Category: book arts

I have to call it a craft room now instead of a sewing room because I moved all the bookbinding supplies into it!

I did end up getting the IKEA drawer unit–I thought it was expensive for the quality but it matched the existing drawer units on the sewing tables. I knew the drawers wouldn’t be big enough to fit a full 24″ paper sheet but, given that the drawers that can do that start at $800, I thought I could live with it.

And I can! The drawers are deep enough that I can do a soft fold on the full sheets and they fit just fine. Plus there’s a drawer for book board, leather and book cloth, smaller paper pieces, and even the marbling supplies and how-to books.

I currently have a free top drawer, too, which is hiding the sewing projects that I’ve cut out but not started yet. This is sitting right next to the sewing machine, so that’s convenient.

I impulse bought a tiny photo sticker printer after I saw my friend’s bullet journal on our trip, so then I obviously had to make a book to stick my photos in. I decided to try a concertina fold, which I learned is also called a Leoporello fold, “based on the manservant in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. At one point in the opera, Leporello unfolds a lengthy concertina list of his master’s conquests. ” (Gross! But I do love cool etymology!)

Other than the photo printer itself, I didn’t have to buy anything for the project: The cover paper is some that I marbled myself; the interior is just part of a big sheet of Fabriano I bought last year; and the elastic that holds it closed is from my lingerie sewing supplies (!).

I didn’t make a super-long concertina but this was just the right amount of space to document a weekend. I went more “junk journal” than “photo album” in aesthetic and included a stamp I got at the Oakland art supply and the envelope of scent samples from the perfume museum, too. (The back side is all pinball! And some stickers.).

I think the combo of tiny photo printer + bookbinding skills is going to mean more little souvenir books–this was fun!

I had to get a set of five sheets of intaglio paper for my friend’s valet tray, so while I had the boards and glue out for that project, I made a big fancy box for the living room:

The inside is a classic Florentine fleur-de-lys and I had just the right red book cloth for the hinge. (Yay for buying an excessive amount of craft supplies, I guess.)

And what goes IN this big fancy box, you ask? A blood pressure monitor, of course.

My blood pressure got really high last year with the anemia (which makes sense, given the paucity of red blood cells to move oxygen around) so I started checking it daily. To remember to do that, it helped to have the monitor down in the main living area, but I hated looking at it, so: fancy box time. Now Doc is checking his, too, so Intaglio Box is getting a lot of use.

I had a picture that didn’t quite fit the mat that came in the IKEA frame. I also had a stack of bookboard and decorative papers. So I cut my own mat and covered it in paper and now there is even more pattern in the living room. Win-win-win.

What should I cover in paper next? A tissue box cover? The frame itself?

I never would have thought to cover little matchboxes in bookbinding papers but I saw a blog post from Parvum Opus (great inspo for fancy little paper-and-glue objets) and had to try it.

Just cover two boards 1/8 inch bigger all around than your matchbox, then glue them to the box. (It’s not hard, but the blog post gives you the details if you need them.)

Blammo, now you have fancy little matchboxes! If I ever give anyone candles, this would be a nice addition. (Do I need to try candle making next???)

I tried another notebook with Coptic binding and … my first attempt was actually better. The tension on this one is somehow both too tight at the back cover (where you start) and too loose at the front cover and that throws the covers out of alignment. I’m not sure what happened–other than, you know, being a beginner at something (which is perfectly ok!!)–but I did use thinner thread this time. Maybe that did it?

Regardless, I had a good time making mismatched covers and using contrast endpaper and the book still holds together well enough to be used as the sketchbook for that mark making class on Creativebug.

And it’s definitely mark making, not drawing or anything beyond lines and shapes. Which this dilettante approves of! Taking five minutes a day to try out different media and havng an excuse to buy a little watercolor set? Yes please.

I attempted my first all-sewn binding, meaning no glue is used to attach the pages to the covers. (I did use glue to put bookcloth onto the covers, though; we’re not savages.)

I watched the sewing part of this video once before starting and then followed along with it to do the actual sewing, but you can see only the middle line of stitching is making a nice braid pattern. But it holds together and opens entirely flat, which is the point of this style of binding.

I can’t resist a contrast end paper but I think the classical bookcloth-and-Florentine-paper combo is fighting with the vibes of the Coptic binding–it’s definitely a more primitive look, which makes sense if it developed in the second century CE.

But it looks and acts like a book, so it was a successful trial run. I’m going to try making another one using Bristol board for the pages and use it as a sketchbook for that Creativebug class I want to take.

Over the last six-ish years, I’ve moved from a gridded bullet journal to the ready-made Leuchtturm weekly planners. (Of course I still use a paper agenda; you never know when you’re going to need to whip it out and take notes about something.)  Now that I know how to bind books, though, I thought I’d move back to a gridded bullet journal for 2024–one I MADE MYSELF:

Yet again we can thank Hollanders for this project: They have unsewn graph paper signatures, which come already folded and grouped. Unlike their ready-made text blocks, though, I did have to sew the signatures together:
(That black linen thread is giving off Frankenstein’s notebook vibes, but it’s what I had on hand.)

But the best part about making your own text block? You get to add DECORATIVE ENDPAPERS! Imagine the print mixing possibilities. I added endbands, too, because always add more pattern:

I also put in a pen loop, just sewing a loop into foldover elastic and tucking it between the back cover board and the endpaper.

I’m in love with the cover paper–mountains and colors, some of my favorite things. It’s katazome paper (bought here) which is stenciled and resist dyed, vs the chiyogami paper I’m more familiar with, which is silkscreened. Either way, it’s great and I wish it were available on fabric, too.