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.