Book Arts Take 2

For having put so much money, time, blood (no joke), and love into making books, I find it funny that I've only posted once about it. Since August, my book making skills have really developed and turned into quite an affair. If I had a significant other, I would so leave them for book making. But since I don't, book making is my significant other. Here's a photographic journal of some of the things I have done so far.

Cord Bound:

Left: My journal had too much "melt your eyeballs" pink for my taste, so I took off the old cover and made a new "faux" cord bound book. The cord binding is really an elegant and classy style binding.
Right: Covered completely with leather. I used a transferring trick that I learned from my media experimentation class, and used a little sketch I drew to add more interest to the book cover.

Exposed Spine Bindings:

These are truly my favorite types of bindings. Not only are they practical because they lay flat when open, but they look absolutely beautiful. Real bookbinder candy.
Left (bottom): The next journal I will use when I finish the one shown above. This is the greek stitch, with hand marbled paper I made on the cover. Using a book on Non-Adhesive bindings, I taught myself how to make this stich. I didn't record how long it took to complete this, but the first run through on the first line took about 3 hours.
Middle: The exposed tape binding. This is another great book because if done right, you can flip the front cover behind the back cover like a spiral notebook. It's pretty popular with my roommates.
Right (top): The coptic binding with canvas boards as the cover. I painted the covers myself, and drilled the holes for the thread to go through.

Clamshell box with content book:

As part of my final I had to make a book with content in it, and a box. I turned my portfolio series into a book called "Fall Abstractions". I used the coptic binding, and made a clamshell box to put it in. Before covering, I cut out layers of the book board to make an embossed edge. After covering it, I painted it with gesso (paint prep), and used gouache (a watercolor like paint) to add a little color.

Casebound Collaborative Book:


The other part of my final was to be part of what was called the collaborative book, in which each member of my class would contribute in the making of a content book. The class voted on an ABC Animal book. We were all put onto teams that had designated tasks like design of the pages, making the illustrations, and so on. I was on the box team, were we came up with the design of the box--not how it would be covered but what kind of box, how it would open etc. We each got our own copies of the pages, and the parts to make the book with the case bound binding, and the box.

For the book, I picked out a fabric from the local craft store, and turned it into book cloth by using some adhesive muslin like substance called wonder under, which then changes the fabric to behave more like paper.

For the box, I drilled holes into the box board through the material I used to cover it, then sewed pieces of suede cord onto the board to make leafy/jungle-like designs to coordinate with the animal print I used for the book.

People keep asking how long it takes to make a book. To be honest, I have never kept track from beginning to end. It would scare me to know how long it takes. But it is different with each of the different types of bindings. The time it takes doesn't matter, pardon the cheese, but the result is the fun part of it.

For those who are wondering, I leave on January 4th for India. And for those who are keeping track, that means that I only have 3 days to go. My knotted stomach just turned over.