Women of Achievement Awards: Books 41-51

For the last few weeks I've been working on a large bookbinding commission.  I was asked by the Women's Center at Lakeland Community College to make this year's Women of Achievement Awards.  The award recognizes women that have made a difference in the lives of other women, and each year the award is created by a local female artist.  This year that was me!

I made 11 art books, one for each of the 10 recipients, and one for the Women's Center to display.  Each book has 3 signatures with a variety of decorative papers, handmade paper, and Mohawk superfine text weight paper.

To make each book individual and special for the award recipient, I selected passages from the nomination letters to incorporate in the book.  I also included in each book the definition of the word achievement.

As an added decorative element, I drew motifs from the decorative papers on some of the blank pages.  This helped to tie the whole book together and make it more of a keepsake item.

I was honored to be able to do this project for the Women's Center and participate in the awards ceremony on March 24th.  I had a chance to meet many of the award recipients and see my artwork on the program for the event.

Photo Album: Handmade Books

This post is all about books!  Specifically, photos of my recent handmade books.  Because let's face it, I am making these suckers faster than I can blog about them all!  Many of these are blank journals.  Others are made using interesting recycled materials.  And there are a few art books thrown in there for good measure.  Enjoy!

Mini journal with ribbon closure.

Mini journal and regular journal both with ribbon closures.

Astronomy Alphabet book.

Astronomy Alphabet book, detail: Milky Way.

Journal with bird paper and brown book cloth.

Expandable spine, Octopus book.

A collection of journals, roughly 5x7 inches each.

Recycled tea box books.

Recycled tea box book.

Robot journal with cork book cloth.

A stack of journals, roughly 5x7 inches each.

Aurora Borealis art book, front.

Aurora Borealis art book, back.

Monday Project: Journals

This week my Monday Project was making journals using my stash of decorative papers.  This was actually a Sunday and Monday project.  I made the covers on Sunday, let them dry overnight, and prepared the pages on Monday.  I actually made three books today, but the third book had no pages attached when I took the pictures.  I couldn't let the fabulous evening sunlight go to waste!

Both books are made using decorative papers from Hollanders in Ann Arbor, Michigan for the covers, and Utrecht American Masters 100% Cotton for the pages.  The paper covering the fold of each signature is paper that I made by hand last summer at the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland.  I also attached ribbons to the front and back covers so the books can be tied closed.  The binding is a basic Coptic stitch sewn with waxed linen thread.

I am gearing up for the summer craft fair season and kicking my book production up a notch.  This year I hope to do several craft shows with strictly books.  I also need to rotate out what I have in stores around the Cleveland area.  Right now you can see my books at the Urban Orchid near the West Side Market in Cleveland.

Hardcover Books

Recently I made my first hardcover books!  It was an adventure into the Coptic style of binding.  Coptic binding leaves an exposed book spine and allows the book to open flat for easy drawing and writing.

The first step to making a hardcover book is creating the covers.  The base of the covers are pieces of mat board leftover from cutting windows out of mats.  After cutting the mat board down to size I chose strips of paper that overlapped the mat board by around an inch on each side.  Then, apply a thin coat of PVA glue to the front of the cover and apply the paper.  Trim the corners, apply glue to the other side of the board, and fold over the paper edges.  Then glue a piece of decorative paper over the back of the board to cover up the folded edges.  Repeat for the back cover!

The next step is punching holes in the covers.  Then fold all the pages in half and line up with the covers.  Mark the pages and punch holes that line up with the holes on the cover.  Then it is a matter of sewing the pages to each other and assembling the book.  The groups of pages (called signatures) are attached one at a time to the book, making it easy to create large books.  This site has a good tutorial on Coptic binding with lots of photographs of the sewing process.  This is one of those processes that seems very difficult when writing the instructions, but turns out to be very easy once you actually do it.