Friday, September 9, 2011

Pamphlet Book

I always have stacks of paper in some form of undress waiting to be used. Sometimes, I have paper in the press waiting to be sewn into a text block. Sometimes, I have paper that is already folded and pressed waiting to be used for last minute emergency gifts.

I fell in love with this paper during one of my visits to NY Central Art Supply. The paper is a 100 percent rag paper (A5 size, 150 gsm) from South India and is sold by Khadi Papers. I love the tactile quality of the paper and the paper is good for watercolor, painting and all drawing media. Unfortunately, the paper isn't suitable for journal writing but would be a great paper for art journaling.

Using the basics of the 10 minute journal illustrated in Art at the Speed of Life by Pam Carriker, I adapted the project to fit the materials I had at hand (after the miserable failure mentioned earlier this week). I folded the pages in half and was about to sew then together when I realized that I didn't like that the first page would be the front cover of the book. Carriker sews a button on the first page to help keep the book closed. Instead, I decided to add a piece of card stock to add some stability to the book and to act as a cover. I then decided to use a decorative piece of paper as a wrapper to give it a more polished finish. I would then sew all layers together using a pamphlet stitch and use the extra binding thread as a closure for the book.



(l) the book as sewn through all layers
(r)the grey card stock cover and the paper wrapper

Another aspect about the original project is that I didn't want the mechanics of the closure to show. Therefore, I sewed the button through the decorative paper and the card stock cover. I then glued down the wrap around front flap of the decorative paper to cover the sewing and to give a polished look to the journal. Also, after using the extra thread from the pamphlet stitch, I decided to tie a fob at the end of the thread to act an a weight and a finishing touch to the loose thread. The thread is long enough to be used as a bookmark when the book is in use.


(l) you can see the sewing on the spine of the book
(r) the extra thread from the spine is used as a closure around the button

1 comment:

waggonswest said...

I really like this one. It is beautiful.