January Workshop - Cord, Ribbon, & Stick closure

On Saturday, January 13, we had a great meeting and workshop. We had 24 members attending and 16 books in the exchange. During the business part of the meeting we found out that Michele O. and Sandy V. are both giving classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Humboldt State this spring. We welcomed two new members, Roz K., who submitted her first book for the monthly exchange and Marie B.

Dolores G. led the workshop demonstrating a "Cord, Ribbon, & Stick" closure book. Dolores learned the closure in a workshop in the UK taught by Lori Sauer. The signatures were bound with a Keith Smith binding called “Parallel Bars”.

We brought our own cover paper and Dolores supplied all of the cording, ribbons, sticks, and linen thread.

First we chose the ribbon, cord and thread for our books.

We started by scoring the cover. It allowed for a spine and and other folds.

We made three slits on one side of the front cover to put the ribbons through. 
They will form a loop that will hold the bamboo stick.

We adjusted the ribbons so that they were the right size to hold the bamboo stick for the closure. We taped the ends of the ribbons to the inside of the cover.

Next we measured and punctured the cover for the decorative cord,
 and used tacking to connect the cord to the cover.

Once the tacks were over (not through) the cording and the thread tied down,
we made the final adjustments aesthetically.

The sewing of the signatures was relatively simple. The stitching came through
 the cover to form three horizontal bars that mirrored the spacing of the closure.

The tacking of the cord to the surface of the cover demonstrates a technique that can be used for other applications-- whether it is a closure, a decoration, or even a binding. The folding of the cover also lends itself to various other sizes as well as materials. Because the signatures will be sewn through the cover spine, this lends itself to many different sewing patterns.

All of us made the same book with a solid cover. Look at each picture-- there are quite a few differences. Some members used high contrast colors, or unusual color combinations.

This book has a cord color that disappears into the cover,
 but the tacking stitches look almost like little jewels.

This is another book with neutral colors. Underneath the book 
you can see the instructions with lots of diagrams for "next time".

Don't forget, toward the end of the month, the exchange books will be on Flickr. You can see them by tapping Flickr Gallery in the column on the left.