Recent Book Creation

Having recently joined the ABC (association of book crafts) I have been reinvigorated to bookbinding. Time to myself is some thing of a precious commodity when chasing after small trouble and living with big trouble (my husband and son). I don't get much time to enjoy the crafts I pursue, like bookbinding. Anyway the ABC are having an exhibition in Auckland and requesting books made by their members for display. As a result I decided to knock something together and here is the result.

    The book measures 11cm x 15cm. The knot work patten on the closure I burned into the leather with a poker machine or wood burning tool. The leather colour according to what was written on the skin is Autumn leaves.

The spine is sewn with green embroidery thread in a cris-cross patten. The pages are sewn straight to the leather, no spine lining was used

The pages I did some time ago as an experiment and put them aside to be used when a book came up that they would be right for. They are cream paper, tea stained and hand ripped at the edges to create a deckle edge. the front and back sections have the first/last page pasted to the leather covering to create endpapers. I strengthened these sections with an extra slip of paper round the back of the section before sewing.

The cover is limp and has a front flap that is tied down when closed with a leather strip and the a fore mentioned tag.

All and all fairly pleased with the result, it took about two days to put together ( a couple hours each day)