Dragon Scale binding video
Cynthia Tidler, a University of Wisconsin-Madison, Master of Fine Arts graduate from 2015, was a student in my book arts class. Cindy had written a creation story for her Folklore class and wanted to create a unique book. As she searched for an appropriate book structure, she learned about the Dragon Scale binding. This style of binding was popular in China around 650 A.D. While she was not able to find many examples to use for reference, the book structure was very appealing to her. The structure allows the viewer to turn the pages and then the book can be rolled into a scroll. Her book combined a panoramic drawing with the text that she wrote.
To make the book, Cindy printed the text pages and then folded all of the sheets into folios. She then printed a complete reproduction of her drawing using a large format inkjet printer. Finally, she cut the reproduction into narrow strips and glued each strip to the far edge of each folio. Follow how she made this book in the video that I posted on YouTube.com.
