productive peeks

I made a book!

I've been wanting to do this for.....let's see- YEARS. Not sure how long exactly. But anyway, I did some research on the internet and learned from a good video how to do the coptic book binding stitch

Ok- here's the video link. It was BY FAR the easiest tutorial I found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHAJyzzb4EE

Aaaaand here's the book-

Here's the front


And the back-


the details-




the inside back cover (which is the same as the front, but it had stuff taped to it)-


OH MY HECK it posted sideways. How annoying.

Now for the embarrassing part. sigh.

So I thought that hemp would match the book the best for the binding thread. BAD IDEA. Hemp could have been cool but the make of it was much too inconsistent (you'll see when you look at the up-close of the binding). Some parts of it are fat and some are skinny. It was also kind of harsh to the paper and caused it to rip easier as I was sewing.

Other mistake- I forgot to test the grain of the chip board (which was too thin in the first place) that I used for the cover so THAT was a pain.

Oh yea, and if you look at the second detail picture, you'll see newspaper print. When I was mod podging the paper onto the chip board (I did it over newspaper to protect the table) I left it on the newspaper while it was still wet and there you have it. Newspaper remains. grrr.

So here's proof of my learning curve-





Next post- a "kind-of" part two about the book. not about the making of the book, but it's purpose.