Welcome to part 2 (if you haven't read part 1 you can read it here) where I show you a look at my second entry for the Canadian Bookbinders & Book Artists Guild's Kindred Spirits Exhibition! To learn more about the exhibition visit their website here.
It was my second entry that I had serious doubts I'd get it done as I have little to no knowledge of embroidery/stitching. It involved watching a lot of YouTube videos and looking at photos I had taken of LMM's crazy quilt in the archives at the University of Guelph.
Crazy Quilt photo from visit to the archives
This was simple binding to keep things easy for myself as I was quickly approaching the deadline. The textblock was sewn on flatten cord, and I did a simple white linen foundational endband. The endpapers are plain as well as I wanted the cover to be the focal point. The book here is really just a vessel for the cover!
Recently we got a little kitten named Soot, she was very "helpful" during anything to do with sewing, including chewing on the cords!
When I first saw LMM's crazy quilt I thought is was wonderfully chaotic and creative, I wanted to do something that represented her beyond her writing. The cover is made on a white base paper (handmade paper by Dan Mezza) that is treated with konnyaku, this strengthens it and gives it a cloth like texture, which is good for sewing into. Over the paper, I pasted on pieces of Japanese tissue from the Japanese Paper Place (every so often I would press the cover to ensure the tissue was adhering well to the base paper). I always get these fine soft tissues in packs of paper that are very pretty but I never knew what to use them for as a bookbinder so I was glad to find a use for them!
It was both fun and a challenge to attempt to be "chaotic" and trust the process while laying out the pieces hoping they would look good. I kept repeating to myself "it's a crazy quilt, it's allowed to be crazy!"
I debated stopping here to due to the deadline quickly approaching and my lack of confidence with sewing but I was encouraged to give it a try and tested out the idea on a patch just to see what it would look like/how hard it might be to pull off.
The sewing took a lot of work but I was really pleased with the finished result and glad I went with it!
Another fun aspect about this cover is that it is also padded. The cover is a case, and on the front of the boards a thin layer of quilting padding was added, this gives the book a soft padded texture (like a quilt!) and also means that all the embroidery knots and bumps on the back are "hidden" because they press into the soft padding rather than against the hard board. The cover paper was then drummed around the case, adhering down on the joints, turn ins, and just a hair on to the boards as the padding was kept short to allow for some adhesion of the cover.
Once the cover was made the book was cased in and finally finished! I was really pleased with the final results, and it's hard to pick a favorite between the two submissions. This one was less problematic than the other one though so its got bonus points for that!
Take a look through the slideshow at the finished book:
Be sure to keep an eye on the Kindred Spirits website and social media (Instagram and Facebook) for information about when it will be in a city near you!
Until next time,
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