A Book a Week 2014: Made, Altered, Repaired. Week 31

Week of 4 Aug

Belgian Binding Class!

I was really impressed with the folks who came to try out Belgian Binding. It is not an easy or beginning binding, but everyone concentrated and we learned from each other as we went. I loved the beautiful color combinations each person chose, to go with their upcycled Readers' Digest book covers.

I buy large packs of pretty scrapbook paper, and use those sheets as covers for each signature. It's fun to find a theme of papers related by color, hue or design. Students matched signature covers with their RD book covers.

I like to use a variety of crochet thread to bind books. They come in so many colors, and even multi-colored threads:

A Book a Week 2014: Made, Altered, Repaired. Week 20

Week of 19 May

Belgian Binding revisited.
OK, I think I created a new kind of binding. Let's call it the Minnesota Binding. I needed to make my younger sister a guest book for her home. She likes blue, and I found this beautiful blue Reader's Digest cover that would work great.

I picked out coordinating papers for the signatures, and two kinds of thread for binding the spine and the signatures separately.

The holes in the board weren't quite big enough, I bent my needle!

Minnesota Binding

I was in a hurry to make this because we had to get to my niece and nephew's graduation, so I didn't take the time to look up the directions again. Something didn't look right on the outside of the spine. You can see only 1 string per hole on the front cover here. But look at my first attempt (below) at Belgian binding, there are 2 strings per hole:

Belgian Binding

 Fortunately, on the one hour drive to the grad party, I had realized the mistake and worked on my niece's book according to the Belgian Binding. I think it turned out pretty great!

A Book a Week 2014: Made, Altered, Repaired. Week 10

Week of 10 March 2014

Belgian Binding!!!
I love this binding. It has a similar look to Japanese stab bindings, but opens and lays flat, like a Coptic binding. One of the cool things about this method, is that the spine is completely free-floating. This binding is a relatively new style, created in the 1980's by Anne Goy, a Belgian artist; here is its history.

 My supplies and tools. Actually, I didn't use my Japanese Screw Punch, because it was easy to make holes in the Readers Digest book covers with my little piercer.

You sew the covers separate from the text block. I wanted some staggered holes, so I could get this look.

 You sew through each hole twice to get this nice wrap-around style.

 I made sure to keep the threads taut so the cover wouldn't be loose and flimsy.

 The text block is sewn separately, then sewn onto the threads covering the inside of the spine.

 Here you can see my seven signatures.

 Inside the back cover.

 And the pretty spine. I think I'll give this one to my sister, Julie, as a house warming gift.