morgaina: (rejoice)
2008-11-27 07:42 am
Entry tags:

Longstitch book

I am thankful for a buncha stuff.
What I am most excited about right now is my bookbinding class. Tomorrow it will be the pottery I am working on, but for now the book binding. I managed to get to the class last night.

This is my first longstich book. The style is from the 1500s. The tension on my sewing was too loose so jim suggested I weave the stitch. The cover is a wood plank Jim split, then I cut to size and sanded. He splits the planks so the tree rings are parallel in the width of the plank, 'quarter cut'. He says any other way of cutting, the wood will eventually warp. The hinge is linen, so is the thread, and the adhesive used is wheat flour paste. I tore up a sketch book for the pages. I have many sketch books around the house with a few pages blank, so I am going through those, plus saving the papers my students at work WASTE.

Last night I started carving a bone folder, I also put a leather hinge on another wood cover and covered a recycled hardbound book cover with linen. I hope to make that one a coptic book.
morgaina: (Default)
2008-11-20 05:29 am

Bookbinding

The bookbinding classes are still going so I am happily attending them all as long as they let me. I have a longstitch book (style from the 1500s) completed and another started. I have also begun a modern "art-book" in an accordian style using pages from old (discarded) books for my pages. I'm drawing and putting found poetry in that one. The next style I'll tackle is the coptic bound book. It sounds as if the Gothic style bound book is somewhat too challenging for beginners, although Jim is such an open teacher I'm sure he would happily try to teach me if I asked. There are a couple of people who bring their 9 year olds, who are good kids, but they have nothing to do while there. After everyone had settled on their projects Jim spent most of the evening teaching the kids how to use a hand saw and rasp, so kind.
The basket I use to carry the materials for class has become woefully inadequate.
Of course, my rank beginner-ness is resulting in some funky details, and rather embarrasing craftsmanship. However I'm not expecting mastery with these early attempts, but I still wish they looked better.
morgaina: (Default)
2008-10-23 08:53 pm
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pictures from the first Book Arts session

There was a wide variety of book styles here, including some used in contemporary Book Arts. I've added some simple book making to my classroom lesson plans just after one session.
a few pictures with emphasis on Medieval/Renaissance )