish which I then painted.  The book is a strange structure with an expanding concertina style binding (think 'Experimental' was the word used). I did not think I liked it and have had to modify parts of it to make it a little more stable.  It has the advantage that it can take lots of additional material on its pages.  Not sure I will ever make any more of them.

Not so Mellow Yellow

I have now completed the first of the Coptic books stitched using 2 needles. Once I had started it was not as difficult as I had expected. Have now cut out more paper to make signatures for the next version and I could perhaps try using two different colours of thread too ... always full of good ideas I just need to put them into practice!!

A plus yesterday was the beautiful male Sparrowhawk that was sat in the Amelanchier tree in the back garden very close to the bird feeders.  He was magnificent.

Pebble Stencil

I have been busy cutting out paper to make new books this past week and also creating some coloured papers for the covers.  I have had the pebble stencil used below for some time and am not convinced I really like it but it looks okay on this book which is an A5 Secret Belgian Binding.  Going to try a new Coptic book using two needles together over the next week or so as I do not like the effect of the row of kettle stitches at the top and bottom of the spine on the normal Coptic binding method. Fear I may have some problems with the fatness of the signatures at the spine end of the page, but shall see.

Well this is it ....

Or should I say Them? Little and Large. A3 and Postcard Size ....

I still do not know if I have constructed them properly.  The large one will store all of the bits of paper I have rolling around to be used at some future date in creating books.  The second will hold the collection of lovely postcards which arrive on a a fairly regular basis from my friends, that I cannot bear to throw away.

As you can see there are three folding flaps that hold everything secure, plus ribbon ties to keep the folder shut.  The problem I always have is with the glue, which seems to have a mind of its own, no matter how careful I try to be.  That actually probably makes matters worse as I seem to get more where it should not be when I take extra care.

The picture above is the doodling on the inside cover of the A3 portfolio. The butterflies were cut out from the small piece of cover paper I had left. Some of the doodling hides very small glue marks!!

A Little More Greek Stitching

It has been Half Term this week so I made a special effort to finish off two more Greek Stitched books.  The covers are Shibori fabric which I dyed some time ago.  I subsequently backed the fabric with layout paper ready to be used to cover some books.

The fabric above was dyed using Procion Mx dyes in blue and rust.

The fabric for the larger book of the two was dyed with Indigo and the fabric was ruched up a plastic pipe. All the stitching on these has been done with waxed linen thread.

I have also been trying to finish off an A3 portfolio to store papers in but have got myself in a right mess so may have to wait until the next class to finish it off.

It's all Greek to me!

Over the past two weeks we have been learning a new binding technique at the bookbinding class I go to - Greek Sewing.  I managed to get it wrong but the end result looks okay.  I covered my boards with some of the paste paper I created a while ago and used two shades of 4 ply waxed linen thread to do the stitching.

 The book is roughly A5 in size.  The binding is created using 2 needles at a time.

Paste Papers

A shortage of decorative pieces of paper in my stash for bookbinding gave me the impetus I needed to make some CMC paste and sit down and create some paste papers.  These will be used either for end papers or for decorative covers.

This piece had an initial wash of Quiacridone Red acrylic painted on the surface of the paper.  When that had dried a mixture of CMC paste and Indanthrene Blue were brushed across the surface and then textured using various tools.

A base coat of Raw Sienna was given a paste layer to which Golden Payne's Grey had been added.  Quite a large piece of paper that was left over from cutting up pages for bookbinding purposes.  The paste was still wet when I took the photograph hence the glistening highlights.

I loved this A4 piece.  It had Transparent Yellow Oxide acrylic combined with the remains of a red (probably Quinacridone Red, but not certain) as a base layer and then Burnt Sienna was mixed with the paste before I applied several methods of adding texture to the surface.

It would not be me without a bit of blue.  This was straight onto a piece of white paper, no base colour.

Not blogged for Pages and Pages

and this is why ....

I have been making a concerted effort to finish several books ready for a number of events that the Cut Fold Bind group are involved in over the Summer.  Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind!!

These are small only 3.5" square

Quite a bit larger and utilising the Shibori fabric I made earlier in the year

These two coptic bound books are also small, around 4" square.

I still have a couple to finish off so need to make a final big push so that I can do other things without feeling guilty.

A New Book

During the past week I have been making an effort to make some simple books for the forthcoming string of events we are selling them at as the group 'Cut, Fold, Bind'.  This one is a coptic binding combining wrapped long stitches and French Link stitch.  The paper was a gorgeous handmade and printed paper I had found on one of my excursions.

Creative Books

I managed to spend some time over the weekend finishing off various small books that have been laying around for ages.

Just a very easy Coptic Binding using some bought paper.  I pasted a circle of tissue paper depicting a butterfly to the inside cover with matt gel medium just to provide a bit of interest.

Below another coptic bound book. The very nice handmade paper was bought in Worcester.  I added some more of the tissue paper butterflies to the cover to add highlights.

Two Secret Belgian Bound books using papers I had decorated myself.  I cut a circle in the front sheet of the right hand book and then added a circle of the cover paper to the second page so that it was viewed through the hole in front.

Two Stab Bound books. The left hand one is paper I decorated using a combination of methods including Quink Ink and bleach.  The right hand book was a plain black handmade paper which I stamped with gold acrylic.

A new binding for which I do not know its name I am afraid. It involves placing a strip of leather across the back of the spine before pasting the endpapers to the cover of the book. The signatures were stitched over tapes with a French Link Stitch. The gold paper was purchased from Paperchase in a pack of handmade papers and was very nice to work with. Both books have hand decorated endpapers to compliment the covers.

Finally, a structure which I have made before using dyed blanket.  This time I improvised with some leather.  I think it is called a Cross Structure binding.

I utilised some old metal buttons and the catch was a treasured find from the Rag Market, Birmingham.

For the Love of Books

For the past two weekends the bookbinding group I belong to have had a stall at a local H-Art craft market and it was my turn to steward on Sunday.  I do not know where all the lovely people were, but they were certainly not in Ledbury.

We also have a Facebook page now and hopefully this link will work Cut Fold Bind

All Boxed Up

Not done any blogging for a while for various reasons, one of which was problems with some major software on my computer which now has Windows 10 as its operating system.  None of my old creative software will work with it so I have spent absolutely ages trying to sort it out.  The problem is not yet resolved, but hopefully will be this next week, at great expense I might add.

Today I actually finished the two boxes that look like books that I seem to have been working on for weeks, so here are some pictures .... unfortunately I have not got the actual boxes at the moment as our tutor has gone off with them. I think the blue one may be for sale at The Hive in Worcester shortly as we have an exhibition in one of the cabinets there.

This is the pair of them finished.  The pink one is the better finished off, although I prefer the piece of embroidery on the blue one.

 The boxes are quite small, slightly smaller than A5 in size.