blank pages

This is my first handmade book–finished, almost. All those empty pages are somewhat intimidating. It was a  good learning experience. What works and what doesn’t work.  The closely woven, plain weave cotton fabric was easier to use for the cover than I thought it might be. I first stabilized it with a double-sided fusible interfacing. Then fused the cotton lining to a cardboard- like interfacing. This made a firm but flexible cover.

I miss calculated the width of the lining and had to add a strip of lichen dyed, shibori silk to each side. This then left me with ugly corners which I covered with cotton triangles. All that needed securing with hand stitching through all the layers.

The pages/signatures are mulberry paper that I had on hand. Too light, so I cut the outside pages from old marine charts.

Now all I need to do is go sailing. Oh no, been there and done that!

The book is a bit wonky–not perfect by any standard. I’m really happy with the woven finish on the stitches on the spine. I used nylon upholstery thread for all the stitching.

And a beautiful old mother-of-pearl button for a closure.

Think I’m hooked.

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