Folded book forms in their many and varied styles are my favourite types of books to make, and the Accordion - aka Concertina, Leporello or Zig-Zag - is my most favourite of all. Accordion books are dynamic and three dimensional, yet easy to engage with from a page layout point of view, and easy to display in a studio or exhibition setting.
Accordion Sketchbooks are a great way to display images in a narrative style if you want to create a photo album. Photographer Robin Hutt used bespoke versions of the Accordion Books I make to great effect in her Dawn and Dusk: The Fairlight End Garden Journals exhibition.
Image with kind permission and copyright Robin Hutt, 2015.
The Accordion folded book style lends itself to the narrative arc and are a great way to tell a visual story; perhaps a travelogue. Either hold in the hand and flip through like an ordinary book, or lift the final page to extend the book to its full length to see the entire story, journey or landscape. Photographer Jez Hastings used a bespoke folded sketchbook in his documentary series 'Where Are You Going? / Ku po shkon?' which recorded his 20 day walk across Albania and Macedonia:
Image with kind permission and copyright Jeremy (Jez) Hastings, 2019.
There are a few different ways to make an Accordion book - the simplest and often most effective is from a strip of paper. If large pieces of paper aren't available, the 'meander' or 'snake' accordion is a good option. I'll be adding some content about those soon.
Folded forms are favourites amongst book artists because they lend themselves to layers and movement and yet work incredibly well as static display books for exhibitions. By adding extra elements to an accordion book, you can deliver content in an often surprising way.
Page heights and widths may be irregular, 'flags' of images or words may be added to each fold, signatures can be stitched into the valley, or onto the mountain of each fold, the tail of the sheet can be folded up to create a pocket, and reverse pages can hold extra content. In this way, what seems on the surface to be a familiar style of book may, on opening, suddenly expand or pop-up well beyond the boundaries of its covers, holding a beautiful secret inside.
Artist Alix Swan uses folded forms to great effect to make pop-up cards and artists books.
Accordion Sketchbook Set: Bloom
I make Accordion Sketchbooks that you can buy in colour co-ordinated sets of 3. They have 8 pages of heavyweight cartridge paper for all dry-medium artwork, light watercolour wash, or for adding photographs, mixed media and collage. The pages are simply but securely stitched to the tactile coloured paper covers with linen thread.
Alternatively, you may prefer my Concertina Sketchbooks. These have more pages, 12 in total, and thick cotton rag covers you can title, decorate or leave plain.
What's your favourite way to use a Accordion book? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear about your creative practice.
Susan the bookbinder
contact form | info@boundbyhand.co.uk | +44 (0)7748 759 371
Have you ever wondered why this type of folded book form has so many different names? Discover the salacious origins of the alternative name for the Accordion book, the Leporello, here.
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