I made a book!

Two books, actually.

I followed the very good instructions from the Mindful Art Studio's Coptic Bound Journal workshop, and without much trouble made these two small sketchbooks.

The individual steps are not difficult, but they took time and care to ensure a nice finished product.  There was a lot of cutting, glueing, folding, and finally sewing to bring it all together.

The process starts with cutting the materials for your covers and the inner pages, called signatures.  I used watercolor paper for these, but any paper can be used depending on the purpose of the book.  The cover is made from chip board covered with decorative paper or fabric.

The paper cutter I bought a while back was a real life-saver.  This could all be done by hand, but that would take a long time.  It took a while as it was.  This is not a process to rush through!

The final step before sewing is to poke holes in the signatures and covers.  Again, having the correct tool really makes a difference!  When I made my first simple sketchbook a couple of months ago, I did not have an awl and improvised with a sharp screw Michael found in the garage.  It worked, but was slow and hurt my hand.  Because I enjoyed making the sketchbook and knew I would make more, I bought a beginner's bookbinding kit with the various tools needed to make different books.  I've used almost everything in the kit already.

Look at those neat and tidy holes!

The next step is sewing the pieces together.  As you can imagine, this is a bit awkward at first while trying to figure it all out.  I was really happy to have the curved needles from the bookbinding kit!  A straight needle can do the job, but requires a lot more fiddling around with the book which might lead to loose stitches.  Lots of sharp things involved in book making!

Once you have the hang of it, the sewing step is very enjoyable.

By the time I was finished with the second book (the blue one) I was feeling really good about the process.  I did learn one very important thing - make sure you have enough thread!  I barely squeaked by with just an inch or so to spare on the second book.  Not much more on the first one.

Here's a close up of the stitching.  I know with practice the stitches will be more uniform, but either way they look pretty nifty.

The books lay flat when open, which will make painting in them easy.  The other sketchbooks I've made don't do that, so the paint tries to pool in the middle.

I made a painted piece for the inside cover.  Next time I'll cut the inner pieces smaller so they don't have holes poked in them (and I'll make sure the outer cover paper is big enough to fold in further and cover the board better.

Now I've got these two great books to fill with art!  I know I'll be making more of these, and am really looking forward to visiting a craft store in person to pick out nice paper for the covers.

So many possibilities...

Adventures in ink making (sort of)

When one dabs colorful liquid on paper with a brush, it's only natural to begin to wonder what colors might be obtained from nearby plants, such as this red currant growing across the street.

I've been reading up on how to make inks from natural materials, and following the experiments of others.  It's not a difficult process, but I don't have quite everything I need at the moment.

No worries!  I decided to go ahead and try a very crude method today without fancy stuff like a dedicated pan for boiling things in (instead of one of Michael's cooking pans).  I also don't have gum arabic, or an essential oil to prevent mold.

First, I picked a lot of flowers off of that plant across the street.  In case you're wondering the stems are incredibly sticky.  I washed my hands with soap and that did not get rid of the stickiness!  I tried some hand sanitizer with alcohol in it and that did the trick.

The flowers have a nice fresh smell.  Not "flowery" at all - just fresh.  And they're so tiny!

I picked them off of the sticky stems, and filled up a salsa jar.

Then I smashed them with a stick!

Since I didn't have a pan to boil them in, I poured boiling water over them into the jar, then set it in the sun all afternoon to keep it warm as long as possible.

The water is taking on a pink hue, and I've tested it on a piece of watercolor paper - pretty pale!  The color shows up a bit better on a paper towel.  Tomorrow I will strain the flowers out, and let it sit in the sun again with the lid off so it can evaporate a bit.  For a first try and not following the directions closely, it's still turning out interesting!

I really miss being able to dash off to the thrift store - soon!  I'll get my hands on a dedicated plant boiling pan before long, as well as a few of the other vital ingredients to make proper ink.  In the meantime, I'll report back tomorrow after I've messed around with this batch some more.  I should have some decent marks on paper to share.  If nothing else, it's very pretty pink water!

Cheers!