Equal Spacing; No Math!

So what if I told you there is a tool that will let you mark perfectly spaced holes for sewing stations in your handcrafted books without doing a lick of math? No more troublesome fractions like thirty-seconds and sixty-fourths to fill your head when you're trying to calculate the spacing for your hole punching template. And, the holes don't have to be readily recognized increments like half inches; they will be whatever is appropriate for whatever distance you happen to working with, and you won't have to measure a thing.

Called the SimFlex Expanding Sewing Gauge, this tool is sold as a buttonhole spacer from sewing supply companies, but it is also a great bookbinding tool. Tightly compressed, it is 3" wide and just a little over 6" tall. Fully extended, it is about 24" wide. It features 8 points, each with a notch cut into the tip for your pencil or hole poking tool to fit in exactly the right spot. At full length, it somewhat resembles the fence of a play yard for your little purse size dog; if you hung it on the wall, you could stick lots of notes and receipts into it like a high-tech bulletin board.

So how does it work? Let's say you want to make a Japanese four hole binding, and you want the holes evenly spaced between the head and tail of the book. Place the first point of the SimFlex where you want to begin the stitching, then extend it so that the fourth point falls where you want to end the stitching. (Since the SimFlex has eight points, and you only need four for this project, the unused points can simply extend past the project. Check out the above photo for an example.) Use a pencil or hole punching tool in the notch to mark the sewing stations. Viola! Perfectly spaced holes, no math needed!

You can also use this tool to mark sewing stations on a jig or template for punching signatures or sections in a hole punching cradle. Eight points will likely take care of all but your largest book projects, but if you need more than eight stations, just mark the first eight and then slide the first point of the tool to hole number 7 and then continue merrily on your way.

The SimFlex also features additional markings (in inches and quarter inches) etched into the metal, useful in lining up the tool along the spine edge. You can find this very useful item in a well stocked sewing/fabric store, or you can get it online from Nancy's Notions. Nancy's printed catalog is chock full of wonderful aids and gadgets for working with needle and thread; makes a great read on these cold winter evenings. Bet you can't order just one thing!

2010 Book Arts Coterie

So, what are you doing next summer? If you've been thinking about taking classes or exploring book arts in greater depth, I hope you'll consider my week long workshops at my studio in 2010.

Information for the 2010 sessions is now available; I'll start accepting applications from blog readers who want to attend on January 15. If you are interested, please send me an email (pamsussman@aol.com) and I'll reply with basic workshop information and a registration form by email attachment. You can snail mail the registration form at any time after you receive it, but it will be held until January 15 when all mail will be opened in the order received.

There will be two sessions, both in July, and attendance will be limited to 6-7 students per session. You'll have ample space to work in, plenty of personal attention, and loads of fun and memorable experiences! This is the third year for Book Arts Coterie, with many students returning year after year. We typically make between 12 to 18 books during the week, and create a stash of papers and fabrics for future book projects as well.

I'll be happy to answer any individual questions you might have; just send them along in your email request. Hope to see you here in the summer of 2010!

My Studio

Lynne Perrella throws the best parties, many of them within the pages of her books. The latest addition to the growing Perella section in my resource library is Art Making & Studio Spaces, fresh off the press and finding its way to booksellers everywhere. This work is a celebration of the workplaces of 31 different artists, including the author's space and OMG, my studio is in there, too!

The book features luscious, full page color photos of spaces where artists work, accompanied by commentary on how and why it works for that particular artist. You can't help but pick up a lot of great ideas for arranging your own space, no matter what size it might be. One thing is certain; no matter what medium you explore in art, it is going to take stuff to make it. And everyone in this book has lots of stuff. You'll see something that you'll love. At the moment, I am coveting R. O. Blechman's ladder in his library (page 118), and find myself sketching ideas for a faux version for my own bookshelves.

I was thrilled to be invited to participate in this project. Lynne puts together a wonderful package with everything she does, so I knew it would be a first rate publication. I'm also quite passionate about my work space. When we moved here four years ago, we chose this house because it had the best studio space potential. This is studio number 5 for me over the past 15 years, so I've had lots of time to work out the arrangements in a variety of environments. It took about four months just to unpack and put away all the boxes, but the truth is, something here continues to change every few months .... furniture arrangements, additions and subtractions, supply storage, task lighting, seating. My studio is a living, breathing entity all on its own. And, I have to tell you how much fun it is for me when someone visits here for the first time; well worth the effort just to see the response.

All publications have limits, and there simply isn't room in the book to show all the nooks and crannies that are mentioned in the commentary. One of my summer workshop students, Andrew Borloz, did an excellent photo piece on my studio for his blog during the 2008 sessions; you can visit it here if you'd like to see more. If you'd like to see my studio in person, consider coming for one of the 2010 workshops. Information about dates and curriculum will be posted here by the end of the month.

Book Gift Idea

You remember the stick & band binding, don't you? You take a stack of text pages, put a cover sheet on the front, wrap a second cover sheet around the spine onto the front from the back, punch 2 holes in the spine, secure a rubber band around one end of a stick and insert through one hole, then pull the band through the other hole and secure it around the other end of the stick. You're done so fast, it takes much less time to make the book than to read the description.

I recently made this batch of stick & band journals for a local charity, and was reminded once again of how simple ideas can often be very exciting. This book structure is one that I learned in my first hour of study with Shereen LaPlantz, and I've taught it as part of my beginning bookbinding class, Five Easy Pieces, for more than 10 years. When I'm asked to do programs with large, non-bookbinding groups, this is one of my go-to favorites as I know everyone will be successful in making the project. There's just something magical about using a stack of paper, a stick, and a rubber band to make a book.

The simplicity of this binding also makes it a good candidate for those occasions when you need to create a number of gifts quickly and inexpensively. Whether you go to the effort of printing the inside pages first or use plain sheets for a blank journal, most people really appreciate a hand-crafted book, and you can be pretty sure it won't be regifted.

These particular books have deckled interior pages (I used Rives paper) torn down from the parent sheets using one and a half sheets to make 24 pages. The hand torn deckle makes a wonderful soft edge, but you can also cut the pages straight on the paper cutter. Since I used heavier paper, each page is a single leaf, but I have also made this project in thinner weight text and folded the sheets at the fore-edge for a stronger page. You can use your funkiest gnarly papers for the covers, and then there is the thrill of the stick hunt. These came from my backyard, but you can also use chopsticks, pencils, bamboo shoots, hair pins .... you get the picture. Best of all, absolutely no glue, none at all.

If you decide to whip out a number of these beauties at one time, here are a couple of tools that will make the task go faster: a two-hole punch from the office supply store (Office Depot makes the best one), and a crochet hook. The punch will help you center the spine holes and will most likely be able to punch through the entire book at one time. The crochet hook will help you pull the loose end of the rubber band through the second hole if your connections are tight. European Papers, listed on the supply resources at right, has good quality black rubber bands.

These books retail at Chicago galleries/gift shops for about $25; they can be easily made with quality materials for well under $5. Perhaps they will become your go-to gift favorite this year as well!

A Fairy Tale

Long ago, in a land far to the north, there lived a gentle and generous Queen. The Queen loved her people and showered them with many kindnesses, including the annual gathering and renewal of the artists. It so empowered the people that the Queen declared it would be called the Art Continuum, a powerful force that would always be there to sustain and inspire her subjects.

For many years, the artists celebrated their annual convergence for one week each year, and creativity fluorished and it was good. Art was made and altered, bought and sold, auctioned and traded; friendships were cemented, 'zines went forth, book deals were done, and everyone was happy.

Alas, the day arrived when the good Queen had to depart for new lands, to claim her King and apply her deft hand to remodeling yet another castle. The Art Continuum vanished overnight, and though the people cried and wrung their hands, and the artists withered, the Queen could not be persuaded to return to the north lands. Like the four winds, the artists dissipated and scattered over the world, some never to return, some lying in wait, hoping for the return of a better day.

Like so many twists of fate, while the Queen labored mightily in the west, the art gods were busy making other plans for her. The King retired from his subjects and heard a strange calling from the east: words like snow and golf and fishing filled his dreams, and he longed to live in a land where the sun did not shine every day. Together, they explored many great cities and the countryside, seeking the most perfect spot in the entire world to live. The exhaustive search continued until one day, when they realized they already knew where they should go, and returned speedily to the north land of the Queen.

The people in the land rejoiced, for surely this signaled the return of their beloved Art Continuum as well. They called and wrote and tweeted the Queen, but alas, time had taken its toll on her reclaimed kingdom. No suitable location could now be found to host the event, yet the Queen believed in her heart that it must be found so that the people could be restored and renewed once again.

And the day finally came when a location was found, although it was much less grand than the Queen would have liked, and certainly not able to accommodate all the artists at one time. But the Queen did not despair, instead, she had a flash of royal brilliance: why not spread the spirit of the Art Continuum throughout the year, and celebrate the arts each month instead of only during one week?

So this is how it came to pass that Ginny Carter Smallenburg will begin hosting her Small Studio Workshop series next year, and I am so honored to be a part of it. Details will be forthcoming in late January, but you already know you want to be there!

Making Your Mark

Do you sign the books that you make? My bookbinding teacher, the late Shereen LaPlantz, taught us how to compose a colophon at the end of our artist's books, giving the reader information about how the book was made, what materials were used in its construction, and other pertinent details such as the names of the typefaces or fonts used in the text. At the bottom of the statement, you'll typically find the number of books produced and the specific number of the book in hand, along with the date it was created and the artist's signature.

This is all well and good if you are making books with content, but what about your unreadable books? Those blank journals and class models into which you've poured many, many hours of labor, don't they deserve your signature as well? As a producer of mostly books without words, I like to think that all work deserves the final mark of the artist's hand. Of course, you can simply pick up your favorite pen or marker and sign your name, but here are a few ways you can add your signature without lifting a pen to give your books a spiffy, if not official-looking, finish.

Rubber stamps. Some of you are accomplished eraser carvers, so you'll have no trouble creating your own design, and you'll have the finished product to work with as soon as you're done carving! If this isn't your cup of tea, go ahead and splurge on your own custom rubber stamp. Every small print shop and office supply store makes these; just create your art in the size you wish and take it in for an estimate, or choose from their stock template designs. If you decide to have a stamp made, it usually takes just a few days. Order it as a stand alone stamp, as opposed to a self-inker, so you can play with lots of different stamp pad colors when you stamp your books.

A company called Expressionary offers a fabulous line of pre-inked round or square rubber stamps with cool designs and type faces. I recently had several of these made, not only for my "signature" stamp but in address stamps for the studio and my summer workshop logo. The service was fast (about a week) and the stamps produce very clean, sharp images.

A friend of mine visited China a few years back, and brought home chops (Chinese signature blocks) for several of us. They are carved into stone, with amazing handles ... little works of art on their own. I love to use these on my Asian-inspired binding projects. If your city has a Chinatown, poke around the shops and you'll probably find a supplier who can make a chop for you.

You can also consider having an embossed image created with your logo. These look great pressed onto the first or last page of a book (I like to use them on gift journals), and you can also use them in conjunction with metallic seals to create fabulous packaging for your books, or to seal wrapping paper around journals given as gifts. Williams-Sonoma, the kitchen shop/catalog, offers a nice range of embossers that you can personalize with one of their graphic elements as well as a good color selection of seals.

If you make fabric books or other cloth creations, why not have some cloth signature labels made to complete these works? Of course, you could make your own with a personal labeling machine that takes iron-on tape, or you can custom design your label with companies that offer lots of sizes and design options for tags and labels. You can find ads for label suppliers in the back of any good quilting magazine; Sterling Label made the labels shown here. Delivery takes a little longer for these products, but it is a very exciting moment when your personal label shows up in the mail.

Enjoy branding your books with your personal marker!

Stalking the Elusive Cigar Box

About six months ago, my friend Jan gave me a cigar box that was an often seen brand, but in an unusual size: the lid was only 3 1/2 x 5, roughly the same as a standard index card. Many of you know that I have taught classes using cigar box lids as book covers, requiring 2 identically sized book covers for the project. I was so thrilled with this petite gift that I immediately set off in quest of a second identical box.

Apparently I live in a heavy smoking area, for there are no less than a dozen cigar & smoke shops within a ten minute drive from my home. A year or so after moving here, I made two field trips just making the rounds of all the possible sources, noting which shops had the cooler brands, which ones had the most gorgeous wood boxes, and what they charged for them. (Why is it that the shops with the highest priced boxes put the money directly in their pockets instead of the cash register? Hmmm..... ) This helped narrow the list to about 5 or 6 shops that are now my regular haunts when I need to build stash.

After scoping out the usual suspects, I found only one carried the cigar brand and size I was seeking and, alas, they did not have any more empty boxes. They had a full box, but it was securely shelved in the walk-in humidor, and I was assured it wasn't going anywhere until all the cigars in it were sold. So, yes, I did the math -- 10 cigars at more than $10. a pop -- and decided not to make the book with the hundred dollar covers at this time. Thus began my new adventures in stalking.

This is a slow moving cigar, folks. I popped in every two weeks in the beginning, and never found more than one cigar gone from my target box. After a few months, when there were five left in the box, I stepped up my visits to weekly. No trouble to visit often. This particular store always has a wonderful collection of the all-wood boxes, which they price at a dollar or two each, so my supply shelves are currently filled to capacity with beautiful all-wood boxes. When we got down to two cigars, I started going in every other day. The day arrived when only one cigar remained. I could not stand the drama any longer and purchased it along with the box. Success at last, after five months of stalking! Now, does anyone out there want a nice cigar?

So, now I am working on this book and it is nearly ready to be prepped for sewing. I added some collage elements to the covers on both sides, and decided to use a multitude of checkerboard and stripe papers as signature wraps because I love the way they create patterns on the exposed spne binding. Stay tuned for the finished product!