Boxes were the last assignment for my bookbinding class and in my opinion they were the most fun. In bookbinding boxes are typically used as enclosures for books, but mine are just fun little boxes for things around the house.
I am really glad bookbinding is over. Bookbinding is fun and rewarding, but it also takes a great deal of time and patience. Many weeks I spent ten hours or more on making books, which is pretty challenging as an undergraduate. I do like having things to show for taking a class though. In the future I would like to continue making books on my own since they are fun projects. It will also probably be less stressful when I know I won't be graded on them!
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I finally made some real books! These took many hours of blood, sweat, and tears. Totally worth it though. I have some nice hardcover books.
Look at the nice wide spines!
I was really pleased with the different cloths I picked.
The endsheets on the books.
These were by far the most challenging books I've made this semester but they were also the most rewarding in the end. I felt like there were several opportunities to check your work along the way.
I feel like I've spent more time making books than reading books as of late. I'm enjoying taking two art classes this semester but it is a lot of work. These four books probably took me about ten hours last week. The bottom two were my first tries which is why there is so much sewing. I didn't really think that through-- it took forever.
The bottom one is 60 pages, so 120 front and back.
Some of them have flaps which is nice. The one picture above probably turned out to be my favorite. I glued two sheets of paper together to strengthen the paper for sewing. Everything turned out nice and even. I'm looking forward to using this one as a journal once I finish the journal I'm currently using. I have so many books I've made I don't know what to do with them all! I'm making at least 11 more this semester and already have 18. Who knew I'd end up with so many journals?
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Last week I showed off my pamphlets, or the first books I've ever made. I've been hard at work on my hardcover pamphlets now and I'm about halfway done. Here are the two I have finished.
The two hardcover pamphlets.
End sheets on books. The yellow one doesn't have an end sheet.
Bindings on my books.
I'm happy with how these turned out. I really love this paper I got at the Paper Nest. It's super forgiving and beautiful. I especially like the blue grey paper with the white design. I'm almost out of it and I will be so sad when it's gone! But I'm looking forward to picking out more paper. The covers on the yellow pamphlet aren't lined up perfectly which really bothers me, but I have two more books to try and get it perfect before I turn these in.
When I first started bookbinding I was easily frustrated by all the things I had to think about, but I feel like I'm getting the hang of it.
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I'm currently taking a bookbinding class, which means I've spent the last two weeks learning the basics of bookmaking. This means pamphlets. I made six pamphlets, two each of three different kinds. Here are the fruits of my labor:
All of my books in a row.
French folds, or folding the cover over the book so the stitching does not show.
Double pamphlet (two groups of pages) with a wrapper cover (cover wraps around end sheets).
Fore-edge turn ins, two different end sheets with a cover wrapping around the first end sheet.
Chain stitches on the fore-edge turn ins. I'm pretty pleased with the way all of these turned out. The bigger books were my first go around and they didn't turn out as well as the smaller books my second time. If I were going to do things over I would make smaller books for my first try and use more supplies on my second tries. Live and learn.
Have you ever made a book? Would you like to?
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Snow has finally blanketed the fair Iowa City, just in time to lock me inside my house to study. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I won't be doing that today as the literary magazine I'm on is having a big meeting today and it could go for several hours. Hopefully I still manage to finish at least one paper today!
I had a party last night and several friends came over to play games and eat cookies. I made 100 cookies! Including the cookies Kim talked about at Sophisticated Dorkiness. They were delicious, a big hit. I actually used hugs and kisses for mine, and I think I preferred the hugs but I'm a sucker for white chocolate. The party was especially great because there was freshly fallen snow, cookies and warm drinks, a bright Christmas tree, and lots of laughter with good friends. It was very atmospheric, I would say. If someone from the outside were to look into our frosty windows I think they would smile at the good time we had.
I also got 500 Handmade Books from my friend Michael as an engagement/Christmas present, which was lovely. Although there is a book I saw in there that had human hair on it, which I thought was odd. It was one of the first books I looked at so I'm interested to see what can top that. In all reality, I'm really excited about bookbinding right now. Michael and I are taking a bookbinding class next semester and on Friday I went to see what students in the University of Iowa's Center for the Book made this past semester. There were so many amazing books, paper, and boxes that I feel I couldn't have seen everything even though I walked through it all. I hope some of my projects turn out as beautiful as the ones on display. I'm sure you can all expect posts about that next semester!
I'm off to continue writing about Sarah Silverman and eat some breakfast (brunch?).
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