Learning new tricks

I took another bookbinding class last weekend: "A Cord Runs Through It", at the San Francisco Center for the Book. The style of the book I learned to make in this class is totally different from the traditional case-bound books I made in the past, and I'm not sure how much I like the loose, crafty feel of this book, but it was definitely fun to make. The signatures are sewn onto cords, and the covers are made from two layers of handmade papers, with the cords sandwiched in between. I'd like to try to adapt this technique to come up with something a little bit more polished, but it's always so much fun to take a class and learn a new technique.

Rejoice, exult!

One of my most interesting projects lately was the repair of a copy of Bach's Christmas Oratorio. The full score belongs to my Mom, and has so for about 30 years now. And since every self-respecting church choir performs the Christmas Oratorio once a year, this piece of sheet music had definitely seen better times.

Purchasing a new copy was pretty much out of the question: After 30 years of singing Bach's tunes, my Mom had recorded such a wealth of notes and comments in the book, that it had become a nearly irreplaceable document.

So I gathered book loads of information on book repair and conservation, and got to work. After removing the old case and all glue residue with the help of wheat paste, I was able to separate the signatures.

The outer fold of each signature was torn or severely weakened in most of the gatherings; the rest of the signatures was in fairly good condition. I guarded the folds with strips of japanese paper. The strips aren't being cut, but torn wet, as the frayed edges blend into the pages better than a hard cut edge would.

After repairing all signatures I re-sewed the text block and made a new, stronger case for the precious piece.

I added new cream-colored endsheets to the text blook and cased in the book. Done! Rejoice! Exult!

More Before, During, and After pictures here.

Leave room for milk

For years now I held on to a Starbucks paper bag with a pretty wintery print. Inspired by tulibri's paper bag books back then, I had planned to recycle it into a book some day. The day has come...



The spine and corners are made from off-white book cloth, and I found a red paper for the endpapers that matched the colors on the cover.



For the textblock I printed dotted blue lines onto white paper, somewhat resembling snowflakes. I feel like having a Caramel Macchiato now...