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December 01, 2022 1 Comment
June 11, 2016
Accordion Books are a delightful option for visual artists, photographers, storytellers and scrapbookers. Handmade with quality heavy paper for light watercolour, collage, ink and inclusions, 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. Folded forms are favourites amongst book artists because they lend themselves to layers and movement and yet work incredibly well as static display books.
October 06, 2014
STITCH & BIND: exhibition at Bournemouth Central Library Gallery for Arts By The Sea Festival.
Bookbinder Susan Green and artist-educator Laura Joy recently ran 1-day book making workshops at Artisan Community Art Studio in Moordown, Dorset. The result is this exhibition of a variety of interesting book forms made by workshop participants, accompanied by examples made by both Laura and Susan.
Several kinds of bindings are on display in the glass cabinets, ranging from the 15th century Longstitch with Linkstitch in both leather and vegan alternatives, the Japanese Stab Stitch, to the more unusual Concertina & Double Concertina forms, the Single & Double Pamphlet notebooks.
Most participants were new to bookbinding, some came to the workshops from a background in fine art, craft or design, and many others simply enjoy crafting or creating in their free time.
Some brought their own artwork, such as cyanotype prints, to incorporate into their books, others used a variety of handmade plant fibre papers. We also recycled pages from withdrawn library stock otherwise destined for landfill, and culled fashion and lifestyle magazines for inspiration and decorative book covers.
Stitch & Bind runs at the Gallery on Level 2 of Bournemouth Central Library until 24 October. Also on display are contemporary textiles made by workshop participants and tutor Leah Watts, including examples of patchwork and quilting, as well as sketchbooks filled with textile and stitching examples.
Tutors Laura Joy and Susan Green continue to run their 1-day workshops and are also developing a 6-week bookbinding short course to run in the Spring term at Artisan Community Art Studio.
To find out more about these book making workshops & register your interest in the short course, contact Susan Green: 07748 759 371, email susan@boundbyhand.co.uk or sign up to her newsletter.
Some images from Stitch & Bind:
Here you can see examples of Accordion fold books, also known as the Concertina fold. Some have been left blank, others digitally printed, one has been filled with mementoes from a holiday, the covers feature a map of the start and end points of the trip.Also on display are two examples of the Japanese Stab Stitch, with cyanotype prints incorporated into the front covers.
Case 2 includes some examples of the Longstitch with Linkstitch binding - these were made with synthetic PU, a vegan alternative to leather.
The Gallery area on Level 2 of the library, with textiles by workshop participants and tutor Leah Watts:
November 11, 2013
October saw me working on a special project for a fly fishing syndicate whose beat is a beautiful Dorset chalk stream called the River Allen.
My brief was to make a journal small enough to fit into fishing vests and tackle boxes, so members could easily log their catches, fly patterns, water, date, conditions etc, either on the riverbank or once home.
I decided on A7 size - it fits into the palm of your hand but there's enough room to write down important details. The Longstitch with Linkstitch style means the book will lie flat in your hand or on a hard surface, so there will be no fighting with the binding in an effort to write right up to the edges.
The journal had to be easily and quickly accessible even with cold fingers - so I opted for a quick-close fixing comprising a leather strap stiffened with stitching, and a Sam Browne stud. The added benefit of this is it doubles as a pen or pencil holder.
What makes this fishing journal particularly special is the title page. Designed for the project by Stone Design, it's an illustration of a fishing line and fly, with the beat and syndicate's names. Stone Design presented several great concepts and together we settled on this one for it's elegance and simplicity.
Here in the UK we have 90% of the world's chalk streams and much work is put into protecting and enhancing their health. So as well as enjoying their fly fishing, the syndicate works hard to maintain the health of the water and riverbank, clearing invasive non-native plant species and protecting the the banks from erosion. The Allen is particularly special as it has the strongest population in Dorset of the native but rare white clawed crayfish.
It was a joy to work with Stone Design on this project, and I hope the syndicate and the River Allen go from strength to strength.
Susan
P.S As always - if you'd like to commission a similar project, do get in touch!