Making My Own Art Journal - Part 2

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Day 3

The Cover

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With the text block already prepared, it was now time to put on the cover. Measurements were carefully taken and museum boards cut and clearly labeled for each step of the process. Leather, in this case a naturally tanned terracotta goat skin, was selected and cut for the cover. 

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The leather would take some preparation before it would be ready for the cover. First it must be skived and pared. This is not an area where I have any expertise. Lucky for me I had the support of those fabulous Book Art Babes. Now I know just enough to understand what I must still learn. The Scharf-Fix was used for skiving the boarder of the skin so it would more easily bend around the covers's boards. Once skived on the Scharf-Fix a paring knife was used to create a smooth transition to the edges of the skin. This felt a lot to me like coldworking glass. Using one's finger to feel for a smooth transition while carefully removing material. The material and tools were unfamiliar but the goal was not.

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The edges of the boards were sanded down at an angle to allow the cover to easily open and close. Once completed the boards were attached to the text block tapes to form the skeleton of the books cover.

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The leather was prepared and the book covered. This was not without it's challenges. Although I have applied leather to a book's cover on a couple previous occasions (e.g. book with cords one and two), the variation of this concave spine provided me a learning opportunity I am not likely to forget. Molding the leather into instead of over the spine, I "stole" a bit more leather from one side then the other making the remaining job a little dicey. Making mistakes is how you learn. Overcoming them is part and partial for the course in bookbinding, kilnformed glass or any other form of craft. I'm a little wiser for this experience. Once complete the book went under pressure.

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Day 4

Final Touches

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The next and last day was devoted to finishing touches. End pages were put in. I selected a green embossed paper with a subtle gold sheen that worked with the green in my the headbands I had sewn into the book back on day two. The green provided a lovely contrast to the terracotta leather cover. But the finishing touches didn't end inside the book.

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On the outside of the book gold tooling was used to add a design on the front cover. I reached way back to a design I carved on a lino block years ago, shrunk down the image to just the right size and embossed it in 23k gold on the front cover. Simple, elegant, functional...  my favorite things.
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I can't wait to start using it!

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