Frustration

cover

binding

close-up

This is a monster of a book. It has 20 signatures and more than 600 pgs. This is a Greek binding which at one point on each stitch uses 4 needles at once. The Greek binding is kind of stressful for the uninitiated learning from a book...this is the first book whose making of made me cry a little. But it's gorgeous. A strong, gorgeous binding that I have no doubt will hold up over time.

Brocade

cover

back cover. My cover design for this book was unorthodox. The interior page of the back is identical to the front and vice versa.

I alternated regular white pages with tea-dyed pages

The binding is experimental.

I utilized braided cords with coptic changeover at the ends. This picture also shows the first of the twisted blanket stitch

At the top is traditional blanket stitch followed by another twisted blanket.

This book was purely experimental. I rarely use cords, I've never separated them before, and the blanket stitch is not actually meant to be twisted.

Two Quite Small Books

number 1

I love the color of the inside paper (which is the same for both of these

number 2

These are pretty small, definitely the smallest books I've sewn. Originally the inside paper was in this fair-trade pad thing with an interesting (kind of complex) binding but the cover wasn't flexible enough for it work well so I disassembled the pads and reused the components in other projects. The paper is a fibrous, mid-weight rich paper which was really, quite nice. The first book's cover is also a fibrous paper while the 2nd's is scrap cardstock. Binding is simple Japanese

Blue but Shiny

the cover

for the interior pages, I periodically put in blue papers in between the usual white paper

binding. This is another zig-zag coptic binding variation.