Category: book arts

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.

The family didn’t escape getting bookbinding presents–Altair got a gardening journal and Skyler got a photo album. Both were quick projects because Hollanders had the text blocks ready to go.

I was pretty pleased with the casing-in on the garden journal. I’m sure it helped that I practiced with mine but this is my best job yet:

I didn’t get a good picture but I put in a loop of foldover elastic between the back cover and end paper to hold a pencil, and then I tried covering a pencil in matching paper for good measure (extremely fun and easy; everyone almost got a bunch of pencils, too).

The photo album needed a “hollow back tube” binding style, which I hadn’t done before. It definitely turned out as instructed, but it’s not the cleanest job (the tube got a little creased on the side).

But it works, and this was an ancillary gift anyway. Skyler’s in the Civil Air Patrol, so I went with their colors in case he wants to do an album of his flights or something.

It had been a month since I broke out the paper and glue so I did a quick project Sunday night:

This was quick because I used a ready-to-bind text block from Hollanders–this one is printed as a “garden journal” with places for notes and sketches and tips in both Italian and English.

I’m not doing much in the actual ground at this house but I do need to keep track of what’s in the pots and there’s always the dream of The Next House. I liked the lily print washi paper because I’ve had pretty good success with day lilies here.

Construction-wise, this was my best casing-in job yet–look at those even fore-edges!

In the last month I did think, “What if bookbinding was just a flash in the hobby pan?” but as much fun as I had coming back to it, I don’t think it will be.

What else can you make out of book board and paper? Why not some trays? They’re pretty much just the bottoms of boxes and then every item in your house can have a receptacle.

The green one is a tray to hold hand lotion on the nightstand and the red one is to hold my wallet and keys. For the red one, I copied the dimensions and doubled base from the large valet tray on the Parvum Opus website, which made figuring out the measurements really easy.

The double-thick base is a nice touch and makes the tray feel pleasingly hefty, even if it eats up the book board. It’s about time to order more (and replace that red marble paper that I finally used up).