Elderberry's Handmade Notebooks

[elderberry]

Good morning!

 

Here's some pictures of work I've done lately.

 

 

 

Sturdy linen bookcloth with a CF inlay. Somehow makes me think of Greece. 18 x 14 cm with 130 g Arctic Ivory paper (about 100 pages). Bright blue Efalin endpapers. Full cloth case binding made for a nice change, also it's lots faster to make than the leather ones. No paring leather for instance but that's only one small piece of all the extra work that goes into the leather journals.

 

I'll definitely do some more books with this cloth, it has a certain rough hewn charme.

 

 

 

Cream colored Tomoe River with burgundy goatskin and Ebru paper. A slim book that holds almost 500 pages.

 

 

 

 

A dear friend ordered this one. I hadn't worked with the bright red goatskin in a while and it turned out to be a pleasure. Every hide is different. For this book I used Gmund Cotton paper. It's one of my favorites as I really like laid paper - see below.

 

 

Last not least, one more TR journal with hand dyed goatskin and Carta Fiorentina, it just never gets old for me.

 

 

 

The latest books have some Ingres or Bugra endpapers. I really like the texture, especially in the darker shades like brick red or greyish blue. The colors are all rather subdued though so if I want something really bright, like for the "greece" book, I use Efalin.

 

 

 

A bone-folder made groove where paper and leather meet. It protects the edges of the paper and, as I feel, adds to a more finished look.

[Noihvo]

[elderberry]

I would love to see some of your recent work, is it somewhere on the forums?

 

It is my conviction that a heavily used journal definitely needs reinforcement of some kind at the spine and corners. Leather, faux leather and cloth work fine, leather being the most sturdy but can also be the most annoying to work with.

 

New stuff is always great fun! I think I'll try dying book cloth next, I already got some acrylic paint. I should do more cloth binding in general and am also planning to but then I always seem to lean towards half leather.

I made some pretty boxes when I started bookbinding and I use them a lot as sturdy storage for all kinds of things but making them is not really my thing, it makes me feel I have too few hands! A sure sign of incompetence I think.

 

Lately I've made a journal with a french groove (as opposed to virtually no groove as in the books I've shown in the last posts). The point was to further improve mobility of the hinges. No groove means there's not a lot of room for the leather to move into as the covers open so there's always tension there. You can pare off the leather at these points but this means you take a lot of stability away from it, exactly at the most stressed area where it needs it most.

Maybe the french groove is the solution though I do like the smooth appearance. I molded the groove in the press with some carbon fiber rods so it looks pretty OK too. I'll show pictures soon!

 

As we say in German, the devil is in the detail.

[Noihvo]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2016 by Noihvo

[elderberry]

Noihvo, I really like your books, especially the one with the crane! Is it chiyogami paper? Those are really nice but so expensive.

 

I ordered my guillotine cutter from here http://www.paintersisters-neuss.de/epages/15485488.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/15485488/Categories/mehr/Papierschneider, it's inexpensive - now even more so than when I bought it O.O - and really good so far. It weighs about 13 kgs. The knife has to be sharpened every so often but that's not much of an issue.

 

Within the last weeks I have allowed my books to accumulate so I could take some pictures of the whole bunch.

 

 

 

The cloth bindings are case bindings, essentially simple but it took me a few to get the hang of them because there is no groove between the backed spine and the board so the case must be a really good fit. I believe this fact makes them English case bindings?

 

 

 

Also I experimented with french grooves of different widths for the leather bindings but I'm not convinced, I think I'll rather keep paring the leather at the joints to get the hinges as flexible as can be.

 

At the moment I'm also working on a custom book for someone from FPN. Endband almost finished:

 

[Noihvo]

 

[BMG]

Just stumbled across this thread. Truly impressive work. Thank you for sharing.

[elderberry]

Just stumbled across this thread. Truly impressive work. Thank you for sharing.

 

Thank you for your kind words!

 

 

Did some more book cloth work lately. The insides are mostly Tomoe!

 

 

Also some slim TR notebooks with elastic closure.

 

 

No paper covers for those as they're supposed to be work horses mostly, so all the pretty is on the inside: delicate Japanese Yuzen endpapers.

 

Also stitched silk end bands because they're just too pretty not to have them.

 

 

 

Minimalistic debossed design and two tone book cloth shimmering in green and blue according to angle.

 

 

The rubber bands are hidden in a deboss inside the back cover, so the covers are nice and smooth all around and no annoying bumps.

 

[ItwasLuck]

Wow this is one thread that is making me drool all over!! Wonderful use of all sorts of amazing paper and what marvelous bookbinding skills you have elderberry!! 😍😍

I'm definitely gonna want to order something from you in the future!!

Edited November 20, 2016 by ItwasLuck

[cellardoor04]

What an impressive display of work! I will be ordering soon as well, for sure!

[bobje]

Beautiful, detailed, precise work, Elderberry, and your photographs really communicate what you're doing.

[elderberry]

Thank you so much!

 

Did some more case bindings lately. I really like book cloth, it's so great to match and mix colors and patterns. Also did some more debossed designs like a Fleur de Lys themed book in two tone red-over-green cloth:

 

 

 

Also I started a small batch of full cloth bindings with debossed paper labels in various colors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides looking pretty the debossing also protects the label from wear and tear.

 

Also got inspired by some Japanese Yuzen:

 

 

Blue and red is a classic when it comes to notebooks.

 

 

My personal favorite is the mint and wine, the colors just look amazing together in my opinion.

 

Additionally I'm making quite a few custom journals like the following ones. The customer wanted two full cloth bindings in murasaki colored, silky cloth and I managed to score just the right stuff. The purple is very deep and vibrant and still I yearned for a second color. I'm very pleased with the result though I'm sure they're not for everybody.

 

 

 

 

Maybe I'll make another one of those for myself. I also made cloth hinged endpapers for one of them.

 

Edited January 23, 2017 by elderberry

[da vinci]

Wonderful work as ever elderberry!

[elderberry]

Good morning everyone,

 

Time to show some new books I've made. As it was a busy spring for me getting married and everything there wasn't as much leisure time as I would have wished but it was still enough for a few bookbinding projects.

 

 

Made this cute journal for a fellow fountain pen enthusiast and nature lover. Cover paper by Bomo Art, 240 sheets of Tomoe River inside.

 

 

 

Another Tomoe River journal. I purchased the paper with the cyclists in a little shop, sadly it's gone now, I really like it, especially the colors.

 

 

I did some full cloth bound books too, these are always nice to make. I like debossed designs or vintage labels for the front cover. I also got a range of elastic closures in different colors to match the colors of the book, it's really fun to mix and match.

 

 

This one is made with a rather thick book cloth. It has a heavy duty, rugged feel to it and the tissue thin Tomoe River inside makes for a nice contrast.

 

 

I think I may have worked out the perfect way to make the elastic closures work, they now rest between back cover and end paper. The band rests in an indentation so there are no bumps and is covered by an extra layer of book cloth so there is no strain on the endpaper. The end result looks like this:

 

 

 

The cloth bound books also have the hand sewn silk endbands, I just don't want anything else anymore, love the look and the versatility in color. Plain black endpapers for the overall "serious business" look.

 

 

This is another one of my beloved two tone book cloths in green and a greyish purple. I decided to match it with a green and grey endband and elastic closure.

 

 

 

 

That color truly is something.

 

 

Having lots of fun! Tomoe River stocks are almost depleted but as I've ordered more almost two months ago it should arrive soon.

[Noihvo]

[fountainpagan]

You have achieved perfection in no time. I am in awe in front of such beauty.

I very much like you colour choices, and some of the papers are really original.

Congratulations!

[elderberry]

Thank you so much!

 

For the endbands I use buttonhole silk thread. You could also use artificial fiber but silk is nicer, less slippery and not all that expensive. Just make sure to grab the (thicker) buttonhole silk thread and not the regular sewing thread as that one is so think it's a little challenging to work with.

 

edit: Oh, you were asking for the core - for that I use a strip of a leather-paper laminate I've made. (Essentially it's a piece of leather glued to a sheet of paper and then cut into stripes) That way it's strong but pliable.

Edited July 14, 2017 by elderberry

[empliau]

Congratulations on your marriage! I love my book with the ivory marbled cover. What do you call the horizontal ridges at intervals on the leather spine?

The next book I order will have some (mmmmm....)

[liston]

I came across Elderberry's work via the classified section of this site, and I just stumbled across this forum now.

Oh what beautiful work!! let me know how I could order more journals in the future, definately I will be looking for a cloth-bound and a goatskin in red.

 

Regards,

 

Liston

[Pendarion]

Elderberry, I've thoroughly enjoyed this thread and was impressed by your work at the beginning, let alone now! It is beyond inspiring.

 

And you've solved something I have wondered about in the past, as someone who has handspun yarn for many years, so many spinners and weavers I know, sidestep on and off into bookbinding - which I always found curious, wondering what the two have in common. But seeing now how threads are used in bookbinding... I finally get it!