I'm really enjoying this venture into book making. I like what has happened so far, but my goal at the moment is to have spiral bound blank pages in a hard cover.... preferably one of the old book covers that seem to accumulate around here.
So I pulled out my coil binding machine, ordered coils large enough to accommodate my desired number of pages, and went to work on a small trial version. I decided to make it a sketchbook - one that I could give as a gift - if it turned out.
The covers are cut from a lightweight cardboard box that is covered with gel-plate printed, crumpled and flattened, kraft paper.
Plan A was to punch the cardboard covers with my Rubicoil. Plan B, I discovered, involved using my beloved hand punch and achieving a 4:1 punch pattern very very carefully.
The Rubicoil was perfect for punching the hand cut stack of watercolor paper and colored card stock (including a few collaged with old dictionary pages)..... as long as I didn't try to do too many at once. After that it was a matter of twisting the coil through the papers and covers, cutting the coil just right, finished!
 |
| collaged page |
 | ||||
| front cover - inside |
I can't say this was easy. There were soooo many miscalculations and mistakes. But in the end, I just love this little book. It's beautiful. The spiral works just like it should.
Will I be able to transfer all of this experience into the spiral-bound-hard-covered-book of my dreams? Hmm. Time will tell. Right now? I'm happy.
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians1:6
