Book Necklace

Last week I saw on facebook an event at the Arts House.

via The Thistle Bindery

Make an arty statement with your very own Mini Book Necklace! Participants will learn to create their own case bound book and to accessorise it with unique metal trinkets and cords.

I couldn't resist anything with "trinkets and cords" so I immediately signed up. The first time I learned bookbinding was April 2013. (I blogged about it here) Good grief. That was 3 years ago. Has it been that long?

These 3 books were binded using the Japanese stab bookbinding method. It's the most basic method for decorative bookbinding. Since then I've made a number of books using this method.

I don't remember when I made this version but this was the last book I binded. This is closer to the kind of books I like. I think I drew the cat using Photoshop Elements and printed it on my inkjet printer.

Last year I attended another workshop at the library on bookbinding but it turned out to be far too basic, almost like kindergarten level. I honestly didn't learn anything new. Anyway, since then, I've always wanted to learn another method of bookbinding and finally the opportunity came.

The Book Necklace Workshop was part of The Arts Open House on Saturday. There were a number of events taking place the whole day at the Arts House but I was too hungry to stay and linger around.

 These were some of the samples at the workshop.

I chose to make this version because I liked the print of the cover paper.

It's a real book with pages.

The workshop was conducted by Ian Tan who learned book bindery when he was studying architectural conservation in Edinburgh, Scotland. He operates The Thistle Bindery as a hobby. I don't know what's his full-time job but I heard him mention project manager or something. Anyway, it's quite apparent he likes playing with paper.

I was a little early for the workshop so I could get a good seat. I chose the 2nd chair away from him so my good ear could hear him.

All the tools needed were provided. I wasn't sure if a metal ruler would be provided so I brought my own. Yes, I felt a little stupid carrying the long metal ruler in my bag and constantly getting scraped by it.

There were lots of charms provided. I finally picked the heart on guitar. I would have loved some skulls but there weren't any.

The first part of the workshop was spent creating signatures. A signature is just a fancy word for two or more sheets of paper stacked and folded as a group. Mine has 3 folded sheets per signature. We made a total of 10 signatures. (it's just folding the paper in half)

Sewing the signatures together come next.

There were lots of glueing. I didn't enjoy glueing because I don't like the feel of glue on my fingers.

After more glueing to create the book cover, we had to make an eyelet.

The eyelet is for the necklace. Yep, I used a hammer!

It took me 2 whole hours to make the book necklace. It's really cute and just to show you the scale, I've photographed the book with a spool of thread.

Now that I know how to make this case bound book, I will make a smaller version in future. Maybe a miniature book for one of my dolls?