Books and Book Bindings Part 1

Written by Steph Schirmer

 Making books by hand has been around since the beginning of time.  You can run a search on the internet and find hundreds upon hundreds of sites, taking you to old books that have been found thru history.  It is amazing to me, that they are still around and legible.  Just think, back then they didn’t worry about acid free and archival things. There are numerous artists who are teaching us today how to make books, journals and boxes to keep our thoughts and pictures alive for our future generations.

For those of you not familiar with books, here are some terms you might have heard and wondered what they meant:

1. Book Arts are all types of handcrafted books, whether they are blank books, albums, journals or artist’s books.

2. Artist’s books are handmade books that combine structure, format, visual images and presentation.  Text may or may not be included because these books are strictly visual.

3. Structure is the method of binding a book (pamphlet, codex, stab binding, etc) and there are a wide variety of binding structures.  The structure of a book is actually the technique you’re using.

4. Format is the shape and style of your book and many formats are possible within each technique.

5. Presentation is the look of the finished piece.

6. Head is the top edge of the book.

7. Tail is the bottom edge of the book.

8. Spine is the back edge of the book.

9. Fore edge is the side opposite the spine

10. Endapers are the folded sheets (often decorate or marbled paper) placed at the inside front and back covers.

11. Text block is the contents of the book.

12. Folio is a piece of paper folded in half and several nestled together to make a signature.

13. Signature is a group of pages.

14. Paper Grain is the direction in which the fibers in the book board or paper are aligned.  If paper folds easily, you are folding on the grain, if not it will be much tougher to bend and the crease and wont be as smooth.

15. Scoring is when you use a bone folder, awl or scorer of some sort to crease your paper to make it much easier to make folios.

Here are some of the things you will need when creating a book, journal or album:

1. Bone folder

2. Book Board is thicker, sturdier and heavier then chipboard and doesn’t warp.

3. Binder needles have a larger eye and are used to sew signatures together and better suited for the type of thread used.

4. Thread – several different types and colors from linen to waxed and un-waxed.

5. Book cloth is fabric backed so glue doesn’t seep thru.

6. Beeswax is used to wax linen thread.

7. Book Cradle is used to cradle your signatures so you can use an awl to punch holes evenly.

8. Awl is a tool used to punch holes in your signatures, book board or paper

9. Japanese Screw Punch offers fast punching with several different sizes of holes.

10. Decorative Paper, suede paper, glues and embellishment (stamps, beads fibers, etc)

When decided if you want to make your own books or journals, check out the internet and library for books on making them.  There are a few by Design Originals that might be helpful and have great step by step pictures of projects.  Check with your local stamp store and see if they are getting any guest artists in that teach bookmaking, better yet request some classes at your store.  There are also local book guilds in several cities that promote handmade books as well as restoration.  Check your local collages and see if they have a guest teacher coming, who might be offering a course or check with the art department teachers they may be able to lead you to someone.  The bottom line is if there is a will there is a way to learn about making books.

Now here are some examples of bindings, I will include some links I found when I was searching the net.  The majority of samples are things I have done in classes when I was learning how to make them. Your search browsers are your friends for this, if there is a particular binding you are looking for plug it and see what you find.  

Here are some links for you to peruse when you have time:

http://www.volcanoarts.biz/cart/bookbinding/gallery/index.htm

http://www.danielessig.com/index.html
http://www.orientalstampart.com/minibooks.html

http://members.verizon.net/~vze3wwx7/LimpBinding/LimpBinding.html

http://www.handbookbinding.com/html/boxes.html  

http://www.indiana.edu/~libpres/manual/treatments/clam/    

http://shala.addr.com/magazines/

http://meisterin.katarina.home.comcast.net/coptic_book.html

http://www.glitz-oh.com/art/TapestryCopticJournal

http://www.wellesley.edu/Library/BookArts/workshops.html

http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/book/

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bookbinding/Long_stitch

http://www.booklyn.org/education/ispamphlet.pdf

http://www.loneprairie.net/art_projects/pamphlet_stitch.pdf

I hope something here inspires you to make a book, journal or album, just remember they don’t have to elaborate, simple is always good.  If you aren’t comfortable cutting all the paper, look into kits you can buy that come put together, they come with everything.

Because I have only touched the surface with the bindings, I will continue next month with books, different styles of books

I want to thank the design team members, I can’t do it with out you.  If you have ideas on books or sites you would like to share please send them to me, and I will share with the list.

Happy Creating!!!!!!

Steph Schirmer

Sschirmer@stampersmall.com

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