BUTTONHOLE STITCH REVIEW

At the October NORBAG workshop we were taught how to make a variation of the Buttonhole stitch. Lara Cox led us through the steps to create a beautiful book that can open flat to allow for easy journaling or sketching. Lara's idea to create openings in the cover individualizes and enhances the design. Thank you Lara for a wonderful workshop. The following photographs show some of the books made in the workshop.

Margaret Beech

Sherrill Story

Dolores Guffey

Anne Atkinson

Anne made a second smaller version after the workshop.

Bonnie Julien

PSBA Exchange Books

Puget Sound Book Artists held their yearly book exchange earlier this month. This year the theme was Wabi Sabi and 31 members participated. Pictured here are a few of the books from the exchange.

LeeAnne Campos

Mari Eckstein Gower

Lynn McClain

Top: Kim Izenman
Bottom: Kat Gower

Dorothy McCuistion

Sally Alger

Janet Reynolds

Becky Frehse

Debbi Commodore

Bonnie Julien

BUTTONHOLE STITCH BINDING

Lara Cox will be our instructor for the October NORBAG workshop. Lara saw the Buttonhole Stitch binding on various Pinterest and Bookbinding sites and was inspired to research and make several versions, from full hard binding (book-cloth over book-board) covers to simpler versions utilizing cover weight paper for the cover. Parts of this binding can be glued or not depending on your style choices. It also offers endless possibilities for variation with cover design. Lara says this book binding technique is a variation of the binding taught in Keith Smith's book Volume 1 Non-adhesive Binding. To receive a copy of the tools and materials needed for the workshop, RSVP to Dolores Guffey (dguffey1@gmail.com) by October 5.

When:  Saturday October 10 at 10 am PDT

Where: On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

Workshop questions:  Lara Cox  Laracoxbookarts@gmail.com

Zoom questions:  Bobbie Hayes  bobbie.hayes666@gmail.com

RSVP:  Dolores Guffey  dguffey1@gmail.com  by Oct. 5

LOCAL WORKSHOP & PSBA EXCHANGE

Prior to the Covid pandemic in 2020, NORBAG's monthly workshops were all locally attended by members in Humboldt County.  Average attendance was 15-30 members. This arrangement worked well, except that our "out-of-town" members were completely excluded from attendance. They could get the supply list and instructions for the workshops, but they were on their own to put it all together. Then came Covid and the local workshops came to a screaming halt. It took a couple of months, but thanks mostly to Bobbie Hayes, we discovered Zoom and revived the monthly workshops that all of our members can attend. We even record them so that members who might have missed the workshop can see it again. Now we usually have 25-40 attend, including our British and Canadian members.  

This year we’ve started some local workshops again with hopes of getting our local members more interested. Currently we have four local workshops a year (March, June, September and December) in addition to the monthly Zoom workshops. In September Lara Cox taught the Origata Binding, which she was able to reconstruct from Julie Auzillon's website which can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/4unvdh8p .

 Only 11 local members attended, but they were rewarded with a new and different binding structure. The following photos show this structure.

Book Exchange

Puget Sound Book Artists (PSBA) from Washington state started holding a yearly book exchange about five years ago. The following photographs are a sample of the 23 books that were in the exchange that was held this month. The theme was bridges.

Peter Newland

Mary Preston

Dorothy McQuistion

Bonnie Julien

CAT FACE LEDGER REVIEW

What a fun project! If you missed this workshop, no worry as it was recorded and available to watch now. You will need the template and the written directions, so check the details in the newsletter. Many thanks go to Lara Cox for sharing her original design with us. When I first looked at the template with all the tiny dots for stitching holes I thought it would be almost impossible to stitch correctly, but Lara's patient instructions made it all work. Lara shared a website to help design stab bindings that she received from NORBAG member Caryn Lum. It looks like it could be a valuable site if you plan to design your own binding.

 https://nataliefreed.github.io/stab-bindings-designer/

Here are a few photographs of our Cat Face Ledgers

Michele Kamprath

Bonnie Julien

Margaret Beech

CAT FACE LEDGER

We will begin 2025 with a workshop to make a uniquely designed Japanese stab binding. Lara Cox will share her original design that features a cat's face in the stitching of the binding. Here is Lara's explanation of how she came up with this idea.

"I was inspired to create this stab binding pattern when I stumbled upon the work of two artists, Lori Forgues of Lbforgues Papercrafts and Becca of Becca Making Faces.

Both of these talented artists offer various Japanese Stab Binding tutorials online as well as encouraging you to go forth and make your own stab binding patterns. I like cats and after much brain twisting trial and error, I managed to make a cat face binding.

For this workshop we will be making a ledger shaped book with a single cat face binding. I will also touch upon how to make a double (or even multiple) cat face pattern for you to tackle in the future if you wish."

The "book" in this project is more like something that would be used to feature a poem or saying on a page rather than hold many pages. It would be an ideal gift for someone. Lara said "for the number of pages, I've done it this way because the binding is complicated enough as it is without folks having to struggle with lots of pages. During class I will have examples of this structure with more pages."

Materials:

Please have all the papers precut prior to the workshop. All papers (even for the covers) are 3" x 7" grain short.

• 2 pieces for the covers: cardstock, Mi-Teints, or similar weight decorative paper.
• 2 pieces for end papers: light weight decorative paper
• 2 pieces for the interior pages: text weight paper
• 8 feet of thread: embroidery thread or other of similar weight. Make sure your thread is a color that will stand out against your cover paper color so that the binding design will show up.

Tools:

• Sewing needle with a big enough eye for your chosen thread type
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Bone folder
• Ruler
• X-acto knife
• Bee's wax
• Awl
• 4 binder clips (1" size)
• Piece of foam core board or an old magazine. This is to place under your book when poking the holes for the binding.

You will be provided with the template for the binding pattern when you RSVP.

When?    Saturday, January 11 at 10 a.m. PST

Where?   On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP      To Dolores Guffey by January 6 to receive the password

Workshop Questions:  Lara Cox, lolastyle@hotmail.com

Zoom Questions:  Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter

GIRDLE BOOK & COLETTE FU

At the April NORBAG workshop we made Girdle books (not really related to the kind of girdles that are worn as foundation garments 😉). The design for our books came from structures used during the middle ages that hung down from a person's belt. In this day and age, this type of book would work great as a nature journal where one could have their hands free, but the book would be very accessible. Lara Cox was our instructor and she did a great job leading us through this project. Now that we know the basics of how this structure works, it will be very interesting to see if our members come up with some other interpretations of the design. Thank you Lara for introducing us to this historical structure. Below are a couple of examples of books made during the workshop.

Sherrill Story

Sherrill's husband demonstrated
 how to wear her book.

Bonnie Julien

Inside cover of Bonnie's book.

Colette Fu

In November 2023 the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) welcomed artist Colette Fu for a month-long residency. Fu's work is a melding of her photography and pop-up engineering. Featured below are some of the books that were exhibited in the Sherry Grover gallery.

The legend is that Butterfly Mother gave birth
to 12 eggs, the origin of all living things.

Miao Fishing Contest

GIRDLE BOOK

Our April workshop will be a follow-up to the March French Link stitch workshop taught by Lara Cox. For those of us who attended, we ended up with a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" text block sewn with the French Link stitch. Now we're ready to turn that into a Girdle Book. Lara describes Girdle Books as "small portable books worn by medieval European monks, clergymen and aristocratic nobles as a popular accessory to medieval costume. They consisted of a book whose leather binding continued loose below the cover of the book in a long, tapered tail. The tail ended in a large knot which could be tucked into one's girdle or belt. The knot was usually strips of leather woven together for durability. The book hung upside down and backwards so that when swung upwards it was ready for reading. The books were most often religious in nature: a cleric's daily Office, or for lay persons (especially women), a Book of Hours."

Tools Needed:

• Pencil, Ruler, Bone folder, Scissors
• PVA Glue (or favorite paste) and brush for gluing.
• Scrap paper for use in gluing. Old magazines work great.
• Sewing needle and thread for finishing off the belt knot at the top of your fabric binding.

Please Prepare Ahead of Class:

• Book Block: The book block you made in the March workshop or one of the same size: 5 1/2" tall x 4 1/4" wide x 5/8" thick.
• Decorative End Papers: 2 pieces that measure 5 1/2" tall x 8 1/2" wide. These will be the End Papers at the front and back of your book. Mi Teintes or a similar weight of paper will work.
• Bottom Paper/Fabric: This piece finishes the bottom of your book where the cover fabric extends. It can be a piece of your cover fabric or a color that matches your cover. (This piece needs to be 9" wide x 1 1/2" tall.)
• Book Boards: 2 pieces precut book board measuring 5 3/4" tall x 4 5/8" wide for front and back covers. AND 1 piece of book board for the spine measuring 5 3/4" tall x 1/2" wide. **Note: Cereal boxes and such while not as heavy duty as book board are usable in place of book board for many bindings.
• Cording and/or Ribbons for the closure and knot: 3 to 4 feet.
• Pre-cut Cover Fabric: 24" tall x 10 1/2" wide. Suggested fabrics: Mid-weight wovens: cotton, linen or silk. Fake leather such as ultra suede or real leather as long as it's soft enough to fold easily. NO stretchy or sheer fabrics.
• Cover Decoration: If you wish to pre-decorate the front of your cover, note that you will be working on the upper right corner of your fabric. The area in which you may decorate is 5" tall x 3 1/2" wide. Leave a border of 3/4" on the top and 1" on the right side free of decoration as these areas will be folded under.

When:    Saturday April 13 at 10 a.m. PDT

Where:   On your computer, tablet, or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:    Dolores Guffey by April 8 to receive the password

Workshop questions: Lara Cox Lolastyle@hotmail.com

Zoom questions: Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter