Guest Post by PSU GD Alumni Heather Noddings!

This post is a companion to the great PDF by Heather that I recently emailed to you all! and for more bookmaking goodness, go to Randi’s Workshop on Tuesday Night!

Bookbinding 

For all of the crazy-talk that print is dead, there is still a huge demand for printed materials and creative ways to display them. With good production skills and a little creativity, you’ll be able to make some really incredible pieces that will not only display information (or art, stories or poems, or any number of things!) in an interesting way, but it’ll also make people want to pick up the book and check it out.  

Binding is a great skill that will come in handy where ever you go, and in this age of the internet, tactile objects are an extra special treat. Explore interesting materials, and non-standard sizes that are fun to hold. Here are a few types of binding to get you started, as well as more resources to explore further.  

Saddle Stitch:

You know those AMAZING Scout Books and Field Notes? Those are perfect examples of saddle stitch books, and they really highlight the multitude of uses those great little books have. Notebooks, artist books, pocket-constitutions, you name it! They’re also super simple to make, and a great starting point in binding! 

Accordion:

Fun to play with an easy to make, accordion books are one of my favorites for showing long overlapping pieces of information, such as timelines. Expanded or condensed down, the pages of an accordion book are easily pieced together and can be viewed in a variety of ways. 

Japanese Album Books (Nori-ire gajo):

Similar to Accordion books, Japanese Album books are made by attaching small sections of paper together at the edges. But instead of attaching everything with an extra flap, pages are attached at the fore-edge which makes for a really lovely overall structure, while maintaining the integrity of your individual spreads.

See http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~dawe5/bookbinding_pages/BB_accordion2.html for detailed instructions! 

Tools:

bone folder (these things are the BEST!)

tape

awl

PVA glue

sponge brush

exacto blade

straight edge ruler

paper

needle

thread 

This list is by no means complete, so definitely keep your eyes peeled for other options while out at your favorite supply store! 

Suppliers:

http://www.volcanoarts.biz/

http://www.hollanders.com/

http://www.keithsmithbooks.com/

http://talasonline.com/

http://talasonline.blogspot.com/2009/10/beat-to-pulp.html

http://cool.conservation-us.org/don/toc/toc1.html

http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/balinks.html

http://www.gigabooks.net/

http://www.paperzone.com/

http://www.paper-source.com/

http://www.artpaper.com/

http://www.xpedxstores.com/ 

Resources:

http://www.ocac.edu/

http://www.focusonbookarts.org/

http://www.multcolib.org/

http://www.iprc.org

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~dawe5/bookbinding_pages/BB_accordion2.html 

(Some) Favorite Book Designers: Google these folks and prepare to have your mind blown!

Irma Boom

Lars Müller

Hideki Nakajima

Andreas Laeufer