Tour Book

Front cover

When I worked for an entertainment company, I was the one that was in charge of putting together the "Tour Book." The Tour Book is a handy distillation of all of the necessary information regarding transportation, housing, and daily itineraries.  Since I will be departing on my own tour, I decided to make my own Tour Book for my travels.

I have found these screw post bindings very useful. Because you can vary the depth of the book, being able to add and subtract pages as necessary is very helpful. For mine, I decided on a black book cloth spine so it wouldn't show dirt while it was being handled on a daily basis. The decorative paper on the front and back covers is a gold and silver metallic flecked Yuzo paper from my travels to Japan.

The end sheets are a crane paper done in the same color palette. I decided on this paper to bring luck to the tour as the upward flying crane symbolized good luck.

End Sheets

The book is divided in sections with each section dedication to a stop on the tour. Within each section there will be the train/flight schedule, local map and hotel information (including reservation number and hotel address).  Each divider is scored one inch for the left margin in order to allow for easier turning. Also, on the back of each divider is an envelope to hold the loose pieces of paper associated with being on tour (e.g., receipts, meal tickets, plane tickets, etc). The envelope is stapled to allow for easy removal once the tour is over and receipts need to be processed for an expense report.

Divider

Handy Envelope

The above divider is the section divider to indicate the beginning of the trip. The remaining dividers are tabbed for reference purposes and indicate each stop. The beauty of this type of book is that you can rearrange the sections by moving the older sections of the trip to the back of the book and this way you will always have the current stop on top of your book. If you don't want to go through that trouble you can simply leave the book as is until the tour is over.

Tabs and Dividers

This is one of my favorite book structures because you can add/remove pages as necessary. I also carry extra pages to add as I collect memories along the way. Since I deal with paper products, I put all of the pieces of paper into my tour book. Tickets, menus, cards, postcards, etc. all get added to my book. I usually carry rolls of washi tape to temporarily adhere these pieces onto the page until I decide permanently use them. I usually use the rolls of washi tape that I don't like for this purpose since many times it will be thrown away once I decide how to I want to use the paper pieces later. I hope to share more of my tour book as the tour progresses.

Countdown: Three sleeps and then I am on the road.

Iron Craft 2016 Challenge #19--Leopard Print Coloring Book

For Challenge #19 we were asked to prepare something based on current fashion trends. I had some leftover coloring book blanks that I needed to work on so I decided to do the covers in velvet and leopard print papers.

One of the difficulties with accordion books is that it is difficult to know from which side to open the book. To alleviate this problem, I decided to give the covers a standard quarter binding appearance so that it would resemble a regular book. The title of the binding refers to the dimensions of the covering material. The spine material (in this case, the velvet paper) covers one quarter of the surface. The decorative paper (the leopard print paper) then covers the remaining three quarters of the surface. I chose the velvet paper for the spine material because it has a nice feel against the hand.

To finish the book, I simply mounted the pages to the inside front and back covers. The fly sheet/end sheet is left blank so you can write something special for the recipient.

Overall, I like the book and especially like the matte surface of the velvet paper against the slight sheen of the decorative paper.

Iron Craft 2016 Challenge #11--Memorial Book

Challenge Eleven was based on memories. I had so many ideas of what to do for this project. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I was forced to go in a different direction. A good friend of mine was battling cancer and died recently. I have been helping with the arrangements when the husband asked me if I would make a scrapbook/memorial book for the Memorial Service. The idea was that everyone would bring pictures, newspaper clippings, anecdotes and other memories to place in the book.

Here is the final project. As some of you know, sometimes you put a little bit more love in some projects than others. For me, this was one of those projects. The cover is a ginkgo leaf flocked paper. James loved the ginkgo trees of Puerto Rico where he and his husband would visit frequently. Actually, his ashes will be spread under a favorite ginkgo tree in Puerto Rico.

The interior is covered with black suede paper and the end sheets are a green metallic paper.

Interior Pages

 The pages are hand sewn in the traditional way.

Hand Sewn Signatures (pages)

Each page was hand torn so that a deckled edge appear of the fore edge in the traditional bookbinding technique.

Iron Craft 2016 Challenge #7--Refurbished Journal

Front Cover

For this Challenge, I decided to refurbish a journal that was falling apart. Last week, I showed the week long process. For today, I wanted to show the final results. The theme was dots so I decided to use decorative paper from India for the front and back covers. For the interior end sheets I used some hand marbled paper with a stone pattern.

End Sheets

The week long posts are linked below:

Post One
Post Two
Post Three
Post Four
Post Five

Iron Craft Challenge #7--Post Five

Today is the final step of the casing in and finishing the book. Unfortunately, this is also the part of the process where most things can go wrong. I have learned from previous experience not to rush this part, to eat a good breakfast (or at least take a break before attempting), and most importantly--use the restroom because you can't step away once you start.

The first step is to glue the text block into the case. To accomplish this, you glue the book cloth hinge to the corresponding cover. The difficulty is that once you close the case, you really can't adjust anything because the glue starts to cover materials. So you really only have one chance to get it right. Another problem is that glue can get all over the finished materials if you aren't really, really careful when gluing. To protect the text block, I placed a sheet of wax paper between the text block and the book cloth hinge. For added protection, I placed a piece of waste paper under the hinge to be glued.

This is what a glued hinge looks like.

Protection all over the place

Breathe, pray and flip the cover. Normally, I would have trimmed the hinge and mitered the corners to match the mitered decorative paper. Since this is a highly used book, I kept the extra width for the hinge. Since the decorative paper is dark, the seam won't show as much as if a lighter weight or lighted colored paper was used. When the book is pressed, the wax paper will be replaced with a sheet of mylar. The reason you do this is to prevent the moisture of the glued in end sheet from transferring to the text block and warping the text block pages. Time to flip and repeat on the opposite cover.

One side glued in

Once the text block has been glued into the case, the next step is to glue the matching end sheets. This isn't as stressful but mistakes can still be made. The biggest problem here is that the paper can stretch when wet so correct measuring is very important. Also, some papers stretch more than others. I always take a sample piece of the paper that I am using and glue it to a scrap piece of board. This allows me to see how the paper curls and how much it stretches. This is a little more forgiving of a process but glue can still get into places that it doesn't belong. Also, the response time of moving things lessens as the glued dries. You maybe get one or two attempts at getting everything straight before you have to either re-paste the paper or start with a new piece of paper. One of the lessons that I have learned to is to have plenty of extra decorative paper in case you need to start over.

End Sheet pasted in

Once both end sheets are glued in, you put the mylar in place, wrap the entire book in wax paper and place it under weight to press for the night. While this might look comical, the spine is purposely placed outside of the boards so that the spine isn't crushed under weight.

Pressing and Good Night

That will be it for now. I will show the final result on Tuesday, April 12 which is the Iron Craft reveal date.

Iron Craft Challenge #7--Post Four

Today marks the beginning of the actual binding of the book. As mentioned previously, this is a German style flatback binding. The official title is called a Bradel binding. This type of binding is characterized by a paper hinge that is used prior to applying a book cloth hinge. I like using this type of binding when I use a text block prepared by someone else. It is called a flatback binding because the spine lies flat against the text block, rather than having a rounded shape used in most handmade books.

The first step in building the case is the paper hinge. A piece of card stock is used for the spine and is glued to archival craft paper. The width of the craft paper is exaggerated in this example. The craft paper is trimmed to one inch on each side of the spine.

Beginning the paper hinge

The boards are cut to size and are glued to the opposite side of the paper hinge. The view below is the side that will rest against the text block. The beauty of this structure is that you are guaranteed the correct sized gutter (the distance between the board and the spine) because you can measure it on the paper hinge.

Spine and Boards

The next step is to apply the book cloth spine. I will be using a three quarter design for this journal. This means that decorative paper will adorn three quarters of the front and back covers. In other examples, the entire book (or half or quarter) could be covered in book cloth. Since the paper used will meet the criteria of the Iron Craft Challenge, I wanted to show as much decorative paper as possible. The reason you don't use the decorative paper for the entire cover is that the hinging (opening and closing of the book) will wear out the decorative paper and will cause it to separate or tear. Book cloth is a fabric that is lined with paper so that the extra support will function for the hinge.

Book Cloth applied to the spine

The next step is to apply the decorative paper to the front of the case. Here is the back side of the case because I want to keep the decorative paper as a surprise until the Iron Craft posting date. In the picture below, the middle strip (shown in white is the reverse of the book cloth hinge). The blue pieces are the back side of the decorative paper. To complete this step, I will mitre the corners and turn in all sides of the case. The entire piece will placed in a press to dry overnight.

Case almost complete

This weekend, I will take the text block and glue it into the case to make a completed book. Tomorrow, I will decide if I want to add any extras to the book before the final gluing.

Iron Craft Challenge #7--Post Three

Today, I finish the text block on the way to building the case and "casing it in." This is where the interesting part of the process begins--picking papers, bookcloth, headbands, and ribbon. Since the theme of the challenge is "dots" I decided to use some marbled paper that uses a pattern called "stones." They look like dots to me.

Since I am doing a particular type of binding (usually called a German binding) for a flatback binding, I have to take some extra steps. Since I didn't want to glue the end sheets directly to the case, I am tipping in my endsheets to the text block. The text block will be glued to a bookcloth hinge, then covered in mull. The hinge will be glued to the inside covers of the case.

To tip in the endsheets, you glue a small portion of the paper and then wrap it onto the spine.

Endsheets

Before I can glue the hinge, I must work backwards in terms of layers so the the mull is the very last step applied. After the endsheets are glued into place, the ribbon is next. To measure the appropriate length of ribbon, simply place the ribbon diagonally across the page and add one inch which will be glued to the spine.

Measuring the ribbon

I decided to use a coordinating yellow and green headband and glued it into place. So the spine now has both endsheets, the headband and ribbon in place.

The next step is to apply the bookcloth to make a hinge. The bookcloth should be the same as the cloth that will be used on the case. The rationale is that you want the hinge to disappear when the text block is cased in. To accomplish this, you must glue the wrong side of the cloth to the spine. The hinge should appear just below the headbands on the head and tail (top and bottom) of the text block.

Top View of the Hinge

Inside View of the Hinge

The final step is to apply mull to the spine so that is covers the paper side of the hinge. This will provide added support to the text block when it is glued to the case. After the mull is applied, the text block is placed in a weighted press to dry.

Iron Craft Challenge #7--Post Two

Today, I continue to rebind my journal. Today and tomorrow, I will concentrate on the text block which is the collection of pages that make up a book. The first goal of the day is to separate the text block from the covers (or in bookbinding terms--the case). This was pretty easy since the text block was separating from the case anyway. I simply took a scalpel and cut the connecting material (the mull).

The covers (the case)

A text block is made up of a collection of pages normally called signatures. In mass produced books, the signatures are glued together. In better made books, they are sewn together.

The Text Block

Well to my surprise, the book was hand sewn and was glued together with a mesh backing called mull. The mull keeps the signatures together should stitches break. The ends sheets are glued to the mull and then glued to the inside of the covers to keep the text block affixed to the case. So, the problem with my journal was that the end sheets were not glued very well to the text block.

Also, I didn't really realize that my journal had headbands as well. The ribbon was secured below the headbands. The purpose of the headbands is to keep the book pages from lying directly on a flat surface when stored upright.

Red and Yellow headband

Mull and stitching

Headband at the tail of the book

 The first order of business in cleaning up the text block is to remove the headbands. Rather than tear them off and threaten the sewing, I decided to heat them with a glue gun in order to loosen the glue.

Headbands removed

The second order of business is to remove the ribbon. Similarly, I used the heat gun to loosen the glue and then removed the ribbon. I then ran my my bone folder across the spine of the text block to make sure that everything was flattened and ready for tomorrow.

Iron Craft Challenge #7--Post One

I have decided to do something different for this Iron Craft Challenge. Since the project that I anticipate to complete is an extended project that will cover several steps, I decide to bring my readers along for the ride. Another purpose of these posts is to highlight the process of bookbinding and show people the process of bookbinding or, in this case, bookbinding repair.

As many of you might know, I collect journals. If I don't have a journal handy, I will buy a new one--regardless of how many unfilled or partially filled journals I have at home. Since I don't normally carry a bookbag or messenger bag on a daily basis, I will simply buy a journal if I need to write something down. This does not even include all of the journals that I made for myself or others. My studio is journal central.

I came to my decision to participate in this year's 365 Day Project rather late. Since I didn't know I was going to participate until very late in the year, I didn't have time to make an appropriate journal for the occasion. I decided to try out a new journal from Europe. The purpose of the journal was to stockpile quotes that I would then use later for the project. Since a dual purpose of the project was to continue to work on my penmanship, I needed lined paper with a smooth texture so that writing with a pen would be pleasurable. While shopping for other art supplies, I came across a new brand of journal (at least for me) from Semikolon.

After a couple of months, the front cover started to separate from the text block. With mass produced journals, the manufacturer tends to take shortcuts. In this case, the end sheets were tipped onto the text block and then glued to the inside cover. As you can see below, the left side of the end sheet is still attached to the cover but the right side of the end sheet has become unglued from the text block.

Oops--Front Cover Loose

 The same is happening to the back cover.

Back Cover starting to separate

Another frustration I have with mass produced journals is the use of substandard ribbons for bookmarks. As you can see below, the ribbon is starting to fray. Rather than use grosgrain ribbon that tends not to unravel or pre-treat the ribbon with fray-check, companies take the easy route.

Please don't fray Mr. Ribbon

So for this challenge, I will provide new covers and a new ribbon for this journal so that it meets the criteria for the challenge. I hope to take you on the daily step-by-step process of "casing-in" a pre-existing text block.

Iron Craft 2016 Challenge #6--NYC Travel Journal

For Challenge Six we were asked to make something inspired by the city where we live (or have lived). In 2008, I made this travel journal for a ten day trip to Tokyo. I made that journal from scratch but I wanted to use some materials that I already had and wanted to simplify the process for those people who might not have access to a binding machine.

I have these blank, non-adorned, journals in my stash. So I decided to make a NYC travel journal. I covered the front and back boards with a reproduction subway map made by Cavallini & Co. The front board highlights the area of the Bronx where I live. The back board highlights the map legend and title.

Starting book

To begin, I needed to remove the covers. I loosened the the spiral binding by separating the rings by hand. I loosened them just enough to remove the boards. Remember, I wanted others to be able to replicate the project.

Front Cover--da Bronx.

If you look closely, my subway stop is the 161 St/River Ave stop and the old location of Yankee Stadium is shown.

Back Cover

In honor of our Iron Craft administrator and creator, I decided to use some coordinating plaid paper from Japan. Kat and I are both very fond of plaid. This blue plaid is one of my favorite papers and is only one of two sheets that I still have available in this pattern.

Who doesn't love a good plaid?

Once the front and back boards with covered on both sides. I had to cut out the holes where the paper covered the already drilled holes. With a binding machine, you would simply punch the covered boards. By using a pre-existing book, you have to punch the holes by hand.

After cutting the holes, you simply reassemble the books by putting the covers in place and then hand tightening the spiral binding so that the tines meet their corresponding bars.

I haven't quite decided what to do with this book but I am really pleased with the way it turned out. I have one more book like this to cover.

Iron Craft 2016 Challenge #5--Zentangle Miniature Book

Miniature Accordion Book

According to the Miniature Book Society, miniature books can be no larger that three inches on any dimension. Outside of the United States, the dimensions increase to four inches. So, I decided to make a miniature accordion book to hold some of my daily zentangle exercises.

For those of you who don't know, zentangles are small doodling exercises that are supposed to be comforting in their repetition. I use them as my daily warm up for my 365 Project. Therefore, I have a lot of loose small sheets of paper hanging around. My zentangles are 2.5 inches square so I decided to make a three inch book to hold some of them.

The book structure is an amended accordion book structure that is mounted to a front and back cover that is covered in marbled paper. There are grosgrain ribbons to tie the book shut.

Usually, the book would hold eight images on the front and six images on the reverse. I decided to adapt the structure to include two rows of pages. The top row folds down to be enclosed in the book. If all sides are used, this structure holds 26 images.

Front View (8 images)

Reverse View (6 images)

Fully Open Front View (14 images)

Fully Open Reverse View (12 images)

Iron Craft 2016 Challenge #1--Pamphlet Stitch Book

Happy New Year. For the first challenge of 2016, we were asked to create something for the Fifth Anniversary of the Iron Craft Challenges--daisy, wood, or silverware. I have to admit that I was a little perplexed by the challenge.

Originally, I was going to dedicate one of my 365 Day Challenge quotes to the theme (see above). After finishing the page, I felt that it was probably a little cheating (self-imposed definition) so I decided to create a separate project.

After the end of each month of my 365 Day Challenge, I will bind the pages into a pamphlet stitch book. Therefore, I decided to mock up a prototype book for the Iron Craft Challenge. I used some marbled paper that I had on hand and black book cloth for the spine.

Front of the book

Yet, I needed something to apply to the theme. I found this beautiful paper with a wood grain stain on it. The perfect compliment to the marbled paper and the solution to the theme of the Iron Craft Challenge.

Wood Grain End sheets

I am very happy with the way that this turned out.