Learning Coptic Binding

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

Liz Constable from Book Art Studios posted on Facebook March 17th: You asked! So here I am asking for your help to get me started…Teaching online. What platform do you favor and why? Everyone who comments will go in the draw to win a 1-1 3 hour teaching session with me…

Posting from Liz

I responded that I heard Skillshare is good. And Liz announced on March 28th that I won!  

I was so pleased and excited too!  We started Skyping on Monday April 4th at 4:00 pm my time which was 9:00 am New Zealand time.

Our first session was to determine what I wanted to learn and what Liz wanted to teach. Even though I’ve been bookbinding a good while I find the Coptic stitch to be challenging. I like this style since the book lays flat for art journaling and calligraphy. Liz said she liked the Coptic stitch, so we planned our next one hour meetings for the following 3 Mondays.

For the first teaching session, Liz asked me to have a cup of black coffee available, and to figure out the paper size. I used Arches Text Wove paper - 10 by 6 1/4 inches. Liz demonstrated various ways to dye paper with coffee and other ways to decorate paper. It was most exciting!

Our second session focused on the template. Liz suggested I make the covers the same size as the text block but my covers were slightly larger. (On the covers I used marbled paper a friend brought back from Turkey.) I was a bit derailed with the dreaded template and it took the full hour!

The last session we hole-punched the covers and sewed the book! I had never sewed this type of Coptic binding so it was truly an enriching experience. We went over a half hour and Liz was most patient with me.

The day after our last meeting I sewed another one so I would remember what I had done. 

I used a cloth covered binding this time. I found the Fleur de Lys cloth at Joann's.

I colored the end pages of each of the eight signatures using acrylic paints since they are fast drying. I plan to dye paper with coffee and play with the other methods I learned too!

Coptic binding looks like a row of chain stitches.

Liz is now available to teach via Skype! And she is currently writing an E-Book about bookbinding. I already let her know I am her first customer for that book! Liz can be found on Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/BookArtStudios/

If I can answer any questions you have, please ask me by Entering your Comment below.