Saturday, October 3, 2009

The BIG book

I recently completed my third handmade book, under the tutelage of Maggie and Leslie from Book Art Babes. This, a leather book with cords, was differently the most difficult and rewarding of the books I have made thus far. Each time, I become more and more familiar with the tools of the trade, the language (like any specialty they have their own vocabulary) and materials. Although I will spare you the many details. Here is a high level progression of this project, which took the better part of 4 days from start to end.
-The text block was made from individual sheets of 22x30" paper torn down, folded, punched and sewn together. To this codex I added five linen cords and custom headbands at each end.
-After the text block is prepared, the spine of the book is strengthened by applying a series of wheat paste and long fiber papers, including Kozo and Kitikata.
-After significant measuring and remeasuring, Davey Board was cut to the appropriate size, wholes wear drilled for the linen cords and the boards where tentatively placed on the text block. The design for the leather and decorative paper where sketched on the board's surface.
- The leather was cut, prepared and applied to the spine and corners of the book. A heavy weight conservation quality paper was then used to fill the space between the leather before applying the decorative paper. As a final touch a doublure was cut from the leather and applied inside between the cover and text block (very fancy).
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When all was said and done...

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Thank you Maggie and Leslie. You are wonderful educators. I am looking forward to contining my book arts education with you in the winter.

1 comment:

Erik Bosse said...

Great job! I like the v-shape from the cords entering the board and how you used it as a design element with the cut of the leather. Also, the leather corners look cool as isosceles triangles. Keep it up!