Ribbon Book Binding

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

We had interesting themes when we swapped handmade books online a few years ago. It was always fun seeing what each person made. The books had content, except when we would have a Blank Book Exchange or a How-To Book Binding.

The How-To Book Binding theme always received the most participation! We included the paper and instructions. I sent the Ribbon Binding - pretty and an easy book to make. It requires only 4 pages with a cover, plus a good amount of ribbon. Especially good for using leftover hand-made paper scraps.

Supplies: 

Arnold Grummer Paper Making supplies. 

Arnold Grummer Paper Making how-to.

Cover: 5 1/2 by 8 inches, folded in half to 4 inches by 5 1/2 inches

Paper: 4 pages 5 1/2 by 8 inches, also folded in half - I used stationery with roses on the edges

Pretty Hand-made paper: 3 by 4 inches - Paper that I made with flower inclusions

Optional paper for framing the handmade paper on the cover: 2 1/2 by 3 1/2

Ribbon: 4 feet; Double sided tape

Two beads with large holes

Directions:

• Start by wrapping the ribbon around the outside into the inside middle of the cover. Tie a knot at the top leaving 6 inches of ribbon - where you’ll add a bead

• Fold in one page wrapping the ribbon around the valley fold of the page. Loop through the ribbon at the bottom
• Fold in the second page and wrap the ribbon, loop through the ribbon at the top
• Proceed doing the same for the next two pages and you’ll arrive back at the top.
• Tie another knot at the top.

Knots at top and bottom

• To avoid pages slipping, cover the ribbon binding with frame and hand-made paper.
• Thread beads to the ribbon. The beads should have large holes to go through the ribbon. Tie a knot at the end of the bead.

Fun to make, put the book in an Easter Basket! Plus fun to keep for a little diary or journal.

Marbling Suminagashi Style

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

During a two day book making class I sewed four Japanese bindings, marbled many sheets of rice paper and made a wraparound red cloth case with bone clasps holding it all together.

We worked on a paper marbling technique known as Suminagashi. With two Sumi ink sticks, vermilion and black, I rubbed the Sumi sticks on a grinding stone in a small amount of distilled water. I used bamboo brushes to drop the ink in the water. Sumi ink is also used with Asian calligraphy. 

This week I marbled with an updated Suminagashi technique, using paint I bought from Dick Blick, called Boku-Undo which comes with instructions.

In my garage: one inch deep cookie tray, 12 x 18 inches, water filled, six colors of paint, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and black, I was ready! Dripping in four colors for each sheet of paper, swirled water colors around with a bamboo brush; cleaning out paint, after each page was completed, with a horizontal tear of newspaper sliding along the surface of water.

This is one of my favorite papers: I used Yasutomo Japanese Rice Paper, also found at Dick Blick. Marbling on the fuzzy side of the Rice Paper allows the Boku Undo or Sumi Ink to stick to the paper.



Back to the workshop: we accomplished so much in two days! We sewed these four Japanese bindings: Kikko Toji (Turtle Shell Binding - my favorite); Asa-no-ha Toji (Hemp Leaf Binding); Koki Toji or Kangxi (Noble Binding) which is a 6 hole binding; and Yotsumi Toji (Four Eye).

Hemp Leaf

Turtle Shell

Noble Binding

Four Eye

Unfortunately, when I took the workshop my bindings were not sewn tight enough.

A more recent Turtle Shell Binding has a tighter sewing tension with attached beads. Guess you know I like red covers! And this book made a nice gift. If you have any questions - please let me know in the Comments section.

Explosion Birthday Card

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

The month of March is definitely a birthday month. My sister Margie, my friend EJ, and my niece Jacqueline all have birthdays this month. A fun card to make has Arnold Grummer Skeleton Leaves on the front. Inside I used a fun origami explosion fold, also called the Turkish Map Fold.

Supplies: 

Arnold Grummer Skeleton Leaves

8 1/2 inch square piece of paper

Arnold Grummer Handmade Paper

Arnold Grummer Handmade Paper instructions

Folded card - 4 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches

Celebrate It 360 “Happy Birthday” ribbon from Michaels

Happy Birthday rubber stamp from Joann's

Bone Folder, awl

Recollections Leaf brad and tiny brad

PVA glue

Sizzix Texture Boutique Embossing Machine

Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folders

Inside page instructions:

Fold your 8 1/2 square paper in half - use your bone folder for good creases

Turn over and fold diagonally each way

Push it together

Fold each triangular corner to the center

Turn over and repeat - should look like this

Open and fold in the triangular corners - keep using your bone folder for better creases

When opened should look like this.

Card instructions:

Use a Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing flower folder to emboss the front of the card.  

Wrap Happy Birthday ribbon around the card, attach with your tiny brad on the front.

The skeleton leaves will hide your tiny brad. 

Make a hole with your awl to attach the two skeleton leaves with your leaf brad to the card.

I attached the explosion paper by using double sided tape on the bottom and glue stick on top.

I stamped a carved stamp I made. You can see my blog from January 15, 2016 for instructions on carving your own stamps. You can use any Happy Birthday stamp, this stamp was made by Magenta.

Creating White Vine Letters

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

In the Summer of 2013 I was thrilled to have an article I wrote published in the magazine, "Bound & Lettered" about book-making and calligraphy. In Volume 10, Number 4, sold through John Neal Books, most of what follows appeared in the article.

ortunately White Vine Letters are easier to make than they appear. Basically a Roman Capital overgrown with a vine. While the white vine resembles ivy, it is a stylized version of acanthus leaves which were used as a decorative motif as early as the 3rd century in a Roman mosaic floor. Also used in architecture in the Doge’s Palace in Venice during the Renaissance.

Even though this style of decoration can be seen in manuscripts coming out of monastic scriptoriums as early as the 9th century, it was not until the 15th century that the white vine initial letters were widely used, such as in the Book of Hours, circa 1406. The Roman capital was often in gold.

The upper left corner of the text block would have a white vine initial for the first letter of the first word in the paragraph. The position could change if the section or paragraph started in the middle of the page. 

summer study program on illuminated manuscripts was my introduction to these initials with their intertwining vines. I was able to share my joy for these letters during a mini-workshop I taught for the Houston Calligraphy Guild in 2010.

When making these initials, you can carefully render the vines filling them with multiple flowers and leaves, or you can go for the more informal look in my examples. 

1. After you draw your one inch high Roman Capital letter in pencil, go over it with waterproof ink, let the ink dry, then erase the pencil lines. I use the Sakura Pigma Micron Pen - Size 01. 
2. Draw - lightly in pencil - a box around the letter with maybe a quarter inch of space on all sides.
3. Draw a circular swirl (FIGURE 1) in pencil, more circle than oval for your main vine.
4. Add shoots coming out of your vine (FIGURE 2)
5. To give dimension to the vines, double the lines around the vines and shoots (FIGURE 3).
6. Using your pencil, draw some buds and flowers at the end of the shoots, trying to get the buds and shoots to touch so you can add color (FIGURE 4). 
7. Go over your pencil ivy and outer box with the Micron 01 Pen. Erase pencil marks as needed. Then using only three colors: red, blue and green; or purple, pink and turquoise; or brown, orange and yellow; color in the spaces, alternating the colors so they are spaced evenly.  Either watercolors or Prismacolor pencils work well depending on the quality of your paper.  
8. Optional - Color the inside of the Roman Capital letter in gold, either flat gold or metallic gold. Prismacolor pencil, metallic paint, or acrylic metallic ink work well in gold.

After my trip to Paris I colored these white vine letters for bookmarks.