Little Books!

Recently, I took an introductory bookbinding class. It was offered at this cool studio in the D.C. area (Pyramid Atlantic Art Center) and I just took the plunge and signed up. The drive down is normal rush-hour miserable, but the drive back takes only about an hour and fifteen minutes, so as a whole I didn't think it was too far. I had great fun, and learned some simple bindings. I signed up for the next class -- Intermediate Bookbinding -- where I will learn some multiple signature hard cover binding. I can't wait.

The first example here is a small accordion-bound book. I covered the hard board with decorative paper and then glued in the accordion-folded in pages.


These are Japanese stab-bound notebooks. It's a simple method that can be used to make simple books like these or can be used with much more complex sewing and embellished surfaces for a pretty fancy book.

My favorite was the pamphlet binding. These are little notebooks/sketchbooks that consist of one signature (group of nested pages) sewn through the middle. I made the two with red and robots during the class and the two chicken ones at home (using a chicken I originally used for a block print and a tiny heart stamper). Most of these use a folded cover to make the edges stronger. For the second one I made at home, I didn't fold the cover edges and instead I used a corner-rounder from Janelle's stash of scrapbook tools to make those nice neat corners. This one also has a thicker drawing paper in it rather than just regular printer bond.



Lots of fun!