The Monastic Endband

Step 1. Primary endband of linen on the top of the spine

I am working on another book. This one is a collection of Yeats’ poems and stories combined with my photographs as center spreads. It is a small intimate book that fits in the palm of the hand. I have finished the edge decoration on the top and bottom book edges and have moved on to the end bands.

The Thread That Binds Binding

The Thread That Binds: Interviews with Private Practice Binders bookbinding by Esther Kibby.

Pamela Leutz, a fine binder, wrote the book The Thread That Binds: Interviews with Private Practice Binders. It is a book that interviews well-known craftsmen who have made bookbinding a vocation. In 2010, the Lone Star Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers planned an exhibition around the individual design binding of this book. Oak Knoll Press printed a limited number of unbound book sets as well as their bound edition. Fifty-one bookbinders bought the unbound sets and crafted their own binding designs to express both binding knowledge and creativity.

The Nested Accordion Pop-up Fold Book

Finished pop up accordion

On the last posting, you found out a bit about Donna and Peter. I hope you had a chance to visit their website and see their work. This posting is about Peter Thomas’ book arts workshop conducted at the Degolyer Conference.

By the end of the workshop we had created a new book structure Peter calls the Nested Accordion Pop-up Fold Book. This structure combines a basic Accordion book structure with a pop-up structure.

This combination of book techniques, as well as other creative book structures they have developed, are in their new book – More Making Books By Hand. The drawings and step-by-step instructions are very easy to follow.

The Perfect Accordion Fold According to Peter Thomas

Another workshop at the Degolyer Conference was with Peter Thomas. Peter and Donna Thomas have a great team thing going on. Donna is an illustrator while Peter is a binder and printer. I think they both are also papermakers. What a job! Check out their one of a kind miniature books. They are a very talented team.

Gold Leaf Workshop with Jamie Kamph

During the Degolyer conference, Jamie Kamph led us in a demonstration in gold leafing leather surfaces. This workshop was very informative. She shared with us some of her tools and methods that made the process less time consuming and more efficient.