Japanese Stab Binding

April's Handmade Book Club taught us how to make basic stab binding books. I just managed to get the first one done under the wire so it could go in the gallery and also meet April's separate challenge that our fearless leader puts forth each month to both the private Facebook group and the public Crafting Handmade Books group.

I'd been thinking that some of my eco printed watercolor paper could be used as covers for a stab binding book, so I was pretty excited to pick a couple and get going. Fulfilling the challenge of using something in your stash at least a year old was easy. The sketch paper I chose for the signatures has been around for at least 10 years, bought after taking a drawing class and taking advantage of some sales at my local Ben Franklin. Also probably ten years in my possession is some handspun threads and yarns that I bought from my internet friend, Connie Rose. Look at those ribbons! The cotton one on the left turned out not to be strong enough but the hemp on the right was perfect.

We started with a basic 4 hole version while we learned how to deal with single, not folded, signature blocks and punching holes through it all.

I chose two mirror image prints to show on front and back and of the two, the best different print on the other side to show as the inside cover. This one will be a gift to a fellow sketcher.

I jumped to the third more involve Hemp Leaf stitch because I thought it would show off well on a second set of eco prints where I could continue using the hemp thread. Not really difficult, just more holes, more sequences to follow. Since making the sewing holes with an awl on the first one was very hard, I got brave and got out a Dremel-like electric drill I'd gotten on sale for use in the studio. It has no slow speed so it was rather exciting whizzing through the layers (yes, I tried it on a sample first). I need to find a slightly smaller drill bit, I think, for use with more standard size bookbinding thread.

This particular eco print was lovely on both sides. I dithered a lot about what kind of paper to use as I planned to keep this one for my own use. I have a thought to go back to some pencil sketching, maybe do some botanical drawings and add color with Inktense or regular colored pencils. I decided on a heavy vellum bristol recommended by my drawing teacher, another one of my Ben Franklin finds that have not been used all these years, because, unlike the lighter vellum I have, this one is supposed to take a light wash which I will need to do to activate those Inktense pencils.

The issue is that it is quite stiff which means the pages do not easily turn and stay turned. I've made several attempts at "breaking in" the pages but I suspect I'll have to clip pages to keep things flat enough to work in it.

Rather than three leaves like the front cover, the back eco print features two - still lovely.

Determined to finish this group up before the end of the weekend (because, you know, May's lesson is waiting . . .), I've worked diligently the last couple of days to finish this book with the Noble binding, which has the same corner treatment as the Hemp Leaf binding but otherwise is just a bit more interesting than the plain 4 hole binding. I may like this one the best and saved it for use on what you might recognize as one of the silk fusion "papers" I experimented with. This one was done with textile medium and folds softly back so works ok as a cover. The decorative thread or yarn which may be familiar from my "Adrift" piece where I used it for grass was just the right color green with bits of purple mixed in. It's weight and the twisted threads made it a bit difficult to work with but very worth it. I wasn't brave enough to use the drill through the silk fusion and the rice paper I chose for the signatures but if I had, I probably would have had good-size holes, especially in the cover. The silk fusion holes made with the awl just slowly closed back up. This one is for my use too, and I'm looking forward to doing some rubbings and work with wet media which it is supposed to be good for.