bookbinding

A sometimes neglected art form

Bookbinding

Bookbinding

“the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.”

The first books

Made almost 6,000 years ago!

Carved into stone or bone.

This stone tablet from 2400 BC was found in Syria, ad told of the once-great city of Elba.

It was dried and used to write on.

Then came papyrus scrolls…

Papyrus was a plant abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt.

Palm Leaf Books

Wooden cover and backing, with a hole punched through the center to connect them all.

Few books of this time exist today due to decomposition.

Wooden and leather bound books

Appeared in the 6th century, so after 500 CE.

European Monks held them in high regard.

For the next 1400 years, the majority of the books created were by monks.

Gutenberg press

In 1447, an automated binding machine was invented for binding books.

Many people continued to bind books by hand.

Advances in Paper

In the 1800s it was discovered wood pulp could be used to make paper.

The number of books society was able to make increased, and with that demand, binding machines were improved.

Further advances

Machines are made to trim pages and to glue the binding together.

Improvements to covers for hard-covered books.

a bookbinding project inspired by a childhood memory

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

You will select a childhood memoryGood or bad, but it must be from more than 5

years ago

You will then transform what you recall into a generalized interpretation of the event and collage this on your cover.

For your book binding project…

Reinvented when retrieved.Vivid some times, yet unclear others.Can involve different senses.Essential for our existence.

Precious.

Memory is…

Door GlassPaneShade Ledge

SillHouseOpenCurtainFrame

ViewBreezeSashScreenShutter

In the home…

Nurse SickLawyerMedicineHealth

HospitalDentistPhysicianOfficeIll

PatientStethoscop

eSurgeonClinicCure

At the hospital…

On to the good stuffArtist inspirations

Joyce Ellen Weinstein

Our memory plays tricks on us.

What was once abstracted becomes concrete.

Prague/Waldsee

What could be represented by this multi-media collage?

Joyce Ellen WeinsteinIs this a literal interpretation? How could we tell?

Would we know this is about war if it had been titled differently?

Reflection on War

Prague/Waldsee

Barbara Page

Creates collages on discarded index cards from the library.

Focuses on what memories she recalls from each book.

Barbara Page

How does she portray this book, The World is Flat in abstract ways?

Polymer clay

Varieties of paper

Fabric

Medallion

What other materials can you think to use?

What elements of this piece suggest a narrative?

Let's take a moment

Write down ten memorable experiences of childhood.

Brainstorm!

Pick a memoryCollect imagery that symbolizes the memory,

but does not show it at face valueYou must collage at minimum 5

elements/images/media onto your coverWe will bind the books ourselves and you may

use them as a journal or sketchbook for this class or something else

Share our journals

Some guidelines:

My example

Some Student examples