I thought I would make a real blog to cover my bookbinding adventures rather than spam them on my twitter. That's just far too much like shouting at an empty room, if you know what I mean.
So, introduction! I'm Adam. I like to make books. I found this out last year after I realized that I really wasn't satisfied with the 'high end' sketchbook I had purchased, a big moleskine folio sketchbook. The biggest one. It was stylish and tough, but the most important element - the paper - was absolute garbage for the price they asked, to be frank. It didn't erase well, it didn't take a wash properly (which they advertise it doing, god damn it!), and that sexy cream color they tout? It's not the actual color of the paper, it is a finish applied to the paper, which erases off. I felt like I had been conned.
So I vowed I wouldn't ever buy a mass-produced sketchbook again. If I was going to spend a premium amount of money on an inferior product, I might as well go and make a book my damn self, something I had been wanting to do for years. I read internet tutorials, I bought a book, and before too long I was turning out cute stitched pamphlets to write and draw in.
They're great! They're fun and simple to make. But they're like the first taste that gets you hooked. And then they're not enough - you want the harder stuff. So I moved on to case binding - that's that style of hardcover book with a flat back you find in book stores. This is about the point where I discovered that accuracy in measurements is not my strong suit. Oh, no, it is not. The more complicated the structure, the more a tiny inaccuracy in the measurements will cause trouble down the line. So I had to learn to slow down, work carefully, and account for the inevitable goofs. I haven't been making a lot of casebound books lately, though, because I find it's a lot more fun and interesting to make chainstitch/linkstitch books, aka coptic bound books. This is a very old style of binding, and it's challenging! But the results are beautiful - I love the exposed spine and the pattern of the chain stitch. And it lays flat so one can draw or write straight across the page gutter without a hitch. Awesome!
A big help to my recent work was taking a course in binding from City College of San Francisco, taught by the excellent and fun Carrie Galbraith. You should check her work out! http://cjgalbraith.wordpress.com/
She got me thinking about making books with content, and not just blank pages to fill after the fact. And I learned several cool structures, too, some of which I intend to sell once I get my etsy shop open.
So. It's been a little less than a year now! I'm still a raw beginner, and since it's doubtful that I'll be able to get an apprenticeship or get a degree in book arts, maybe I'll stay that way. But I think my work is coming along. And at this point I'm out of ideas of things to write. I'll use this blog to post new books as I finish them, the odd tutorial now and then, and useful links to other sites, I guess. Be seeing you.
So, introduction! I'm Adam. I like to make books. I found this out last year after I realized that I really wasn't satisfied with the 'high end' sketchbook I had purchased, a big moleskine folio sketchbook. The biggest one. It was stylish and tough, but the most important element - the paper - was absolute garbage for the price they asked, to be frank. It didn't erase well, it didn't take a wash properly (which they advertise it doing, god damn it!), and that sexy cream color they tout? It's not the actual color of the paper, it is a finish applied to the paper, which erases off. I felt like I had been conned.
So I vowed I wouldn't ever buy a mass-produced sketchbook again. If I was going to spend a premium amount of money on an inferior product, I might as well go and make a book my damn self, something I had been wanting to do for years. I read internet tutorials, I bought a book, and before too long I was turning out cute stitched pamphlets to write and draw in.
They're great! They're fun and simple to make. But they're like the first taste that gets you hooked. And then they're not enough - you want the harder stuff. So I moved on to case binding - that's that style of hardcover book with a flat back you find in book stores. This is about the point where I discovered that accuracy in measurements is not my strong suit. Oh, no, it is not. The more complicated the structure, the more a tiny inaccuracy in the measurements will cause trouble down the line. So I had to learn to slow down, work carefully, and account for the inevitable goofs. I haven't been making a lot of casebound books lately, though, because I find it's a lot more fun and interesting to make chainstitch/linkstitch books, aka coptic bound books. This is a very old style of binding, and it's challenging! But the results are beautiful - I love the exposed spine and the pattern of the chain stitch. And it lays flat so one can draw or write straight across the page gutter without a hitch. Awesome!
A big help to my recent work was taking a course in binding from City College of San Francisco, taught by the excellent and fun Carrie Galbraith. You should check her work out! http://cjgalbraith.wordpress.com/
She got me thinking about making books with content, and not just blank pages to fill after the fact. And I learned several cool structures, too, some of which I intend to sell once I get my etsy shop open.
So. It's been a little less than a year now! I'm still a raw beginner, and since it's doubtful that I'll be able to get an apprenticeship or get a degree in book arts, maybe I'll stay that way. But I think my work is coming along. And at this point I'm out of ideas of things to write. I'll use this blog to post new books as I finish them, the odd tutorial now and then, and useful links to other sites, I guess. Be seeing you.
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