Bookbinding + Painting + Printmaking = Happy Me

Posted on November 17, 2014 by sproutspress

Day 41/365

Sometimes I indulge myself and combine mediums. Such is the case with this series of blue painted and relief-printed Longstitch journals. I’ve done this before with other painted journals, but recently came across these photos and felt the urge to share.

Details are everything, matching beaded closures is a thing of beauty (to me anyways).

As many bookbinders and other makers of handmade items know, creating in multiples is key. These books are no exception. But make no mistake; each is unique in placement of the cover patterns and images. Designing these books, the covers and crafting these pieces is the sort of project that keeps me happy!

Contest Time!

Posted on November 13, 2014 by sproutspress

Day 37/365

It’s contest time! Who doesn’t love to win free tickets and a handbound notebook?

This contest is a draw, to enter simply ‘follow’ Sprouts Press on Instagram and leave a comment on which notebook is your favourite (pink & gold, indigo & silver, red & burgundy or black & gold).

The winner will get a pair of tickets to the One of a Kind Show here in Toronto, and the notebook they commented as their favourite! Woo hoo!

Bonus Entries: If you follow Sprouts Press on facebook share this photo for another entry! If you follow Sprouts Press on twitter retweet this photo for yet another entry!

The contest starts today and ends on sunday evening. A winner will be drawn at random and announced on monday.

An Old Favourite

Posted on November 11, 2014 by sproutspress

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

Posted on November 10, 2014 by sproutspress

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

Posted on November 9, 2014 by sproutspress

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!)

Coming Soon!

Posted on November 6, 2014 by sproutspress

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!

Crisp Transition

Posted on October 27, 2014 by sproutspress

When the air gets that autumn crisp and I know winter is not far, I often think of these journals.

They are a warm and cozy light brown leather, with the last bits of summer brightness captured in the beading detail.

I don’t have any in stock right now and I have made a few variations of these books. But I enjoy the spontaneity and uniqueness while designing and crafting each book (no two are alike). I also love the bead work and the pop of colour and sparkle on the spine.

A Book of Plenty

Posted on October 17, 2014 by sproutspress

Day 10/365

No, this isn’t really all of my journals. It’s just the most organized-looking photo of some of my favourites and currently in-use journals. What I want to talk about today are some of the uses of my journals, maybe they’ll inspire you too!

Some of these are books that I’ve handbound, and others are books I’ve collected over the years, from other hand binders. There are several from Italy (Florence, Venice and Rome), and many from other binders here in Toronto and across Canada. I feel I should come clean and admit that I don’t use all of them. A few are in the queue to replace books with only a few blank pages left.

While I have journals for: ideas, to-do lists, sketches, favourite quotes, dreams, ramblings and other categorized observations, I usually have one daily journal. This is the one that goes everywhere with me, fits in my purse, is rugged and tough yet beautiful enough that I sometimes use it as ‘advertising my craft’ when out on the town. It’s also the test-run of my new indigo journals and is pictured above.

It’s pretty liberating to have this book as a catch-all for everything, no stress about perfect penmanship, clean sketches or having the best ideas. I use it for everything: to-do lists, measurements of projects, contact information, ideas, sketches. It’s a lovely snippet of this time in my life. Looking back on my other, older, daily books, it’s interesting to see what my focus was at the time, what my inpirations and dreams were all about.

If you have a book that you really love and want to use but just aren’t sure, this is where I suggest to start; a book of plenty. I’d love to hear how it goes!