2004: september 13
Five by Five Watercolour
A simple binding for those who aren't afraid to be creative. This binding has five signatures which are attached to the spine in a five-hole pamphlet sewing. There is lots of room to add movie tickets, love letters, classified ads and just about anything else you may collect along your way.
The cover is a coloured watercolour paper from Montreal (by St. Armand) and is just begging to be held. You may choose to decorate your cover, or leave it plain.
Instructions
This structure is based on the long stitch bindings that were originally created in the14th century as account and ledger books. In this binding the sections of pages areattached directly to the spine, instead of to each other. There are endless sewingvariations--allowing the binder to develop a series of unique spine decorations.
Historical Notes on the Binding
[I need to confirm all of this information with a book historian, but I don't think anyof it is wildly inaccurate.]
While most of us hate paying our credit card bills, it was a change in accounting duringthe Italian Renaissance that is partly to blame. During the 14th century (around the sametime that paper was introduced in Europe) accountants started to using "double entry"bookkeeping. Instead of having actual money change hands, the accountant would record adebit in one ledger and a credit in the other.
The account books of the day were made by stationers and used a binding technique knownas "long stitch." (Although there were a few other techniques used, this is a fun one tomake today.) Because the signatures are attached directly to the spine, instead of toeach other, it is possible to create a pattern along the spine of the book using thecolumns of stitches from each signature. Assistants in the accounting houses memorizedthe unique spine sewing on each of the account books. The more books there were in theaccount house, the more detailed the spines became.
Advantages of this structure
It's very easy way to make this album/scrapbook which can be jammed full of stuff withouthaving to worry about the pages splaying open. It's a non-adhesive binding and can bemade with no (or very little) glue. It's also very fast to make. A person who's nevermade a book before, but is comfortable threading a needle, should be able to make thisstructure in less than half a day. This book will open perfectly flat without stressingthe binding spine. Watch for the stair-like splay when the book is opened.
Disadvantages of this structure: the sewing is always visible on the spine. Weaker hingefrom the spine to the front/back covers therefore more likely to rip on a hardcoverbinding.
Variations with alternate sewing patterns:
Tools
- needle
- awl
- scissors
- glue (for the spine liner if you are making one)
Materials
- pages (suggested: five groups of eight sheets each)
- cover paper (3-4 times the width of the page should be enough)
- spine liner (optional). Adds a bit more stability to the structure.
- thread (linen or upholstery weight polyester is fine)
- ribbon for tying up the outside
Instructions
1. The first step is to decide what size your pages will be. All other decisions are made based on the size of the folded page. For this book we will be using sheets of 8.5x11" paper cut in half and then folded in half.
2. Based on the size of your pages, cut a cover sheet. This paper should be a heavy card stock (at least 200gsm or 110lb). I like St. Armand Watercolour paper. It's made in Montreal and comes in a range of pastel colours. (I buy mine from the Japanese Paper Place although I've noticed it in many different art supply stores in Toronto.) Your cover should be about 1/2" taller than your sheet (1/4" top and bottom) and about three-four times as long. It will wrap around the entire book and have a flap on the inside front and back. This flap is sometimes called a French flap in the publishing industry.
3. If you would like, you can add a spine liner to the cover. This helps add stability to the structure of the book, although it is completely optional. To add your spine liner simply fold a piece of card stock (either the same colour, or complementary) and glue it to the middle of the inside of the cover. Make sure it is even along the edges of the cover. Otherwise your covers won't be straight when folded. Most of the spine liner won't show, so you can choose to use either the same colour of paper, or a complementary colour.
4. While the glue is drying on your spine liner (assuming you're adding one), fold your sheets together into signatures. I group eight sheets into each signature, but this will depend on the thickness of your sheets.
5. Stack all of your signatures into a single pile. Draw a guide across the back of all signatures. It will have five bars in total. The first and last should each be about 1/2" from the top and bottom of the pages. The third should be exactly in the middle, and the fourth and fifth should be centered in the remaining space. [diagram is coming]. Once you've drawn these guide lines, you can continue by punching holes into each of the signatures.
6. Using a ruler and a pencil, draw five sets of parallel lines along the inside of your spine liner. Choose the outer most points along the spine, the inner point and then fill in the two gaps. Punch these holes into your spine liner and cover and make sure that your needle will thread through each of the holes. You must use an odd number of rows for this sample binding. Feel free to experiment once you understand how the structure works.
7. Sew each signature with the linen thread into the spine. You should use the pamphlet stitch (very boring, I know) for the first few models that you make you will always have time to explore later on.
8. Once you've added all of your signatures you can fold in the cover flaps.
9. Finally your icing on the cake is to add the ribbon to the book. There are a number of different ways you can add ribbon so that it is both functional and decorative.
10. Finally your icing on the cake is to add the ribbon to the book. There are a number ofdifferent ways you can add ribbon so that it is both functional and decorative.
References
http://www.muprivate.edu.au/index.php?id=163
http://acct.tamu.edu/giroux/history.html
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/arthist/matren/outline.shtml
