Today is where your book begins

I started a course in bookbinding about a month ago and I can say I have learned so much already. After the first class I came home with one finished hand bound book and two awaiting only a finishing touch.

Of course it was all about the technique, folding the paper in the right direction (who knew?) and making the sections, binding them together with thread and needle to make a book block. There's also some glueing, pressing and drying involved. Cutting the cover boards and the most challenging task of all: selecting the paper and linen for the newborn book.

The available papers and colors for the cover weren't exactly making me jump for joy. I made a mental note to bring my own and don't complain too much about theirs. After 3 larger books and 3 smaller books with plain white paper and different sewing techniques (cloth bound and cross stitching) and finishes, I got to a much bigger book about tulips that I was binding and setting into a loose cover (also handmade of course). All nice and good for practicing the techniques and being really precise about the millimeters, but then we got to the title. Oh my. I love that! I arranged the lead letters backwards to form the title of the book, did some tests, did kerning adjustments of the letters, tested again and finally pressed the title onto the book with a hot press and colored foil. No room for error there. I can't show you that one, because it's still drying in the press at the workshop.

In the meanwhile my brain was buzzing with ideas for some cool books to make for Stoffer + Blik. I got all the equipment I needed and created my own little workshop at home. One of these homemade hand bound books is all finished and up for sale.

It has a linen cover all around and I have embroidered a feather and text on the front. It has taken me forever and all this time I wasn't even sure if it was going to work out. But it did and I love it! It has 104 pages of blank high quality drawing paper in it. You can have a closer look (and get your hands on this unique one of a kind hand bound book) at the Etsy shop.

Pantone Colored Feathers

Every designer knows Pantone and since it has become sort of a trend to design products with the Pantone color and number (like pillows, mugs etc) most of you will be familiar with it by now. I enjoy flipping through my books, finding the perfect color.

I was drawing black and white feathers at first and then I got my Pantone book out to find inspiration for the (digital) coloring of them. That's where I decided to go along with that Pantone trend of mentioning the Pantone colors. So here they are: my Pantone colored feathers. 

This is a potentially endless project since Pantone has well over 1000 spot colors in their color books. Feathers are pretty diverse too, as is imagination. I might use them for a project someday. I think they would might make nice covers for my hand bound books...more on that soon!