A Couple Handmade Books

[TeaHive]

Book-binding and pen love seem to go together. I've done book-binding off and on for the last several years. They usually end up as poetry journals or sketchbooks, so nothing fancy--though I do feel the urge to try my hand at a hardcover sometime soon.

 

A mini coptic-bound book using gold embroidery thread, card stock, and bristol paper:

 

 

 

 

And one with a soft leather cover, cotton crochet thread, and parchment paper signatures sewn in with pamphlet binding. I left the tails super long so I could braid them to make the wrap tie:

 

 

 

Both books lay flat!

 

[TMLee]

Nice !

[TeaHive]

Nice !

 

Thanks!! They were fun little projects. Which brings me to...

 

 

My newest little item! This is Chunk-Bit:

 

 

 

While inspired by the Midori, Chunk-Bit is not as pretty. In fact, Chunk-bit is kind of "so ugly it's cute." But it's meant to be stuffed into the pocket and used. Soft leather does not do with with elastic binding, unless the booklets/signatures have stiff covers. But I like it anyway. It looks pre-beaten up.

 

 

Five signatures of 9 sheets, for a total of 180 pages of kraft paper.

 

 

Next to a Kaweco Liliput for size comparison. Chunk-Bit is only 1.75" x 2.25".

[GatzBcn]

Cute little things!! When I do Coptic, I usually use only like four lines. It looks very different when you make so much lines of sewing!! And your linkstitch looks so soft...

[TeaHive]

I like many sewn lines for Coptic. Sometimes I like to do something like, three at either end, large spaces, then four in the middle. I even tried to do a zigzag pattern, but it didn't end up looking so great. ^_^;

 

But thank you for the kind words! I really love the little soft book too. Especially the olive color. <3

[Joe in Seattle]

Very well executed

[TeaHive]

Very well executed

Thanks!

[Hayseed Brown]

Nice work, TeaHive. Those leather covers look nice and soft. Were they repurposed from leather items you own?

[TeaHive]

Nope, I got a few pieces of leather scrap from Hobby Lobby. Though, I might have some leather coats at my parents' house still.. I'll have to check soon!

[delano]

A little late in coming to this thread, but these books are very nicely done!

[TeaHive]

Thanks! I've been busy making more, so I suppose I ought to take some photos soon.

[TeaHive]

Some more photos, forgive the poor light quality and my scratched-up desk.

 

This is my first wirebound book! Kind of fun, but not my favorite binding. This booklet came about because I bought a Lihit Lab 10-hole punch, thinking it would be the same size as another 10-hole mini book I have. Alas, it was smaller than the cover I already had, and I didn't want to buy a Lihit Lab memo book just so I could use the punch. My solution was just to make my own book.

 

Unfortunately, the punch is not very good.. It takes quite a bit of effort to punch through thicker papers. Tracing paper is what I used here, as it went through 2-3 sheets at a time with ease. Tomoe River paper was too thin--the punch crumpled up the paper's edges when pressed through. Sigh. BUT, tracing paper works well with pens, so I'm rather pleased overall.

 

The cover was made out of decorative card-stock. Chocolatey!

 

 

 

 

 

And using a couple EF pens: Pilot Penmanship EF in a Parker Parkette for the Tobacco ink, and the Diamine Grey ink sketch is in an Esterbrook with an xxxxxf-xxxxf regrind I did. It looks like pencil!

 

[TeaHive]

And here's another Midori inspired booklet, made with a sage-mint-blue soft leather scrap. It came with a couple other pieces that were stapled together.. Bah. You can see the holes on the bottom edge. But it'll make for a nice little carry-around, knock-about book. The notebooks inside are Clairefontaine 3" x 4.75" staplebound.

 

 

 

 

[Morbus Curiositas]

Lovely looking (note)books...

 

Lovely little hobby too

[TeaHive]

Thanks!! It's nice to have loose leaf paper of my choosing, that I can also turn into something more portable. ^_^

 

Someday I'll get around to making nicer, hard-back books. For now, though, I really like Coptic binding the most, so I can have nice, flat surfaces for writing and drawing.