Home | Product Reviews | Tips & Techniques | Tutorials | Newbie Center | Galleries | Links | New Art | My Art Studio
Interesting Ideas | Guestbook | Humorous Hues | Web Design Services | Items for Sale | Family | Email Me
Bookmaking
I recently taught a class on simple bookbinding for a group of children's librarians here in San Diego. I wanted to keep the structures simple and keep costs to a minimum. I knew librarians don't have the limitless budgets that we are artists have. Here's a few ideas I came up with:
--craft sticks instead of bone folders (don't use coffee stirrers, they seem to be craft stick rejects)
--waxed dental floss instead of waxed linen thread (comes in flavors to make your book smell yummy)
--floral wire for needles (cut a 3 - 4 inch length and fold it in half, pinch the fold with pliers to keep the needle thin)
--concerning gluing I used to use an old phone book as a glue surface. I just ripped out the page after each use. I now use a tempered glass artist palette as a gluing area. I keep a dry towel and a damp towel near by. After gluing I wipe up the excess of the glass with the damp towel and then wipe the glass with the dry towel. My work surface is clean and dry and ready for the next item to be glued. I usually put a small puddle of glue on a far corner of the palette away from my work. I then use a brush to apply it to my paper.
Maybe a nature walk could turn up lots of treasures for bookbinding. Birch bark for book covers, pine needles for sewing, tiny pine cones for closures, etc. ( Some areas of the country protect birch trees. Usually birch bark can be removed from a fallen tree though. )
Ah, caught me! this is tricky to describe without showing you in person. Imagine sewing a simple three-hole pamphlet (a few sheets of paper folded in half, holes poked in the folded part - the gutter - at the center, then ½" from the top and ½" from the bottom). You start at the center hole, pass the needle through, leaving a tail several inches long. Next, you pass the needle through the top hole, and this is where you "pull in the direction you are sewing" by pulling the thread through as though it were a straight line, not pulling back towards the center hole. This just keeps one from ripping the hole as the thread is snugged up. Then, once you"ve passed the needle through the bottom hole, you pull tight, once again keeping the thread in a straight line rather than pulling toward the center hole. Then, the last pass of the needle is through the center hole again, and when you snug the thread this time, it's pulled - gently but firmly - toward the top. The long center thread is between the two tail ends, and before tying off I like to snap the center thread to make sure it's tight. If it makes a nice little snap, it's ready to be tied. I have a sinking feeling that this is only clear to someone who's done lots of book sewing. Does any of this make sense? If not, keep in mind to just not pull against the hole you've just sewn through. It will tear. I make a point of tearing one when I do a sewing demo just to make the point (and so I don't have to see the utter dejection of one who has just trashed their own book :-| ). This same principle applies to all sewing - 3-hole, 5-hole, whatever.
I also have a Dremel moto-tool, but again feel it is lighter duty than I want for my 1" thick stab bound photo albums and journals. I prefer to use a 5/32" drill bit for 1/8"- ¼" ribbon or cord in a cordless drill. It does chew out the paper, but good clamping and sharp drill bits help keep it neat. (Rivets or grommets in the top and bottom covers can add a nice touch and finished look). To hold it all together for drilling. I love the soft jawed Quick-Grip mini clamps found at Home Depot and hardware stores. I use the 12" long bar size most, but have recently discovered a much smaller version which is ideal for smaller books, jewelry making etc.
Can anyone please suggest what would be best to use to make the sewing strong (yet as elegant as possible - e. g., I don't want shoe laces .
One approach is to look at the inner and outer bindings in combination. The inner binding, which holds the book block (including what becomes the "pastedowns") is traditionally made with a twist of strong paper. The holes for the inner binding are punched thru the book block-since no paper is removed the holes close around the paper twist and the book block does not shift. If you want to make a very thick book or for some other reason want to drill the holes, make as small a hole as possible. Then use multiple threads for the inner binding. Embroidery thread (DMC cotton) is good, as well as darning cotton, filament silk (twisted or flat), and linen thread. If using multiple thinner threads each can be knotted separately (if one breaks the other holds) and the knots either disappear into the book block holes or aren't discernable thru the cover.
So the main strength of the binding is already accomplished and a more elegant thread can be used on the outside binding. This outer thread adds to the overall strength of the book, but if it breaks (it is vulnerable to friction wearing at least) only the covers are loose. Multiple threads can be used on the outside too, altho I have always sewn and knotted these together. Cotton or silk threads which have 6 plies lend themselves to combining colors, or even twirling in strands of metallics or less strong decorative elements.
Are you intending to do professional bookbinding, or crafts binding? There are things you must have for professional, but crafts can use many items around the house. I will assume you are doing crafts type. What I do, when I have all the pages I want, is to place somer cardboard of the same size on either side. Then i c-clamp at top and bottom. Then I take my Dremel minitool, with a fine drill piece, suitable for size of thread, string, raffia or whatever I'm using to bind, and then drill my holes with that, having marked the spacing on the top cardboard. I then use two darning needles, placing one in the leftmost and one in the rightmost holes. Make sure they don;t slip out - digging them into some scrap foam is a good idea. I then remove the c-clamps and the needles keep the pieces in line.Then I lift off the top cardboard turn it over into another piece of foam, and take off the other piece of card. You are now free to bind with whatever pattern you desire. If you want to glue some backing on to the spine, then you should do that before removing the clamps. In this case, if you are going to do that, make sure the cardboard pieces are far enough away from the spine to let you glue down the backing.
Embossed Covers
OVERVIEW: The finished look of the book cover is a design deeply embossed. To achieve this, the upper plies of the matteboard are cut and carefully removed. This forms a design in relief over which the cover paper or fabric is glued.
MATERIALS: Matteboard
tacky glue
paper or fabric for covering the board
TOOLS Pencil
a very sharp (new is best) # 11 exacto blade
a smooth ball-end embossing tool. The embossing tool can be found with stationery stencils in most Michael's and other craft stores. For my embossing tool, I use a ¼" or 1/8" very smooth, steel, ball-end tool used for making gum paste flowers in cake decorating.
STEP BY STEP:
1. Draw your book cover design on paper. When making the design, keep in mind that larger areas are easier to cut and remove than small areas. Simple designs work best. To help with your design, take a scrap of matteboard and cut a simple shape, perhaps a ½" square, with the exacto knife. Do not cut so deeply that you cut through the bottom of the matteboard. Using the tip of the knife blade, carefully lift up a corner of the little square you cut and peel it off the matteboard. Experiment by cutting and removing different shapes and different layers of the matteboard. Doing this will help you find out whether the design you have in mind is workable or may need some alteration.
2. Cut your book covers out of matteboard.
3. Transfer your design to the matteboard. I find it easiest to cut out portions of my pencil drawing to form a stencil. This stencil can easily be used to make more than one book cover.
4. Using the exacto knife, and following the design you have drawn, cut and remove various plies of the matteboard. Sometimes the top layer of matteboard will lift off an area you do not wish to remove, especially when working around small design elements. If this happens, use glue to reattach the piece to the matteboard as necessary. When cutting around the bee for my book cover, the bee's head often separated from the matteboard beneath it. I simply glued it back on. Using a new blade and cutting deeply into the matteboard will facilitate removal of desired areas.
5. To cover the prepared matteboard, cut a piece of fabric or paper 3/8" larger than your matteboard. The only covering I have really used so far is petal inclusion paper. The petal pieces must be small and firmly imbedded in the paper so as to withstand the embossing process. Fabric would most likely be easier to work with but you must be careful to keep the glue from penetrating the fabric.
6. Using your finger, quickly spread a very thin layer of glue over the top of your prepared matteboard. Make sure the glue is worked into all crevices of your design but keep it very thin. Otherwise, when you firmly press the embossing tool over the paper, you might have pools of glue that could distort or soften your paper so it might tear.
7. Before the glue has a chance to dry, center and finger press your fabric or paper over the glued surface. Gently at first, then firmly, press the fabric or paper down into all the recessed areas of the design.
8. To emboss, carefully rub the recessed areas of your design with the embossing tool. When embossing paper, using gentle pressure, press the embossing tool against all edges of your recessed design. The object is to stretch the paper fibers so they conform to your design without tearing. Some papers are more flexible than others so you may want to make a practice piece before working on your book cover. When the paper is fully pressed into your design, you may use the embossing tool to add further texture, such as cross-hatch lines or stippling, to recessed areas.
9. When satisfied with the embossing, complete the book cover by folding and gluing the edges of the paper or fabric to the back of the cover.
Feel free to experiment. This particular type of book cover lends itself to all sorts of creative ideas. Perhaps you could add pressed flowers in a recessed area and then cover them with a piece of acetate or a layer of acrylic finish. Or thin tiles or stones could be inlaid. Even buttons or mother of pearl shapes could be attached. You might want to glue rough fabric or textured paper shapes in the matteboard's recessed areas before your cover material has been glued down. Then when you emboss the areas, the texture will show through your cover material. The possibilities are endless! You can also foil designs you print on a laser printer or some photocopy machines. There is a product marketed as Geo-Foil and available in some stationery stores. You print your image, then attach the sheets of foil with special tape. Then you sent the printer to print a dot (period) in a nonobstructive area of the design and run the paper with foil attached back through the machine. This is great for foiling personalized messages. your design to the matteboard. I find it easiest to cut out portions of my pencil drawing to form a stencil.