Day 36/365
Wordless Wednesday 12.11.14
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Day 36/365
Tag Archives: 365 Project
An Old Favourite
Day 35/365
A close up of some leather book spines from my earlier days of bookbinding. These were experiments with stitches along the spines of soft, leather journals. They started my love for trying new binding techniques and combining the best parts of bindings together, like my more recent Starburst books.
Production
Day 34/365
I’m in the thick of production for the One of a Kind Show, which is just around the corner. So I thought it appropriate to share a bit about my process, about what it means to create a book by hand, from scratch. So here’s a mini step by step photo series to explain.
Once the pages are cut and folded by hand, they are collated and stacked in nice, neat, tidy piles, called signatures. (If you look closely at almost any book you have handy, you’ll see at the top of the spine the pages are divided into groups like this. The exception are ‘perfect’ bound books, which aren’t perfect at all but rather simply glued on the ends, so no signatures).
After marking where to sew each signature, I use this as a template to punch holes, making it easier to sew the book.
You can see the holes in each signature line up nicely with each other, creating a lovely and symmetrical pattern in the sewing along the spine.
This is just the first part of handcrafting a book; sewing the text block (group of signatures) into a case binding. After this I would attach the text block to the case, and voila – the book is done!
The Studio on a Sunday
Day 33/365
Today I’m working on the largest books I’ll be making all season. Not quite the largest books I’ve ever made, but for a long time at least. I am reminded that I prefer making smaller books.
Measuring 8″ x 10″, the ample page space is great for sketching or writing in long paragraphs. I’ll be featuring these books at the One of a Kind Show at the end of the month. (I’m at booth D49, stop by and say Hi!)
In the Round ll
Day 32/365
On thursday I had the pleasure of attending the opening reception of ‘In the Round ll’, a group show at Graven Feather here in Toronto. If you haven’t heard of this show, there are over 150 artists participating, all producing art on a set of three, 5″ birch disks.
Once on the wall, it makes for a stunning display of rows and rows of artwork. I love how everyone interpreted the use of the circles differently, creating a beautiful diversity of 2D and 3D pieces.
While I wasn’t able to participate this year, it’s always fun to attend this annual show and see the beautiful works of fellow artists. And as usual, the pieces submitted were all spectacular!
The show runs for the month of November, go here for more info.
Book Ornaments!
Day 31/365
Who doesn’t love a good book ornament? I started making these for myself, then friends and family, and then I finally realized I should be selling them. They’re now in my online shop.
Bonus: I’m teaching a book ornament making workshop later in the month! We won’t be making this style of ornament, but it will still be a lovely little book you can hang for the holidays or anytime of the year.
Coming Soon!
Day 30/365
The last couple of days have been a flurry of activity in the studio. Bookbinding kits galore!!
This year I’ve decided to make a variation of my usual kit and will be officially announcing them shortly. They are a limited edition, incredibly cute and fun!
Wordless Wednesday 05.11.14
Day 29/365
Join Me
Day 28/365
It seems to be the time of year; the garden is pulled out, the air is crisp and we all start thinking about cozy indoor activities. So, without further ado, please won’t you join me next saturday at my next book making workshop!
I will be teaching the Longstitch/Linkstitch binding, which is the same binding as last weekend’s class, but we will be collaging the covers into beautiful art books. It’s so much fun!
For more information and to register, please go here.
The Travelling Artist
Day 27/365
In the spirit of talking about some of my favourite projects, I couldn’t resist a post about these watercolour travel journals. Originally in two colours, only the pink is left. This book was designed to be a tough and rugged workhorse of a journal. I wanted to create a beautiful yet functional sketchbook to take along while travelling or hiking. I put in a pen holder on the spine and a braided linen tie-around closure. It’s sturdy and solid, and beautiful all at the same time.
The hot pink paper is handmade (not by me) with a lovely scattered seedpod-like pattern on the front, and solid, bright, hot pink on the back. I’ve had many discussions with papermakers about how this technique was achieved; maybe the hot pink paper was pulp painted, with rice as a resist? Maybe it was a lamination of sheet forming? I don’t know the answer, but it’s fantastic either way.
The second journal uses hand-decorated paper that I picked up a long time ago. I wish I could remember the artists name, I’d love to get more! It is a textured wallpaper, that has been painted and distressed and then flecks of gold applied. It has the effect of a dark, starry night.
Sprouts Press 