Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Hand Sewn Bookbinding & Calligraphy


Making beautiful lettering has been a passion of mine for a while.

Writing on fabric, paper, wedding invitations (cannot find a photo of them all for you, sigh), post-it notes, chalk boards, and anything that holds still for too long is something that I picked up about 15 yrs ago when I was learning Copperplate Calligraphy for Baltimore Album quilts. 

Wandering around CreativeBug, I ran into some super cool classes on bookbinding by Jody Alexander.

I made the above book after taking her online class on Coptic Bookbinding.

The cover is just a simple art paper in light blue that I decorated with calligraphy after the book was all finished. 

I'm using this as a notebook for some of my creative thoughts and classes I've been taking. 

One of the other classes she has covers how to make a book cloth out of fabric.  My next version will hopefully be covered with Liberty of London fabric, with any luck. 

It's been a real adventure for me in learning about paper and glues, including how to make glue from methyl cellulose power.  Hint: dumping some powder in cold water is hardly the place to start.  Can you say sticky icky goop?  Oh yes you can, it's almost Halloween after all.

I have thoughts about making some of these for give-aways since I'm addicted to making them.  You get to sew paper!  It's almost as much fun as sewing fabric.

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