Islamic Mini~Lined Notebook

I recently have become enamored with notebooks that can keep themselves closed. Islamic bindings have this feature. Islamic bindings have an extra bit of cover that wraps around over the front of the book. It protects the fore-edge of the book and, according to my extensive google research, the flap can also be used as a bookmark.

I experimented today with two lined notebooks about A6 in size. Each one has five signatures of four sheets each for a total of 80 pages. I used snaps attached to the flap and the front cover to keep the book closed. In my paper drawer was some paper that looked vaguely Islamic, so I used that as the cover paper.

Procedure:

1. Print out the pages which include lines, page numbers, my contact info, and, for no particular reason that I can discern, a picture of Claire Clairmont, Mary Shelley's husband's girlfriend. This took about one hour.

2. Fold and sew. Add the mull and extra strip of paper. This took about one hour, too. (Two books, remember.)

3. Measure and cut the book boards. This took about five minutes.

4. Measure and cut the book cloth. This was another well-spent five minutes

5. Glue everything together which took an additional 15 minutes or so.

6. Sew the snaps on. Gosh, golly. The first one took about fifteen minutes. The second one took about five minutes.

When I make another Islamic bound book I will use snaps again but I will make the books bigger, use thicker book boards, and apply the snaps before the book cloth.

What I learned on this excursion was to organize my material well. This enabled me to work quickly ~ or, at least more quickly than making just one book, for some reason.

Papermaking Pictures

First, that is one large piece of paper. Second, the drawing of the machine is from the 1850s. Things haven't changed much. In either picture.

The big paper is from Konopaki
The papermaking machine picture is from Griffen Mill

Street Fair!

Nice day and pleasant people.

Width of Book Boards

I've always had a problem figuring out the width of a book board. Then I found this nifty definition:

The width is the width of the book block plus the square and minus two board thicknesses to create the hinge.

Works for me. A 2 mm book board has a 4 mm hinge. Although I have also read the hinge should be 3.5 times the thickness; making it a 7 mm hinge.

If the square is 2 mm:

Book block + 2 - 4 = book block - 2.

Commission Finished and Appreciated

I delivered the commissioned piece and the client was most happy. After she strenuously inspected it.
A couple hundred lined pages and half bound - the corners are protected - with blue book cloth.I believe the endpapers are also a dark blue. I hope this won't be my only commission but I do hope it's my last free one.

First Commission

A person (friend? associate? Cuban spy?) asked me to make a lined notebook for her. She gave me the paper she wants me to use and the rough size - 'about this big,' she said as she folded the paper. She also said she didn't want any pictures - especially pictures of me - in the book. Not even my logo. However, since this is my very first commission, I'm ecstatic.

Am I getting so much better at bookbinding that she trusts me to make a good notebook for her or does she just want a free book? (Yes, I'm not charging her for it. Trust me, though, this is my last free commission. Although it also might be my only commission....)

Here are three pictures: the paper 'neath a haniwa, ten printed folded signatures, and the same signatures sewed up. A haniwa is that thing you see but the originals are from western and southern Japan from the Jomon era - from 10,000 to 3,000 years ago.

New: Tedorigawa Bookmakers Podcast

If you look at the top of this post you will see a new tab titled: Tedorigawa Bookmakers Podcast. This is a podcast I make for Tedorigawa Bookmakers. That makes sense, doesn't it?

Currently it has 95 episodes. The more recent episodes have me talking about my current work or the work of other people. There is occasionally an Interview with a Bookbinder. This is followed by a Bookmaking Audio Drama that is a conversation between a fictional bookbinder and a fictional customer. The episodes are at most about five minutes long, many are shorter but I don't think any are longer.

Here is a the 95th Episode. I hope it plays. If it doesn't, click on the new Tab at the Top ~ Tedorigawa Bookmakers Podcast ~ or download here:

• Tedorigawa Bookmakers Episode 95 (right click and save)

Podcast Powered By Podbean

The Tedorigawa Bookmakers Podcast is also available on iTunes at Tedorigawa Bookmakers.

Thanks for dropping by.

Fold-Out Book

I'm working on making a fold-out book that, I hope, will contain a local artist's sketches. There will be nine 'pages' when it's open but 18 pages overall. What I have discovered is the thicker the book board, the bigger the gap between the middle page and the outlying pages, especially the first one that opens (which is also the last to close).

I'm looking for very thin wood or will use .5 mm ( or 1mm bookboard, if necessary). They will be connected with book cloth or sewn together using color-appropriate thread. The color will depend on the artist.

The pictures show prototypes and a half-scale mock-up. I'm thinking one page will be B5, at least. It will be a bulky book but worth every penny. Will we make an edition? Depends on my skill, the artist's intention, and, probably, the weather when things are finished...?

Pretty fun working out all the logistics and technical details of a structure I've never made before. Great fun. Of course, it's taking time away from my Calvado rewrite.... Hmmm.

Check out:

http://tedorigawabookmakers.podbean.com

for audio & more photos about my bookbinding.

Calvado: A Deadly Love Story Rough Draft

I used a piece of cardboard and cased in a rough draft of a great novel called Calvado: A Deadly Love Story about a beautiful medical student who doubles as a fashion model. And the man with the mysterious disease that almost kills her. Anyway, Two people have read it so far and neither one caught the big, Big, plot hole. So I'm going to spend January fixing the hole and hopefully get the ebook version up on Smashwords.com before the end of January. The hardcover, handmade version will be ready about then, too.

The pictures are front cover, the back open, and the first, edited, page. Please enjoy your holidays as I toil over the rewrite. Ha!

Rough Draft Novel Bound: The Idiot Runs

This is my novel, The Idiot Runs. Autobiographical? I think not, my friend. It's a rough draft complete with some of my corrections. I wanted to practice casing in, so I cased it in. Odd, isn't it, how practicing doing something is better than reading about doing something? It's cased in rough (rough draft, see?) white paper with no indication for front or back. Similar to the novel itself which goes from present day Oregon coast to Venice in the 1400s and Jensen's print shop. See why it isn't autobiographical? It's a love story, of course. The main experiment was making very thin covers so that the novel itself is flexible. A success, I think.

Medieval Book Completed and Named

In the past few weeks I've been slowly putting together a book. I know, what an odd thing for a bookbinder to be doing. However, this is a new style for me and only the second one at that. A little thought was involved. Yeah, very little - I'll explain that in a moment. First, the book.

Jumps with Snow is its name because it was completed during a heavy snow storm. It is 140 pages, B6, blank journal. "Blank journal" means the bookmaker was too lazy to print anything, even lines, on the paper. OR, in my case, eager to try out a new binding. In this case the binding is a rounded back with raised cords.

Overall, an enjoyable experience wherein I learned a lot. First mistake, put one endpapers in upside down. Second mistake, put the endpapers on the mull instead of Under the mull, thus hiding it from the book's user. A habit of mine I should break. Or use some thought? Yes, thinking would be good. Major mistake, kind of, was making too few signatures. It only has seven whereas if it were 15 or so, it would look better. Allis Experience and Training.

See you next week, I hope. For audio and more pictures, check out:

http://tedorigawabookmakers.podbean.com

Cooking Up a Medieval Book? Maybe

I'm starting, slowly, to make a book like I've never made before. The signatures are sewn on raised cords, then the spine is rounded for a 1 cm book board. After I'm finished the spine should have bumps on it.

Here are three pictures of this glorious work in progress. The first problem I've encountered is I have made too few signatures. Seven is too few. It would be better to have maybe 15 at least. Maybe even twenty.

Moon Eclipse blank book

200 pages, rounded back, my first, Gorgeous endpapers. B6 in size. Excellent experience and topped it off with fine, cold 酒. Wonderful day.

Tedorigawa Daily (A Paperli Paper)

A Paperli paper; meaning, I suspect, a digest of troglodytes picked up somewhere amongst the tubes of the inner net. i.e. you don't have to read all the blogs to get the info I've picked up somewhere, myself. About bookbinding, papermaking, book arts, and printing. Mostly. With the odd assorted flavors thrown in for good measure.

And now, the headlines behind the stories (click anywhere - except the bottom of your foot - to be whisked away to, yes, drum roll: Tedorigawa Daily):

Recent Completions

I case bound two books today.

One is A5 in size with about 285 pages. It's one of my novels: Tristram's Printer backed with the first book of Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy. The endpapers are of two different colors because I was away from my studio space and only had the papers I had. Still, not bad since there are two novels, it stands to reason it should have two colored endpapers.

The second one is another of my novels: The Priests of Hiroshima: An Historical Love Story. It is B4 in size with 172 pages and green endpapers.