Module 4-Chapter 10-Book-Type Structures to try out

Considering the large choice of different book structures in their widest sense, it was very difficult to choose which one to try out first.

I started by painting different qualities of papers, (ranging from simple copy paper, to watercolour paper and even envelopes and paper from shopping catalogues), in my chosen colour scheme with brusho paints, spent Procion, spraying them, doing monoprinting... I also crumpled the red and black paper I had used for the paper making. I must say I had great fun in this exercise.

The choice of the book structure greatly depended on the quality of the paper.  

Sample 10a shows a simple concertina folded book, where the height of the "pages" dicreased. The paper was spray-painted with brusho paints and the word "List" was hand written in black ink using a bigger brush 

Sample 10b: For this  second folded rectangular book the pages were hand-sewn together. I used painted papers and for the cover I took packaging paper, crumpled and sprayed. This was then ironed to Decovil I to have a sturdier surface

Sample 10c: Another folded L-shaped booklet

Sample 10d: a "star folded" booklet (pliage en étoile, book "Papier" by éditions Fleurus)

samples 10d and 10e show single sheet fold books: a large rectangular piece of paper was painted from both sides before cutting part of the folds  "to develop unusual formation that are sometimes complex, similar to mazes" (Cover to Cover, Shereen La Plantz, page 90)

Sample 10d

sample 10e:

sample 10f: a triangular accordion-folded book. This stands up because I have used paper meant for various media painting techniques. When using softer paper for the pages, the cover and the back obviously has to be made of thicker material

sample 10g: this book was lace together with two red ribbons. Each paper has two slits through which the ribbons are threaded and then sewn in place as shown in the picture below

sample 10h: a stab-bound book: "the concept behind stab bindings is to sew around the outside edget at every opportunity...."

the stitch used here is called "tortoise-shell stitch". Of course different type of stitches can be used if different variations 

sample 10i: probably the fastest and easiest book to make. The pages are held together with simple paper clips (painted in red).This would make the ideal sketchbook for travelling as you can make it with the papers of your choice  and the paper pages could be taken out easily for painting

sample 10j: here the pages were connected by punching 2 holes through them.  Stitch-wrapped and twisted pipe cleaners were fastened on the back of the book cover as shown below

sample 10k: not really a book but nevertheless a very easy and effective way to keep various papers together.

sample 10l:metal clips hold a long strip of paper stitched together. A metal clip is also used to fix the felt fastening. This could be an idea to remember. The strip could even be much longer to reproduce a shopping list. Of course the construction of the book would have to be slightly different.

sample 10m: one of the first book I made: An old calendar page was reinforced by glueing a sturdier paper to it. It was then painted in my color scheme. The stitch used to hold the pages together is called a pamphlet stitch.

sample 10n: the pages here consist partly of crumpled paper and painted papers from a supermarket advert. The signatures were joined with a simple stitch (not very successfully)  but the book is held together by the red paper strips slipped through the stitches and glued to the front and the back.

sample 10o: my first "real" book with the back and front made of heavy cardboard which wrapped with painted papers. The signatures were joined with a herringbone stitch and two strips of paper slipped through the stitching and glued to the front and the back

sample 10p: a tiny booklet made spontaneously of left over papers joined with a pipe cleaner with inserted paper clips as decoration.

sample 10q: hanging book structure: this book was made with cut-out triangles assembled with a straight machine stitch to form a signature. 4 signatures were gathered with their threads from the stitching and the same was done with the lower triangle part. Of course the threads could be further embellished.with machine-stitching 

sample 10r: This last book was in fact the first one I made. I used envelopes in decreasing size which I painted in different ways. The folded envelopes were joined with a pamphlet stitch. A piece of cardboard has been slipped into the largest one to form the cover of the book. a zigzag stitch was used to close it.  All the other envelopes remain open so that they can  hold all kind of things. Leftover triangles were used to decorate some of the pages and edges.

I particularly like this particular structure made with envelopes because of the possibility it offers to hold things (precious papers, secrets..) inside