By way of practicing this newly-learned structure, I have made a couple more. For the larger one, I used brown paper from shopping bags for the text block and end papers. The smaller one is more normal. Both are covered with my own paste paper.
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Robin Harper held a class on the Sewn Board Binding last Saturday. As ever, she was a model of cogency and patience. I have been wanting to try this structure for a while, but I've been daunted by the explanations I found online. Either they didn't have enough clarity and detail for me actually to follow along and create a book, or they made it clear that you need a fully-equipped studio, including a guillotine. Robin's directions were clear and comprehensive, her feedback was respectful and useful, and we finished to book using only hand tools. Robin said that when you learn a new structure, you should make twelve more in order to internalize the process. It may be a while before I get twelve of these done, but I have started a couple more, so I'll have a start on my dozen before next weekend's class. Here are some pictures of my book from Saturday:
My sister asked me to make a book for her, so along with the piece for her auction (see my last post), I made her a blank book. She asked for a case-bound style, so I made another sewn end paper book à la Kathy Steinsberger. Like the last ones I wrote about, everything went beautifully until the last step -- gluing the text block into the case. The first time I did it, I glued the the block in upside down. Ooof. Great destruction trying to undo it. I was able to salvage some things but had to re-do others and, except for sewing the text block, I had to reassemble from scratch. I'm thinking I won't make that mistake again soon. The second effort came out better, if not perfect. The end papers are my own paste paper. I also rolled my own head bands.
 Cathy Fields, the director of the Litchfield County [Connecticut] Historical Society, invited me to submit a piece to their annual fundraiser in which local artists donate work which is auctioned off as part of a gala evening. I'm not exactly local to Litchfield, but I have family there -- Cathy is my sister. The theme for this year's auction is "Litchfield State of Mind." I started with one of those phrenology charts. I found one in the public domain (in fact it is from one of O.S. and L.N. Fowler's mid-nineteenth century works on phrenology) and erased all the words from the image. With the help of several people who know Litchfield better than I do, I generated a list of 50+ words that reflect different aspects of Litchfield. I then put these words in to the head. Painstaking work, I must say. I mixed serious with humorous, important with trivial. My goal was to raise a smile without being offensive. Finally, I added a thought bubble saying, "Litchfield," and got this:  I printed a nice copy on Hahnemuhle Ingres paper and arranged it into a Turkish map fold, which I cased in quarter cloth over boards. I don't know how it will be received in Litchfield, but I had fun making it.
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About Me
After retiring from 36 years as a public school educator, I am practicing book arts. Archives
April 2019
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