One of the most common questions that I get is “What type of thread is best for binding my book?”
The two suppliers that I use most often for binding thread are Colophon Book Arts Supply and Talas. However, many many vendors sell thread for bookbinding. I have used silk button thread for a small book, since it was the only thread that I could find in the color that I wanted. The photo above shows types of thread most commonly used to sew books. The photo illustrates that binding thread is sold in different sizes. The second number 3, 5 and so on, indicates the number of strands that are wound together to form the thread. The first number indicates the thickness. Therefore thread that is labeled 25/3 is thinner than 18/3. Most often I use 16/3 or 18/3. But every project varies and I seldom ever say one size fits all. It is best to have a variety of size and colors on hand. I am not real sure how vendors determine the first number. My best guestimation is that it relates to the length of thread need to equal a set amount of weight. I am not sure where along the way I heard this. Perhaps you can let me know the best answer.
It is easy, just watch this very short animation. Set the type upside down or “wrong reading” Click here if you have trouble getting the video to play.
Dennis Michael Peterson drew a large arrow on frosted mylar. As an experiment, we thought it would be fun to take a digital photo of the drawing and scale it down to print it on our letterpress printing press. His original graphite drawing is about 2 x 3 feet. In Adobe Photoshop we converted the image to a greyscale, set the image size to 8.5 x 11 inches and set the resolution to 300 ppi. The kind folks at Smartset in Minneapolis, MN made the negative for us and quickly mailed it to us. These plates are actually smaller samples that we had made for printing on a post card. Once the larger version is done, we will add more images to this post. Read more…
Danika Morphew-Tarbuck gave a demo to the class to teach us how to sew a leather wrapper around two signatures of drawing paper. Below is a photo of a sample that she created.
Danika used leather from a purse that she bought at a thrift store to use as the cover. Heavy weight drawing paper was used for the journal pages. She said sewing is easier if you use waxed linen thread. You will need two needles to sew this book.
Step by step photos can be seen by going to the Read more >.Read more…
Shanna Kaczynski, Sarah Ripp and Kathyrn Petke have been collaborating on sheet formation. Kathyrn brought in some puffy plants which I think are called Chinese lantern flowers or maybe they are Bougainvillea. Shanna harvested some dill will. There is no shortage of wild dill weed in Wisconsin during the summer. Sarah Ripp provided some white cotton fiber. The plants were dried under pressure for several days and added to beaten pulp in the vat during the formation process. The result are sheets with randomly placed dried plant matter on a white sheet. The Bougainvillea have lost some color but the texture and shape add visual interest to the sheet.
Once you finish these simple steps, you will have a concertina with 11 pleats. These photos demonstrate an easy approach. If you need real narrow concertina pleats, say less than half an inch wide, you may need to experiment with other methods. I will be happy to show you how to use the vandercook press to score your paper.
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Start with a sheet of paper 22 inches x 8 inches. Draw short marks every two inches along the top or long edge of the sheet. The marks will be used as folding guides. A two-inch interval will produce a concertina pleat that is one inch wide. The marks can be drawn at any desired spacing. Remember, that the pleats will be half the width of the spacing. This is will be cleared up in a few steps.
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Once the marks have been drawn on the top of the sheet, take either side and fold the length toward the opposite edge of the sheet. In this photograph, the left edge is folded toward the first mark on the right side of the sheet and fold the sheet flat. Keep the top and bottom edges aligned and fold the paper straight down. The fold needs to be perfectly perpendicular to the long side.
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Next, move the left edge to the next mark, and again fold the sheet flat, keeping the paper aligned to create a perpendicular fold.
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Repeat folding the sheet by moving the edge to the next mark until the end of the sheet is reached.
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Continue making folds, aligning the marks, using the opposite side of the sheet until the sheet is folded every two inches. In this example, the sheet of paper will have 11 folded pleats.
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Once all the folds have been made, the sheet needs to be folded back and forth to create the concertina. Start at one end and fold the paper forward at the first crease. Turn the paper over and fold again at the second crease. Repeat folding back and forth until all the folds are made.
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This is the basic approach for the concertina structure. It can be used as a support for sewing envelopes or folded pages or for using in a flag book. Conservation binders use thin paper to make small concertina pleats as a guard for the spine of a book. The concertina pleat has many uses. Smaller pleats can be trickier to fold if you need to make lots of them and hope they align. I will be happy to show you how to use the Vandercook Press to score lines for accurate folds.
This site is intended for students in Jim Escalante's classes in the Art Department at the University of Wisconsin. Click in the menu bar above or click in the Classes & Categories below area to locate all posts for a specific category. You may also find what you need by entering key words in the Type Text to Search Here in the above to find information. Send a note if you have any comments or questions.
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Cartonera artists from Cartonera Mexico, Elsoisa Cartonera and YiYi Jambo visited to make work in out type lab on Friday, October 9, 2009. You can see a gallery of photographs of the Cartonera book artists during the energetic and chaotic event. These book artists and publishers were in town as part of the Cartonera Publishers Conference and the Wisconsin Book Festival.
