When I was just starting out in calligraphy, a gazillion years ago, I fell in love with handmade books. (I no longer practice calligraphy, but I’m starting to get into the handmade books.)
For the record, I have always loved books. When I was four years old, I believed with my whole heart that knowing how to read and write was an adult conspiracy, meant to keep the kids down. There had to be some kind of magic contained in books.
There is. Legit. For real. I became a voracious reader, and a lover of pens and pencils. And books.
When I was in elementary school, I checked out an old book about logging (?), or forest management (?), something I wasn’t even remotely interested in, because I liked the feel of the book itself. It was heavy and thick, with a sturdy binding. I loved that book (even though I never read it), because it made me feel smart to carry such a beautiful object.
When I started journaling on a regular basis, it was my goal to learn to make my own journals. I have become kind of persnickety about size and format, the way a book feels in my hands, so I’m still on that journey, but in the last year or so, I’ve started to come closer (I’m not completely there yet, but my attempts are starting to feel more substantial.)
I can make my own book cloth and sew text block with reasonable competency. I’m still not great with glue, but I like the stability it (along with mull) provides. I can improvise headbands when I need to. I have spent *a lot* of money at places like Talas and Hollander’s — they’re both amazing, have exactly what I’m looking for (usually), and I have been nothing but pleased with my shopping experiences.
I’ve taken a couple of bookbinding workshops through the Spokane Print and Publishing Center, which were so amazing, and learned quite a bit from YouTube (because you can learn anything on YouTube).
Another amazing resource: Peg and Awl, for handmade objects, ideas, and learning. During the height of the pandemic, they published a series of tutorials, “Bookbinding at Home” — I used the one at the link to cover a book I’m enjoying working in right now.
This paper is not sturdy enough for the kind of stuff I want to do, but it was excellent practice, and it’s a lovely book.
I liked it so much that I made another book in exactly the same style, but with 140lb watercolor paper.
We’ll see if this paper does the trick. It’s heavier and sturdier than the 90-lb paper, so should hold up better to wet media.
The hard/interesting thing about bookbinding is that it’s a lot of time spent waiting for glue to cure… it’s watching grass grow or paint dry… which is why it’s a good thing to have a couple of projects in the works. Today, for instance, I can sew a notebook, make some headbands, and prep a case for the text block above.
I will likely never become an expert bookbinder. I like it, but not enough to become obsessed with it — it’s more of a means to an end for me. (People who do become obsessed with it create amazing work that I admire but will probably never be able to emulate.) But it is, so far, a grand puzzle to solve and something tangible to make, so I’m enjoying it.
These turned out OK — they’re still practice books (not fit for gifting or sale), but each one demonstrates some improvement, and they will be useful to me. I still have one more text block to case bind (it has been sewn, but needs to be glued, and I need to make a case for it.
Carmen Yount 