Minature book earrings

I made two types of miniature books.  Ones with decorative paper covers and ones with leather covers.

The miniature books with decorative covers are made by wrapping card stock covers in decorative or origami paper.   I used scraps of text paper for the 16 page signature.  The signature was bound to the card stock using the pamphlet stitch and Irish linen cord.  The photo to the right shows the templates as well as cut papers for the books.

Making small books can be harder then making regular sized books!

The leather miniature books have two signatures of 8 pages each.  Using two signatures allowed me to stitch the signatures creating a double 'X' pattern binding seen in the photo to the left.

An additional loop of cord was added to each mini book to attach it to the ear wires.  The end result was quite nice.

Leather wrap books

I made three sizes of leather books.  The smallest leather books were based on the Quote books I had previously made.  Because I used 90 lb Stone henge paper, there were fewer folios in each signature of these books.  I printed inspirational quotes in a speech bubble on cloud paper for the books endpapers.  Mother of perl or vintage buttons were used for the book closures.

You can see an examples of the bookmark tags I used on the photo to the right and the pocket and travel book photos below.

Instead of using my wooden handled bookbinder's awl, I used a potters needle tool to punch holes in the signatures for these books.  This tool creates holes that are very uniform in size through the whole signature.  This is important when you are punching a thick stack of paper.

For the leather covers I used my Japanese hole punch.  This is a wonderful tool for punching leather, as holes created by an awl close up quickly making it harder to sew the the signatures in place.

The medium sized pocket leather books were done with a locking and varied long stitch binding.  For the 98 page text block I used Neenah 32 lb paper.  I used recycled nature calendar photographs for endpapers, as seen in the photo to the left.  These books have either traditional leather straps or handmade raku button closures.  An example of each type of closer is in the photo to the left.

These soft leather books open flat making it easy to write and sketch on the pages.

For the large traveler's leather books I used an earlier link and long stitch pattern that has a central diamond on the spine.  The endpapers for these books were recycled maps from an old atlas I purchased at a local library book fair.  I used maps that featured North America, which just seemed perfect for these books.  Below is a photo showing the front endpaper map of one the books.

I added calendar photographs that coordinated with each book's maps to other signatures in the books.  The space between the signatures of these books allows for adding envelopes and other items collected while traveling.

I used traditional leather straps or buffalo nickel concho with twisted cords for closures.  The maps and photographs are to inspire travel to new and wonderful destinations.

Accordion pocket seed books

Vegetable seed book parts

The accordion books were made with a pocket designed to hold either vegetable or flower seeds.  I used 90 lb Stone henge 22 x 30 sheets of paper for the 6 1/2" by 21" strips.  I folded 1 1/2" of the paper strip up to create the pockets for the seeds.  Then accordion folded the strip to create 6 pages.

Seed packets from different vendors vary in size, as do the actually seeds.  So before making any books I made a test accordion out of card stock.  This helped me determine the final size to cut the paper to hold the heirloom vegetable or flower seeds packets I was using.

A foot of garden jute was attached to the inside of the back cover.  After the book is assembled the jute is used to tie the books closed.

Vegetable book front and back covers

For the vegetable seed book covers I used sections of a Jardin vegetable paper.  This colorful paper seemed like the perfect cover for a book containing heirloom vegetable seeds.

For the flower seed books I used paper with a flower design that can be colored.  The black and white covers were a perfect complement to the ink illustrations I added to the back of the flower seed books.

On the back side of the accordion pages I added ink illustrations featuring either a flower or vegetable garden to match the seeds.  Each type of garden illustration is a unique design, but has similar plant elements.

These little books make great gifts for friends that like to garden!

Selling Handmade books

OCAF has a small but active group of handmade book makers who planned on having a booth at the OCAF Holiday Market, and they asked me to participate!  I have helped my husband Steve sell his glass art at shows and craft fairs, but this is the first time I was selling my own work.  One of the reasons I  haven't had the time to write a blog post recently was because I was busy making books for this event.

To start with I needed an inventory of books.  I made 2 versions of accordion books, three sizes of leather bound books and miniature book earrings.  Thirty books in about 45 days!  The next three blog posts will have more details on each type of book.

Leather books

Accordion seed books

To identify our books we tied unique bookmarks around the back covers of the books.  Each of my bookmarks included a quote about books and my art stamp with a link to my website.