make a book, book binding how to, sketchbook, recycled
Last weekend, for the first time in ages, I was able to play in my studio. Not only that, I made something -- something I like. It was NOT an easy project, and I'm happy I stuck with it. I made a longstitch book with a leather cover cut from a pair of old motorcycle pants from the 1930s. It is the second book I've made from these pants. You might remember the first one, here.
For this book, I decided to use paper from an old, turn-of-the-century ledger book for the inside pages. Seemed like a cool idea. All of that incredible pen-and-ink handwriting from a century ago, to become overlaid with sketches and writings from the here and now. Layers of meaning and marks and generations.
I designed my own stitch for the spine. Here is the template lying on the leather, waiting to be punched:
Then I punched the signatures (for those of you who are not bookbinders, a signature is a single group of folded sheets):
In this photo you can begin to see a hint of the problem I encounter later.
It's starting to look like a book! Time to start sewing!
OK, this is when the trouble started. Because the paper is over 100 years old, I was halfway through sewing the second signature and the paper started breaking between the holes. Another problem causing strain on the holes was that my thread was too thick.
So I switched to a thinner thread and decided to reinforce the signatures. I wanted to be rather ad hoc and not over-think it -- the way you see old books or old sheet music repaired with no thought for aesthetics, only function. So I reinforced the inside and outside of each signature with drafting tape, which you can see in the fourth photo from the top. I was happy with it and liked the way it looked. But when I went to punch through the drafting tape, it also ripped. Arrggh. At this point, I was thinking I might have to abandon my ledger paper idea. I thought to myself, 'What do I have floating around the studio that is strong enough to reinforce these signatures without ripping?' And I found a roll of espresso brown bookcloth. So I cut it into strips and reinforced the outside of each signature with it:
OK, now we're cooking with gas!
On just one of the signatures, though, the holes were still ripping on the inside of the fold. So I decided to further reinforce them with some vintage postage stamps:
It still ripped through one of the stamps when I sewed, but no matter -- it's a strong enough binding, which was the goal.
I finished sewing, tied it off with a couple of tiny, square shell buttons, and finally, the result!
I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I've listed it for sale in my Etsy shop. It would be such a wonderful journal or sketchbook for someone who does altered books or journaling.
Sharon
vintage cigar boxes, vintage typography, packaging, lettering, graphic design, design inspiration
Look what my wonderful co-worker and friend Gerry gave me!
This is not all of them. Oh no. This is a just a fraction of the bounty. Go get yourself a
cup of coffee. This is going to take awhile.
Cremo. 5 cents straight. 3 for 10 cents.
I love the excise stamps. I successfully soaked one off of one of the boxes, along with
some of the labels. They are so cool. It destroyed the box, though.
The graphics on this one are much more delicate and beautiful than they look in the
picture. As with all of the images, click on it for a larger view.
Beautiful graphics on this one. The signature alone is a stunner. Click for larger view.
The boxes came from an uncle of Gerry's. He was an electrical engineer and stored
various parts, etc., in them.
Aren't they beautiful? I hope you've enjoyed this tour of my major score. Thanks Gerry!
Sharon
Vintage ink bottles from Sushipotparts 
I paid a lot of attention to the color palette of this one. 
