I've finally downloaded my pictures from Book Binding III and I'm ready to post them. It was such a busy class that I'm ashamed to say that I didn't take as many pictures as I hoped to. I got so involved in what I was doing that I didn't remember to take pictures as I went along so I didn't document the steps as well as I wanted to. That's because Dan is such an interesting teacher. I should have my camera ready when he demonstrates, rather than thinking that I'll take pictures of my work in stages. I should just know by now that I never remember to do that.
Well, any way, here goes. We were making two books this time. Both books were being sewn over cords. One was sewn over flattened cords.
We used hemp cord that was untwisted and combed for our flattened cord. I just taped mine to the litho stone I was using to pare my leather to hold them in place while I was sewing the signatures. I used a diagonal pencil line to keep my signatures in order while I was sewing them. There is a kettle stitch at the head and tail of the text block.
The signatures were held down with a brass weight during the sewing.
The second book was sewn on raised cords and I used a packed stitch for sewing the signatures over these cords.
The packed stitch is wrapped around the cord and goes back through the original hole in the signature. Once again, there is a kettle stitch at the head and tail of the text block for stability.
These books were constructed with leather hinges that were attached to the endpapers that were hooked into the text block.
The burgundy is the endpaper for one of the books. The turquoise is dyed goat leather.
The endpaper is also lined with a protection package so that the leather of the hinge does not emboss itself upon the endpaper leaving a ridge. This will be removed before the hinge is pasted down.
These were the finished endpapers for the two books waiting to be sewn onto the text blocks. The endpapers were coordinated with decorative papers that were going to be used for the covers.
I chose the burgundy to go with the marbled paper and the taupe to work with the metallic paper. I'd never worked with a metallic paper before. They require delicate handling when they are wet as some of the metallic pigment will flake at fold areas at that time.
Finished books:
The book sewn over flattened cords was given a ribbon attached to the spine. The endband was hand sewn with linen thread in a conservation stitch over a hemp core. The endcap was formed to cover the tube of the hollow spine. The leather hinges provide easy opening of the covers of the book.
The book sewn over raised cords has a solid back. The endband was sewn with two colours of silk, chosen to coordinate with the marbled cover paper, over a core of hemp. The head of the text block was given a colour treatment of a light burgundy dye and sealed with wax.
The leather was worked around the raised cords so that their appearance would be pronounced.
The leather on the corners of both books was pared very thin and then pleated and mitred as it was glued to the board. This reduces bulk and produces a neat, and if well executed (by a better hand than mine) almost invisible corner. One of my corners almost reached that exalted state.
These bindings, unlike cased in books, are extremely strong and long wearing. This is the type of binding that would be done with full leather in the Middle Ages.
It was a great class.
I've been away these past few days taking the first part of Bookbinding Part III with Dan Mezza. He is a bookbinder in London, Ontario who does restoration work on rare book collections and also teaches courses for CBBAG (Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild).
I've been busy paring leather for exposed hinges on two books as well as preparing two text blocks. One, a simple lap stitch, sewn on flattened cords and another a packed stitch over raised cords. During the break before the last part of the course (in a week's time) I'm going to make another text block to try out the stitching over split cords. These are replicating medieval historical bindings. We won't be doing full leather bindings because we won't have enough time to complete both books that way. We'll do that in another workshop.
I've taken some photos of the work to date and I'll post them as soon as I've transferred and cropped them.
Paring leather takes a sharp knife and muscles in my hand that I'm not used to using. I have to admit, it is quite amazing just how thin you can pare the leather when hand, eye and knife come together and work in conjunction with each other. Dan seems to make it look like he is cutting through butter with a hot knife. He place the knife where he wants to begin his cut and then the excess leather peels away like apple from the core.
I pick up my knife and try for the same fluid motion and nothing happens. My knife is still at the starting point. Eventually I get things started but my apple, or rather my leather does not peel in one easy piece. I seem to start and stop or waver up and down. All things come with practice and if I am to believe Dan, after 15 years or so, I'll find it just as easy as he does. He tells me that I'll feel the leather with my finger tips.
After one hour you don't not feel with your finger tips. In fact, it is hard to feel your finger tips themselves. Eventually, you can get into a kind of Zen state of paring where you seem to be one with the knife and you get into the rhythm of feel of paring. Unfortunately, by that time, your practice piece of leather looks a little worse for wear and it's time to start with a fresh piece.
All leather does not pare equally. Even leather taken from the same hide will pare differently when taken from different areas of that hide. Leather made from different animals will be harder or easier to pare and that can also be determined by the tanning process. For our final practice, we used leather from the hide that we were going to use for our books.
I think that was the hardest part for me. To cut into my pristine goat hide and take strips for the hinges and for practice purposes. Like the words of the song.... "The first cut was the hardest".
I purchased an English leather paring knife but it needs to be further sharpened since it is basically a blank. I started sharpening under Dan's guidance and will move to a finer grit stone this week. While I was at his studio I used an English knife and a French blade which is rounded rather than pointed. I can seen that both have their uses and if I were to work consistently with leather I would probably want to have both.
Photos to be posted soon.
One reason that I haven't been posting a lot is that I've been busy working on my sketchbook for the 2011 Sketchbook Project. I want to get my book finished and posted as soon as I can so I've been working diligently on it (as life permits). This is a first for me. I've never participated in something like this before where my work was going to go public so naturally I'm quite nervous.
I, like many others, found that the paper in the supplied moleskine was very thin so I took my book apart and I've substituted a heavier weight paper (140 lb cold press) that wouldn't bleed through if I used markers and wouldn't buckle under wet media. This meant rebinding the book and while I'm at it I'll put a different cover on it to replace the simple kraft paper cover that I received.
According to the rules, I need to keep the same length and width dimensions for the sketchbook and keep the bar code on the back cover so that it can be tracked. Beyond that, I have some flexibility. Since I do more of a visual journal that an actual "sketch" book (my sketching ability being weak) I'm glad of the flexibility.
My theme is: It must be: that allows for a lot of creativity as far as I can see. I can start out with some background i.e. it must be me and then work into things that I like, such as it must be books etc.
I hope to get it finished and sent off by the end of the month. That's my target.
I'll take a few pictures of the finished product and post them when I'm done.
I've been busy but I have posted anything about my projects. A quick update.
My woodworking class has been going well. My frame is complete and is just waiting its coat of paint. I've given it a final sanding and just have to find the gloss black that I want to complete it. I should take a before and after picture for posting.
My last woodworking class was about using the band saw and scroll saw. The project was to make a two piece Christmas tree out of 1/4" thick wood and when the pieces were slotted together, the tree would stand up. One piece had a slot in the top and the other had a slot in the bottom - you know the type. I chose to do some of the cuts on the band saw (the blade always cuts down so the wood doesn't jump around as much) and the more curvy cuts on the scroll saw. I have a harder time with that one because the blade goes up and down so the wood wants to rise from the deck of the saw.
It didn't turn out too badly. I haven't taken a picture yet, but I will. More practice is definitely needed. After that I tried a piece with interior cuts on the scroll saw. For this, you need to drill holes in the pieces to be cut out and thread the scroll saw blade through the drill hole in order to cut out the piece. I finally understood that I control the speed at which the wood moves (duh!) so I was able to slow things down and control my turning of the wood a bit more precisely. I still need practice with turning 90 degrees to make a sharp corner. I tend to wander and make a rounded corner instead. At this point I need to be forgiving with myself because I've only been working with the scroll saw for 2 hours. I'm happy when I can stay on the pencil line.
Those two hours have given me a great appreciation for those who do fretwork on the scroll saw. The patience and skill required for that work -- wow!
I am really enjoying these classes and I'm sorry that we have to take a break for the next three weeks. Our instructor will be away and we won't resume until the end of November. Oh well, it's not like I don't have other projects on the go to keep me busy.
This bookbinding video came my way and I wanted to share.
Bookbinding Old School
At this point I don't know any other way of showing it, so I'll just post the You tube link.
Life has been busy but I'd be hard pressed to tell you exactly what I've been doing. I have been to my next woodworking class though. I have an update to post. Here are pictures of two sets of wooden books covers that I am working on.
This is an oval cover with it's first coat of stain. I used the drill press to place holes 1/4" from the routered edge. I'm going to use a Coptic binding for this book. I have to sand between coats of stain and then use varathane on the cover to seal it. I'm thinking of embedding a small metal medallion in the front cover -- just a thought at the moment. If I do that -- it will be done before the varathane.
This square cover has a translucent stain on it and as you can probably tell from the position of the holes, I'm going to use a raven's claw binding on this one so I'll be sewing over cords that will be going into the holes. I think I will use leather thongs. You can see the small, yellow, plastic painter's pyramids that the board is resting on. These keep the board up off the surface of the table so that I can paint the sides of the piece. They are very handy. I got them from Lee Valley .
My picture frame is complete and clamped and the glue is setting as I write. I should be able to post a picture after next week's class when I pick it up. I wanted it to be quite angular not soft since it is going to frame and abstract mixed media piece. I haven't decided whether it should be a gloss or matte black but I think it should be dark to set off the artwork.
I've finally started my woodworking class. It's something that I've been trying to do for years but every time I've signed up for one it's been cancelled for lack of interest. This time I found a class that only required a minimum of two people to run. Luckily, I was the second person to sign up so the class was a go.
It's being held in a proper woodworking shop with floor tools and hand tools available. There are table saws, drill presses, band saws, scroll saws, a compound mitre saw, router, planer, joiner, lathe and belt sander.
The first week was spent getting to know the tools and what they did and learning general safety procedures of the workshop. I was the only student the first week so I had a chance to try out the table saw. To adjust the blade to different heights and to adjust the fence to different distances so that I could cut the correct width of wood that I needed and cut out a notch in a piece of wood to the correct depth that I wanted. I learned how to calibrate the saw to ensure accuracy of my measurements. My instructor, Clarence Jay, is a very patient and knowledgeable man.
Just making that simple 1/4" notch made me realize how easy it would be to make the paper storage unit I'd been wanting for so long. With every new thing thing that I learn I see applications right away. I am so happy with this course.
Our first project is making a picture frame. What a perfect project for someone who likes art!!! It wasn't my idea, it was Clarence's. He wondered if I would have any use for it... We aren't using expensive premoulded framing wood -- we are using a pine plank and cutting it down to the size we want and shaping it how we want. We will be getting several frames from one plank. Just think of the savings and the possibilities??
Next week I will be look at several different router profiles before making my decision about my frame. I'm just loving this!! I don't sound too excited, do I?
More to come...
P.S. while I had some extra time, I was able to use the drill press to drill some holes into some wooden panels that I plan to use as book covers for some Coptic bindings I'm planning. I'll post some pictures when they are completed.
I enjoy collecting Quotes -- I always have done. I have a journal that is dedicated to that purpose and when I come across a stamp that has a quote that I like it gets added to my collection. My stamps seem to consist of nature stamps and quotations. I think that's why I like Quietfire Designs so much. Suzanne Cannon is a talented calligrapher and she uses that talent to good effect with quotations. That's were I got most of the stamps that I used on the next booklet I made. It's made from three folded 12" x12" sheets of card stock. Each overlapping by one 6" x 6" square.
The copper tag is debossed with the word "Natural" and the stamp "creative journey" is from Quietfire Design. The background of the cover is wallpaper border.
You can see how the book opens up. I used a green/grey card stock with a mix of pictures, stamps and quotations.
The brighter green is a handmade mulberry paper that was cut into triangular shapes that wouldn't interfere with the fold lines. The small leaves were from punches.
To complement the quotations I found pictures from magazines.
In the bottom corner I included a small booklet.
The ribbon is used to tie the folded book closed. This type of folded book can be used for a variety of purposes. It can make a handy mini album with plenty of space for journalling.
