Making Books with Beads

I’m having fun this week making books with beads. Using my beads from CJ Bead Store in Katy.  

I made this beaded fringe book in a Houston workshop a few years ago.

It was very pretty with feather charms and various sizes of beads. As I remember - it took all day. So far I have not made another one exactly like it!

This week I made similar books using only a few beads with the Coptic binding. 

I used stiff board covers with 5 holes. And on the 5 signatures I used 7 holes with two for the kettle stitch at each end. The amount of thread is 10 times the length of the spine. 

An important part of Coptic binding is to cross the thread over the last inserted thread and go back with your needle into the same hole.

There are many kinds of Coptic binding tutorials.  There is an excellent online resource: click here.

I need to use some of these keys I collected. How do you use your collections; I would love to hear from you!

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

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.

Creating with Beads

I attended a Meet-Up group this week that is all about crafting. Little Craft Box Texas was very inviting and everyone was friendly - what more could I want!?

This time we played with making jewelry. Before I went to the meeting I did a quick inventory of my beads. I decided to either re-string beads I made last year but never wore, or use new beads in a bag that I had in my bead collection for a few years.

I ended up making a necklace from the Venetian beads in the bag. I like Venetian glass beads the best. I have made necklaces with them using various spacer beads in between, gold, silver and now black.

I packed up my tools and supplies. I use the crimper with the blue handles to hold the ends of the necklace together. I took a beading class this summer at CJ Bead Shop in Katy, Texas. Sadly, this store is closing. The owners Craig and Joy are looking for another retail space. They sell online too.

I also like Agate beads which are considered semi-precious and come from volcanic rock. In this photo I’m wearing Agate beads and displaying the Venetian beaded necklace I put together this week. Thanks go to Zue for taking my photo! We all had a fun time talking about our lives and hobbies.