i love hearing about your projects. its nice to think of everyone tinkering away like little mad scientists in their respective homes. my own project is progressing nicely... i decided to go for it and learn In Design which turned out to be completely addictive. i have spent many many hours in front of a big computer screen (i am posing as a student on Brown's campus, where my friend monitors their multimedia lab, which is the only way i've had access to such great software), arranging and rearranging some fabulous art and writing. it has been great to work with other people's stuff, but i also feel a little sad and jealous thinking of rick and nancy and megan all working so intimately with their own writing. i think this is an important aspect of writing, and i am glad you are all involved with your work on this level.
anyways i am finishing up the layout part of my project today, and will hopefully be able to print it next week. after that, my tasks are figuring out what to do for the cover (i'd like to use original/found material) and then binding the books!
since a number of us are self-binding, can we get a conversation going about this? i have started looking up some techniques online. maybe we could compile a little resource library on the blog? i'll post some of what i've found so far below. what other resources have you all tapped into?
like jordan said, i look forward to turning on some music, making some tea, maybe inviting a few friends over, and having a stitching party.
happy tinkering,
monica
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2 comments:
Wow. These books make the hand sewing sound so complicated. Thanks for sharing them, Monica. They made me feel good about just winging it myself. I'm glad I didn't know it might be so hard. My hand-sewing with black tapestry thread was not complicated and, since I pre-punched holes directly through the fold of my book, it wasn't difficult to figure out how to start in the middle and end up in the middle in order to tie my knot. I punched six tiny holes down the center fold of my book, two near the top, two in the middle, and two near the bottom. With my book open to the middle pages, laying flat with the inside facing me, I brought my needle and thread from the outside of my book in the center lower hole and threaded it through to the inside of the book. Then, I went down into the top of the lowest third hole from the inside of the book and drew the thread to the outside cover. Then, back into the lowest hole from the outside cover towards the inside of my book. Then, from the inside, I went down through the inside top of the two lowest holes towards the outer cover again. Then, back through the lower of the two center holes from the outside of the book towards the inside. Then, down through the top of the two center holes from the inside towards the outside. Then, up through the bottom of the two top holes. Then, down through the top of the two top holes from the inside to the outer cover. Then, back in through the outer cover to inside into the lower of the two top holes. Then, back out through the top of the two middle holes. Finally, tie the two thread ends together in a knot in the middle of the two center holes, in the middle of the outer cover. This may sound complicated, but once I wrote down these eleven steps, it was easy for me to follow. You may find this helpful but if not, I'm looking forward to seeing what method you and everyone else winds up choosing to bind the little books. Have fun! Nancy
Nancy's description of her process sounds like a Gertrude Stein poem -- I love it!!
I haven't taken the time to follow your instructions, Nancy, but it sounds to me like you were doing a modified (and no doubt very beautiful) version of saddle stitch, the easiest version of which you can find here: http://www.diyplanner.com/node/442
and probably at many other sites as well. Searching for these instructions makes me realize that I might be using the term "saddle stitch" to refer to something that is not saddle stitch -- yikes! If anyone learns what this simple three-hole sewn technique is called, please let me know. this technique is very easy to modify to include any odd number of holes, and of course you can place the holes at any distance from one another, to create different aesthetic effects.
Thanks, Mónica, for beginning this amazing list of resources. I wish there were a separate space on our blog where we could store resource lists and links. I'll look into that now. If not,though, I'll take on the task of creating a Microsoft Word file with a list of all our bookbinding resources; I can then email that to everyone via FirstClass. And/or if someone else is more savvy about how to wield this blog, please do educate me.
Hope all's well with all of you!
Sending fondest thoughts for all your projects,
Jen
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