Bookbinding - Coptic Stitch Silver Spine Book

 

On my recent quest for specialty paper, I went to NYC Art Central to get some book cover ideas. I found this lovely green paper made in Nepal. Once it reached its new home, I went to work in creating a new book cover.

Materials used: Specialty Nepal paper, silver textured card stock, craft paper, tan drawing paper, brown book cloth, vinyl, silver plated eyelets, brown thread, and beeswax. 

A typical book of mine usually has 9 signatures (4 sheets per signature). If I decide to add a folder, than the number of actual signatures decreases to 8. I use the left over thread from sewing the signatures together to create a book closure.    

The book cover is 3x4 1/4 inches. I purposely made the pages 1/4 inches smaller since the sewn signatures + the silver card stock takes up extra space. The silver card stock acts as a design element to the spine, as well as creates a separate distinction between signatures.

I decided to create a page template for this book. Taking some inspiration from the Nepal paper, I thought some organic lines would be much more fun than straight ones. I typically use Adobe Illustrator for my template needs.

 The backs and fronts of each book cover are created separately, than combined to create a hard cover. The backs are lined in book cloth while the fronts are covered in specialty paper and vinyl. Each cover uses brown craft paper as a base. 

 

This book has a total of 128 pages (counting both sides of each sheet). Its pocket sized; perfect for travel! Half the book has acid free tan lined pages, half blank pages, and a small brown folder. You definitely can't go wrong with a cute book like this!