(Continued from part one and two)

Happy New Year! Okay, now where was I? It's about time to wrap up this series of posts. Last time, I talked about using custom jigs and securing the pages onto the cords. There is still a small piece of quick tip that I'd like to share.

Little signatures
It so happened that I was in the process of making a batch of little signatures, and apparently they were perfect to prop up the pages as well. When these little signatures are packed together, they allow me to quickly insert and pull out photos to check and see if they align right. They also have a spring-like flexibility so that they don't stress out the photographs.

This piece relies on a slight offset of each of the images and it's important to double check if they are in the right order before gluing.

(Continued from part one)

Using the jigs
Before all the "pages" are securely attached to the four cords, they need to be propped up. The jigs keep each of the pages in place, while they also provide a relatively sturdy structure when the cords are pulled taut.

Securing pages onto cords
Once the cotton cords were pulled taut through the pages, I applied a tiny drop of PVA glue onto each of the joints. A squeeze bottle with a tiny tip worked great for this.

When dried, the PVA prevents the pages from shifting on the cords, so as to maintain even spacings between them. Supports at the front and back of the train worked with the jigs to keep the structure upright. Once the PVA dried, the structure became pretty sturdy and can now stand on itself.

By the way, that's my trusted HP-22S scientific calculator in the second picture. I had it since high school, it's been 20+ years and it's still working great.

(To be continued.)

Pages took me about a little bit over a month to create. It was quite a cautiously-made piece: for every step, I had to be extra diligent and careful, as mistakes couldn't be covered up easily.

Pages is constructed from images of eight of my earlier volumes, which are held onto 4 cord cords with PVA glue.

Model
Before working with the photographs, I made a model to see if PVA would be strong enough to keep the card stock on the cotton cords (I had a lot of old name cards to spare.) I also wanted to see if I could avoid using grommets, which would add unnecessary bulk. I wanted the piece to be as minimalistic as possible, so extra hardware just doesn't sound like a good idea.

Arranging the photos
The photos were then printed and trimmed, stacked and ordered. Each photo in a group offsets slightly to create a staggering effect. By looking at the edges, I double checked to make sure the order was correct. I placed a card stock in front of the first photo to protect the print surface from accidental scratches and finger prints.

Spacers/jigs
After piercing each of the photos, they were ready to be threaded with cotton cords, a few photos at a time. The challenge then was to keep them at equidistant from each other, while the cords are pulled taut when I applied PVA at the joints.

I made eight jigs of equal thickness from scrap boards. The center of the jigs is hollow to reduce waste and for the ease of handling. I could move the jigs around without touching the photos on each side of the jigs.

(To be continued.)

Last week, 2 long-overdue websites finally came to be.

Affordable Binding Equipment (affordablebindingequipment.com)

First of, California-based cabinet-maker and bookbinder Jim Poelstra, who has been making affordable and high quality bookbinding equipment for years and sell them solely on eBay, now has his own website.

In 2006, I've purchased a sewing frame from him and I simply love the craftsmanship of the piece. Since I wrote about it in back then, people have written to me and asked where they can buy his work, but I really couldn't them much because his eBay store has been on and off.

But now, you can see all of Jim's work -- presses, frames and cradles -- and purchase them directly through eBay again.

Susan Mills (susanmillsartistbooks.com)

I always write about Susan Mills, not only because I attribute a lot of my basic bookbinding techniques to her, but also because I simply love her work. Guess what, Susan finally has a website that lists some of her artist books. You can even buy them on the site!

Most of the time it's hard to go back and start all over if you make a mistake. You've gone too far and wish that you can keep going to finish your piece. Either you've forgotten a step or something is really off. Do you keep going or redo it all over again? It will be harder for you if you happen to be a perfectionist.

But mistakes can be good, if you keep going. Because it forces you to think outside the box. You really need get to think creatively to either cover your mistake or do something different. Okay, I forgot to chisel the groove for a ribbon closure before I apply the endpaper, what other ways can I do to make a closure for the book, instead of re-creating the cover?

What about making 2 holes on the spine and thread chenille though them?


Turned out, I liked it. I might even use this closure for another book in the future...

A question posted on the comments:

When you have a paper-covered book, do you glue the board side first or the back of the paper, and what's the best glue? I am afraid the paper may buckle or tear when I crease it.

Answered: As a general rule, when gluing together two pieces of paper/board, always apply glue to the thicker piece and then lay the thinner on it.

But when gluing a thinner piece onto a more complex structure, for example, inlay paper onto a constructed case, you'd apply glue on the paper, because it's simply easier to handle. When applying glue on paper, always let the glue soak up enough moisture so that it doesn't buckle. In other words, you need to saturate the paper with glue before fusing with the other material.

The best glue depends on the materials that you're working with. Generally, water-thinned PVA, a mixture of PVA with methyl-cellulose, or wheat paste are used with paper and boards.

Before attaching the covers to the book blocks, I had to attach the closure ribbons. The pale brown/maroon piece has a pair of wide color-matching ribbons, while the blue piece has a single extra long yellow/green stripes ribbon that wraps around the album many times.

After marking the width of the ribbons on the board with an awl, slits are made using a chisel.


Portions of the board were removed to accommodate the thickness of the ribbons. This is called recessing. You don't want any ribbon to show after you put on the end paper. The inside of the cover should be completely flat and smooth so that the pages don't get indented.

After attaching the sections to the spine, the book blocks are complete. We are going to put them aside and work on the covers. Actually, not until we measured them for the covers.

Most of the time, I don't transfer measurements with the help of a ruler; instead, I use markings on waste paper instead. In other words, I don't first measure with rulers and then transfer "13-1/4 inches" to something else; I simply mark the measurement on a piece of scrap paper and then apply it where I want it to be. I'd never know the exact measurements! (In fact, when I do measure, I measure in millimeters!)

The pale brown/maroon set of the covers are created by strips of book cloth, the other set is wrapped with plain navy Arrestox book cloth. In the first set, the maroon strips in the middle have different widths to create a unique effect with the closure, as you shall see in the next part.

When the covers and pressed and dried, I immediately stack them up with the book blocks and see how good they look...