50 books in a year of being 50

In this year of being 50 I have decided to follow one of my creative passions
and make 50 handmade books over the year.

Early next year I will find a way to exhibit the books and auction them.

The money raised will go to Plum Village in France,
a monastic retreat centre inaugurated by Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.

Wednesday 1 April 2015

Book number 12, Coptic bound spine

Current bid for this book stands at £20
This book has some yummy stitching on the spine, called coptic binding. Instead of having a hard spine you sew the signatures (groups of pages) together with the front and back cover in a kind of chain stitch. Quite easy to do once you get the hang of it, but very effective and it also means the book opens flat. It measures 16 x 11cm and has 60 pages.

Here in these next two pictures you can see the different colours in the pages, purple, pink and cream, some with flowers and leaves in the pages.

The pages are all thick handmade paper (not made by me!)





















This picture gives a close up of the spine and the stitches of the coptic binding.