NOVEMBER WORKSHOP WRAP

 Our last workshop of 2025 was the Australian Reverse Piano Hinge book taught by local member, Donna Gephart. With such a long name it seems like it would be a complicated book, but thanks to Donna, it was not. One of the best features of this structure is that the signatures can easily be removed and replaced with new ones. The dimensions for this structure can also be changed, and one could use one or more accordion pieces to secure the signatures. There is no stitching involved and very little gluing (only on the covers). Thank you Donna for sharing this very adaptable structure with us.

Michele Kamprath used just one

 accordion piece for her book.

Bonnie Julien used two accordions (the gold paper)

to secure her signatures.

Margaret Beech modified her book

on the outside by adding a case binding

that did not change the inside of her book.

She can still replace signatures if she wants.

 

Michele's husband, Doug, even made a book to

showcase his artwork.

Doug's book also used one accordion.

AUSTRALIAN REVERSE PIANO HINGE

Our instructor for the November workshop will be local member Donna Gephart. She will show us how to make one version of the Australian Reverse Piano Hinge book and also demonstrate another version. Below you will find the tools and materials list for the book, but first, here are photos of two versions of the structure. 

Tools:

• Pencil
• Metal ruler
• Art knife and cutting mat
• PVA and brush or glue stick
• Weights (like covered bricks or heavy books)
• Possibly an awl and piercing cradle or a push pin

Materials:

• Two (2) pieces of book board cut 6" x 6"
• Two (2) pieces of cover paper cut 7-1/2" x 7-1/2"
• Two (2) coordinating end papers cut 5-1/2" x 5-1/2"

• Two (2) pieces medium weight paper cut 20" x 1-5/8" for accordions
• Six (6) pieces medium weight paper cut 11" x 5-1/2" for signature covers
• Twelve (12) pieces of text weight paper cut 11" x 5-1/2" for signatures
• Six (6) pieces cut 2-1/4" x 5-1/2" for signature closures

When:    Saturday November 8 at 10 a.m. PST

Where:   On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:     To Dolores Guffey by Nov. 3 to receive the password 

Workshop Questions:  Donna Gephart, gephart.donna@gmail.com

Zoom Questions:  Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter

PLAYING THE ACCORDION & HUMBOLDT KIOSK

At our September workshop we played with an accordion structure from Keith Smith's book, Non-Adhesive Binding Vol. 1. Many thanks to our instructor, Becky Luening, who also showed us some variations of other accordion spines. The plan was to make two different books, but the time went by too quickly so we only finished book A. Becky introduced us to the book B structure that added a spine guard, and she demonstrated a great way to finish the covers that can just slip onto the edges of the spine. Thank you again Becky for a great workshop.

Kiosk Photographs

The Humboldt County Library in Eureka, California has a kiosk near the check-out desk that they have allowed NORBAG to use for many years. Sometimes there is a theme for the display of books and sometimes it features books by one of our artists. This month the books are by Donna Gephart. 

Thank you Donna for showing us your lovely books and Kenzie Mullen for arranging the display.

LOOPY BOOK BINDINGS WORKSHOP

Our Loopy Books workshop was fun and gave us three alternatives to the simple pamphlet stitch. As stated in the NORBAG Newsletter, this method came to us by a rather circuitous route. Inspired by Keith Smith and Susan Longerot, Kris Nevius wrote her own instructions and gave a workshop to the Sonoma County Book Arts Guild. She very generously shared them with NORBAG and Donna Gephart volunteered to give us the workshop.

Just as the pamphlet stitch can hold signatures in covers, these little sewn bindings are simple and quick and add texture to books as an alternative. Starting with a jig, we spaced the holes along the folded spine. In the first two examples, the stitching had either an odd or even number of holes about every half-inch. We used either waxed linen thread or waxed or unwaxed Perle Cotton into one hole and out of the next making a simple running stitch. When we got to the bottom, we returned by wrapping the thread around the exposed running stitch back to the top for tie-off. In the third book, we completed a double stitch between two holes and wrapped with thread for each stitch as we worked to the bottom to tie-off. On the fourth book, we made a chain stitch all the way down the spine and then moved back to the top of the spine, wrapping each stitch on the way back up with a tie-off at the top. Each stitch pattern had a slightly different effect depending on tension and thread.

As usual, it was all about creativity and imagination. These can be simple little signature books with lovely surface designs or perhaps a double row of stitches resulting in two signatures. A Dos-a-Dos structure would lend itself to this binding. And, because there is thread, you could put a bead on it.

These are some of the samples that Donna brought.

Donna widened the spine and sewed three signatures
 using two different threads for contrast.

This is the close-up of the first book with a running stitch down
 and wraps on the way back up.

This is book three and has a lovely profile.

This is book four and was made with unwaxed Perle cotton
 and looks like a fuzzy caterpillar.

We had a wonderful set of instructions that made the stitching very easy.

On to the stitching and surface design

This is book three. Stitches are complete before going to the next series of holes. 

This is book four before the final wraps.

Now you get to see the finished products. Complete with surface design.

We have a show and tell table each month

Edge G is experimenting with "leather" looks using paper and paste shoe polish.

Michele K is also experimenting. She is using various solutions to deposit iron onto paper.

Dianne B displayed some of the future project page structures.

THREE LOOPY BOOKS

The October meeting will be a binding workshop taught by Donna Gephart. These three binding stitches were recently taught in Sonoma County by Kris Nevius, a NORBAG member since 2003 who lives in Graton, California and is also a member of the Sonoma County Book Arts Guild. Kris cites Keith Smith and Susan Longerot as her inspiration for the stitches.

Materials to bring:

• Covers: Three (3) pieces of 5 5/8 x 8 7/8 paper folded in half. Canson Mi Teintes, or similar paper works well. The stitch is the "star" here, so a solid color spine shows it off best. For Mi Teintes, or other papers that might tear when sewing, bring a piece of the cover paper or another decorative paper 1/2" x 5 5/8" to glue onto the inside or outside of cover as reinforcement for the spine (one for each book). If you want this reinforcement to be a decorative element for your book, consider making it wider than 1/2". Bring decorative elements for your covers if you want to decorate them in class.
• Signatures: Three signatures (one per book), with 6-8 sheets in each signature. Sheets: 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" folded in half to 5 1/2" x 4 1/4".
• Thread: One piece of waxed linen or Perle cotton, color to complement your cover paper, 25" long (middle book in photo). Another piece 35" long (book on right) and another piece 45" long (book on left).

Tools to bring:

• Piercing cradle, foam board or phone book for piercing
• needle (s)
• cutting mat
• piercing tool
• X-acto or craft knife
• ruler
• bone folder
• scissors
• pencil
• glue stick to glue your reinforcement (or decorative) paper to the spine

Donna will provide instructions.

When:   Saturday, Oct. 12 at noon

Where:  Eureka Methodist Church, Del Norte & F Streets

Bring:    See above list

Cost:     $1.00

RSVP:    YES, by Tuesday Oct. 8 to Donna (contact information in the newsletter)

BINDING OVER RIBBON WORKSHOP

On Saturday, August 11, 2018, Donna Gephart led a workshop on this binding from Keith Smith's book 1,2 & 3 Section Sewings. This is volume 3 of 4 in his series of non-adhesive bindings. If you aren't familiar with Keith Smith books, don't think that Donna opened the book, copied a materials list with measurements and started the workshop. Keith Smith books have tons of information about sewing patterns and some info about materials but the rest is up to the reader to put it all together to complete a book. 

Donna did the math and made it easy for us.  The book has three sections (signatures) and the signatures are sewn onto the cover with a ribbon banding that is placed under the stitching. The cover is cut so that it can be folded back upon itself to cover the ribbons on the inside and to give a folded fore edge for strength and durability.

These are the samples that were in the August newsletter.

We had a full house for the workshop.

 Marking and folding of the cover

We started with the folding of the cover. We set a spine in the middle
 of the cover and scored the end flaps for folding inward.

Preparing the spine and jigs

Donna instructed us to mark the spine for the sewing of the signatures (sections) and then temporarily applying the ribbons to the inside so that we could mark the spine.

This is a closeup of the inside of the cover. We have three lines drawn vertically for each of the signatures. With the ribbons placed on the page, we marked the piercing holes. In this picture, you can see that there are two holes at the top of the ribbon and only one in the middle of the bottom of the first ribbon. Each of the next ribbons will only have holes on the outside lines of each ribbon. This means that the two outside signatures have a different piercing pattern than the middle one. So we made 2 different jigs.  Note: the ribbons are on the inside of the cover only during the set up for the jig. Ultimately, they will be on the outside of the spine with the stitching over them.                                                                       

We moved the ribbons away from the lines and made a slit where the ribbons
 would eventually re-enter the cover.

After marking all of the piercings, we moved the ribbons to the outside of the cover and slid the ends through the slits. (Note: we don't always use waxed linen. This member uses Perle Cotton generally used in crewel work, waxed it and used it as linen.)

 

Using folded cardstock and the cover, we made two jigs for each of the piercing patterns.

Sewing of the Signatures

The left and right signatures used a different jig than the center signature. Some of us used piercing cradles while others used the edge of a box or simply on a pad.

The stitching starts with the middle signature and then moves to the first signature. It is fun watching what each member does to control the signatures. Some used paper clips, others clamps and others simply work with the paper.

Throughout the process, Donna moved through the room helping where needed.

 See our results. At the end, take a look at our "Show and Tell" table.

As usual, someone had an interesting variation.

Last, but not least, the "show and tell" table. The books in the upper left are samples of what we will be doing next month. The three papers in the middle are batik on rice paper. The pictures on the right are some collages using Picasso prints to fit into our cat theme.