Making covers while the sun shines

It can only mean one thing - another season of Artists' Book Fairs in the offing.

I am trying to become a bit more disciplined about making all of the copies in an edition in one go, so that they are ready in advance for fairs and exhibitions and I don't have that mad scramble to make something to order.  It should also help with the development of my work as having to keep going back and make more of an earlier piece can disrupt my train of thought and new ideas, as well as the fact that it is always difficult to remember exactly the process and measurements used when you have had a gap since making the last one.  Plus of course it will mean there is more space on my table for exciting new things!

(I say all of this with the confession that in reality I am trying to make the remaining copies of an edition of 8, the first 3 of which were completed a few weeks ago.  So it is something of a resolution rather than actual practice at the moment, but definitely something to strive for).

A bit of a bind

As an antidote to all of the writing underway at the moment I have recently participated in a couple of Guy Begbie's bookbinding workshops to hone my skills, practice creating hardback books  - which I don't often attempt -  and learn some new stitches.  Here is a sample:

Multi-section hardback book

Snowshoe stitch through hard-cover

Lightning stitch through hard-cover

Japanese stab binding - Hemp leaf stitch

This Japanese binding is my favourite so far, though it did lead to sore fingers the next day.  I used a red buckram bookcloth which I haven't tried before, and although it seemed heavier and shinier than the more paper-like cloths I usually go for, once it was on the book I loved it, and it seemed a tiny bit more protective.  So far this is the most perfect book I have managed to make - until I spill something on it!

I think the stab binding techniques are the ones I will use most in my books as I often work with loose leaves of paper, I also like the visual effect they create of wrapping around the book, explicitly showing how the pages are held.  I will aim to try out some more of these and perhaps experiment with different papers to get a feel of which bindings are suited to each.