My bookbinding tool storage

In which I show off my new carousel to hold all my bookbinding tools.

It's working well and It has me newly inspired to make some books!

H is for...half leather

Marching through our bookbinding alphabet,we are now to the letter H. Leather is one of the most enduring cover materials. Since the dawn of books animal hide has been used to bind and decorate books for all occasions. Half leather means that the corners and the spine are covered with leather and the rest is covered with marbled paper or book cloth. The leather protects the most vulnerable parts of the book from excessive wear.

 Lovely sample of half binding from TJBookarts

Beth Antoine's exquisite half binding with marbled papers

French binding examples

None of these are mine but they are amazing. Enjoy!

French binding variation

French binding tutorial

The white book on the bottom is French link binding

French link stitch for an art book

French link and kettle stitch

Pretty repurposed covers with French link

Another up cycled book with lovely French stitch binding

You can judge a book by its cover

The cover of a book, especially an antique, determines its value. A great volume with an intact spine and flyleaves is sought-after by collectors the world over.

When you make a book, keep in mind that the cover is not an afterthought. It is not simply a holder for the title or something to keep the pages inside from getting ruined. Yes it is all that too but it's more.

It's like the front door. It's the readers first interaction with your work. It's the thing they hold and manipulate to get to the "good stuff." It's the first stop on a journey through your work. Why not make it really count?

An article to enjoy is this one on an exhibit of the Morgan Library and Museum. A limited collection of their books spanning 1400 years displays the exquisite detail of the covers. You almost hate to open them up for fear the text won't live up.

When you maker your next book I hope you will take the opportunity to make the cover a work unto itself.

Finding artist book inspiration

Creative block is one of the things I struggle with. Things are rocking along and then one day, without warning, it's like someone dammed up the river of ideas. Suddenly I got nothin'.

If you are stuck, lacking inspiration or just afraid to try something new, maybe you can try one of these:

• Found Magazine is filled with ideas and inspiration. It's all about old receipts and love notes and pictures of strangers just begging for their story to be told. It's fun to peek into the life of a stranger this way.
• Watch a video at TED.
• Leave your work, close the door behind you and take a walk. Clearing your head does wonders for the creative process.
• Check out these these packaging solutions. How creative!
• Visit Vamp & Tramp Booksellers to peruse all the artist book happiness they have available.
• Visit the Handmade Book Community's board to see what amateur and professional bookbinders from all over are up to.
• Zybooks also has a good variety of artist books to drool over.

There are ton of other book artist sites but these are a few that I enjoy.

vlog: make your own book cloth

Here's my first ever video tutorial--on making your own book cloth. Hope you find it helpful. Please understand, it is my first shot at this. Hope it's not too long!


Make your own book cloth from Anna Hawthorne on Vimeo.