Westernized Japanese Binding

Here is a picture of my last assignment for my bookbinding class. All I have left this semester is my final, which I will post when it is complete. This book is a variation on the Japanese books I made awhile back. The book is sewn on the out side in the same pattern as one of the traditional Japanese books, but made with western materials. The big difference is the covers, they are book board covered in cloth. The paper is a drawing paper that is heavier than Japanese paper. The hinge in the covers allows for the book to open so that you can read or write on the pages inside.

Sketch Book #2

Here is the third attempt at the round spine technique that was taught in class. It has blank pages and I am guessing it will end up being a sketch book. The cover is my favorite part with all the different textures. It has a pretty hand sewn headband and a ribbon place maker.

A Chitsu

A Chitsu is the hard cover or case for a book. As many Japanese books have soft flexible covers that are not like the hard covers usually found in the west. In order to protect a valuable book they would have a case or cover made. The Chitsu was a box like construction that would cover the book and protect it. To go along with the three Japanese Binding examples that I made earlier I have now made a Chitsu to keep them in. It is a very intricate little case with a lot of pieces that had to be put together in just the right way in order for it to all line up and close, but I did get it figured out and actually had a lot of fun in the process. The base is made of binders board covered with a printed Japanese paper. The lining as well as the thread for the clasp are also Japanese paper. The little bone clasp is not even three quarters on an inch in length, but it works beautifully. Hope you enjoy seeing the finished Chitsu as much as I enjoyed building it.

More Books ...

More books really is about it at the moment. I have been working on little else for the past bit so I figured I would share the 5 newest creations. First up is a sketchbook with beautiful English paper from Somerset and a batik fabric cover. Then I have a few examples of Japanese bindings. They are all made from Japanese papers.

School Projects

Here are a few shots of two of the projects I have done for a bookbinding class that I'm taking. It is a lot of fun and a lot of work. I will hopefully get some pics of some of the other books up soon.

Here are a few shots of a book I made with wooden covers and bound with what is commonly called a coptic binding. The covers are made of birch and stained with a color called fruitwood. If you look closely you can see the chain looking stiches that tie the pages together.

One of the other things we went thru in class was how to assemble a box out of binders board and cover it with fabric. There is one of the little boxes I made. It measures just three inches by three inches and is about an inch and a half tall.

I quit my full time job and have started back to grad school. A little crazy to make such a big change, but it is working for me. With my new found free time I have gotten back into taking pictures again, not snapshots of family, but more images in a style similar to what I was doing when I got my BFA. Here is a few of the fun ones of the girls I now get to spend my days hanging out with. Hope you all enjoy.

Stormy Night

I have this picture I took on one of my trips to Florida, that I have had up on the bulletin board in the laundry/craft room for months. It is kinda cool in a weird way, looking up through the branches of a leafless tree at the storm clouds rolling in. After months of looking at it and looking at it, I ended up painting this...

Not what I thought I was going to paint, but then again, since I didn't have a definite image in mind when I started it seems to have worked out.

playing in florida

Lynns' Garden Guarded by Billie


Photoshopped Fish

book cover...

Here is the front cover for my newest handmade book. The cover is made of heavy paper board (mountain dew box) covered with a sheet of the unsized handmade paper (recycled junk mail). The painting was done in stages with watercolors. The texture of the paper and the lack of sizing (starch) found in comercially made papers made for a very interesting effect, that I happen to like. I learned the hard way that my paper being on the light weight side is also very fragile when wet, but fairly easily mendend.

Here are a few shots of the cover as it was coming along. First up is the mountain dew box being taken apart and cut to size. Then next is what some of the sheet of paper I made made look like before being glued to the box pieces. Then what the covers looked like before painting began. The last one is of the tree before the sye was added.

making paper take two...the blender had an accident

I was getting all the stuff together to do a little more exploration of making paper by hand at home and there was a bit of a set back when the base of the blender flew out of my hand in an impressive arc from the counter to the floor. It made quite a diplay as the force of the impact set bit of white plastic flying in numorous directions. The cat wisely ran for cover under the bed. After a moment to marvel at the fact that the glass pitch was still in tack sitting on the counter, I realized that I just might beable to fix the blender with some duck tape. After all duck tape with it's light and dark sides is the force that holds the universe together, a little blender should be no problem. I had to settle for clear packing tape as the duck tape is currently missing in action. The great news is that dispite it unplanned trip to meet the floor the blender still works. Who knew that blenders could take such a beating and bounce back almost like rubbermaid. So after a bit of delay, the paper making is back on track.

Hamster

fabric tree

Here in pictures is the evolution of the fabric tree. By the way yes, it is alot of little tiny bits of fabric, glued by hand one piece at a time.

handmade paper part 1

So after going about collecting a few different views online about how to make paper at home in your kitchen. I decided give it a try after all basicly all of them came down to put paper bits and water in blender, mix well, pour out on a mold with screen material on one side, press out the water and let it dry. Sounded simple to me.

I was happy to tear up a pile of juck mail in to bits and dump it in to my handy blender with some warm tap water and push the on button. I watched bit of credit cards ads and car dealer promotions whirl around whipped, pureed and even liquefied into greyish pulp. (Next time I will have to try adding a dye of some sort.) Looking at my pulp I decided it needed to be more, not just boring normal square sheets of paper, in come the cookie cutters. I used stars, trees and a moon as the molds set out on a cheap ready made window screen from the "do-it-yourself" store. Once enough of the water had dripped out the bottom, I removed the molds and gently pressed more water from my shaped paper. I found the second screen (they came in a two pack) handy when trying get even more of the water out of my new paper. Who knew that junk mail once blended would hold more water than bounty. I finally did manage to get a fair amount of water out of my new paper and the stars, trees and moon should dry nicely in a day or so. I have to warn anyone wanting try this beware of the mess potential and time you think it will take, both will be double. But then again so is the fun part of the process :)

bye bye junk mail

hello grey pulp

2 stars, 2 trees and the moon

they lost a little of their shape in squeezing process.