H ello fabulous creative friend! Welcome to my fnal lesson of the year! :) We are going to be binding our pages together into 1 beautiful book, yay! :) It's time, the moment is here, fnally! Are you excited? :) What I love about this process each year is that you get to spend time with all your pages and reminisce, appreciate and honour all that you've done and learned this year. Memories may come back, you may remember sad things, happy things, fantastic things, ordinary things! If you bind your pages together mindfully it can be a really beautiful process/ ritual of remembering and honouring all you've done this year. :) I'm including the binding lessons from previous years in this week's thread also. Each year I've used slightly different methods, so have a browse over all the different methods and choose one that you fnd most suitable for you. This PDF covers how I did it this year; I stitched the pages into coptic signatures back to back and then bound the whole book together in a coptic binding method. This method is not straight forward, but I really loved the outcome of the book! So check out the different options and choose one that suits your needs. :) Thank you all so much for having been part of Life Book this year. You hold a special place in my heart. I truly hope Life Book was all you hoped it would be and I hope you'll treasure your Life Book for years to come! <3 Tam xoxo
Supplies used this week Please note, below are the supplies I used, but you can substitute the supplies if and where needed if you don't have what I've used. This PDF covers a binding method that includes stitching 2 pages together back to back and rings. If you'd like to do another method, pls check the other lessons. Your Life Book Pages (and/ or other pages you've done this year and want to include). A sewing machine (or handheld sewing machine. Strong embroidery thread + a furniture needle. An awl 2 Pieces of strong cardboard sized as large as your largest painting/ page. Collage papers to decorate your covers. Ruler + Stanley knife + bull clips to keep papers together while stitching Watercolour paper to cut into signature strips
Prepping Your Life Book Pages Step 1. Gather all the pages you want to include in your Life Book and sort your pages in to the order you want them to be in the book. Step 2. Time to Put on MATH BRAIN! :) Figure out how many signatures and how many pages per signature you need. A signature refers to a group of sheets of paper, stacked together and folded in half. We will stitch our single loose pages onto several folded over signature strips. So in my case I had 36 loose pages which divided nicely into 3 groups of 12 (3 x 12 = 36). 12 loose pages can be stitched to 3 pieces of folded over watercolour strips (because 3 pieces folded over becomes 6 pages, each page having 2 sides allows for stitching of 12 pages does your brain hurt yet? Sorrryyyyy! ;)). So I needed 3 strips of watercolour paper per signature. If you have a number that isn't dividable by a even amount of numbers larger than 2 (eg: 38), add 1 or more pages to 1 or more of your signatures. It's ok if not all your signatures are the same amount. Though try not to make them too uneven. Practice Run! I created a 'mock' set of signatures with scrap copier paper to make sure my thinking worked. :)
I then proceeded to allocate my loose pages to the corresponding (MOCK) signatures pages, just to check which loose page would be stitched against which part of which signature page. If this feels somewhat confusing to you, I understand! AND, please watch the video, it's probably easier to follow. Step 3. Cut your signature strips out of watercolour papers. Mine were about 3 inches in width. I needed 3 strips per signature. Eventually I ended up with an extra strip for the fnal signature as I found some extra paintings I wanted to add.
Step 4. Fold each strip in half. Firm up the fold with a ruler or some other hard item. Then group your pages into the signatures. Step 5. Now lay all your loose single pages against the signature strips in the correct order, much like you did for the MOCK practice run earlier.
Stitching Your Life Book Pages Step 6. When everything has been put into place, grab the frst two loose pages and their corresponding signature page. Place them sturdily against the signature place with a bull-clip so that they are ready for stitching.
Step 7. Set your sewing machine to your chosen stitch (I used a simple straight stitch) and stitch the 2 pages together with the signature page in the middle of the 2 pages. Be sure to stitch around all 4 sides of the pages. Step 8. Continue doing the same with the rest of your pages. Be sure to continually put all pages back into their original position so that you continue to stitch the correct loose pages to the correct signature pages. It can be tempting to assume where the pages need to go, but it's very easy to make mistakes so this is not recommended. However, if you keep coming back to the signatures you should be fne.
Step 9. Before you start stitching on the opposite sides of the signature pages, be sure to allow approx 2mm gap between the pages so that there is room for hole punching on the fold of the signature pages later. Step 10. Once you have fnished stitching all the pages, be sure to put them back in the correct order and check that everything was stitched in the correct order. IF by any chance you incorrectly stitched some pages in a place they shouldn't be, you can easily unpick the stitches with a Stanley knife, so don't despair.
Preparing Your Covers Step 11. Prep & decorate your covers. You'll need 2 sturdy cardboard pieces as large as your largest page. I used 1 thick cardboard pieces for each cover cut out of a sturdy cardboard box. Step 12. I decorated my covers with torn pieces of paper in a quilt/ patch-like way but you can decorate your cover in whichever way you like, you can add paint/ embellishments etc. You can go as extravagant or as simple as suits you.
If you want your cover to be unifed and have 1 look/ colour only, you'll need to fnd a piece of paper that is about 1.5/2 inches per edge larger than your cover. Apply your paper to your covers this way:
Binding Preparation Step 13. Prepare a hole-punch guide by using a piece of watercolour paper the same length of your largest page. Mark at the 1 inch point off both edges then divide up the rest of the space and allocate/ mark hole marks every 2 or 3 inches or so depending on the size of your book. Step 14. Using an awl, punch holes through your marks.
Step 15. Using your hole guide, open up your signatures and punch holes through the middle fold of your signatures. Don't forget your covers, they need holes too! :)
Stitching Your Book You'll need strong thread like embroidery thread and a furniture needle. Start with the bottom cover and the bottom signature frst, move your other signatures and cover to the side:
Step 16. This can get fddly and frustrating but keep at it. You'll be rewarded with a beautiful book later! :) So, double thread your thread through your needle and knot it together at the end (or you can do the knot later, doesn't matter). Then open your signature up and thread your thread through the frst hole, pull it all the way through. If you had a knot there, just pull it all the way through to the knot, if you didn't have a hole, leave about 3 inches out. Step 17. Close your signature. Go under the cover with your needle and into the hole of the cover, pull the needle back up and come out on the right hand side. Step 18. Now loop around the stitch you've just done and go back up into the signature hole and you'll come back out into the spine of the signature.
Step 20. Now go down into the second hole through the middle again and repeat the same stitch as before. Continue doing the same stitch until you hit the last one, then go on to step 21. Step 21. When you get to the last stitch of your frst signature, repeat the same stitch but instead of going back into the hole of the same signature, get your second signature and go back through the hole on your second signature.
Step 22. Now, when you come out through the spine of your second signature, go down into the second hole like you did before, but instead of going down through the cover hole, you're going to loop around the stitch on the cover and then come back out through the second hole in the second signature. Step 23. Continue your stitching down the spine until you are at the end of the holes again and then add your 3rd signature in the same way UNLESS your 3rd signature is your fnal signature. Do not add your fnal signature in the same way. The fnal signature and the back cover will be added at the same time! If your 3rd signature is the fnal one, pls jump to step 24. Instead of looping your thread around the lowest stitch, loop it around the stitch on the signature directly below.
Step 24. Group the fnal signature and the cover together. Once you've reached the fnal hole on your signature, your thread goes into the hole of the cover (over the top) frst. Then it comes out from under the cover hole and you loop around the previous stitch. Go back in through the hole of the last signature.
Continue this stitch until your reach the fnal hole fnish off your stitching by knotting the thread inside the signature and cutting off the excess thread. And here you have the finished book!
Here are some more photos:
Dear Awesome Life Book Participant *Thank you* Thank you for joining the Life Book Community this year. You have a special place in my heart. I am deeply grateful for your support, the enthusiasm you have expressed throughout the year, your posted work, your support for each other. Your sharing of your joy, confusion and sadness too. I've been awed at the progress I've seen some of you make, heart-warmed by some of the love you've expressed, smiled at the camaraderie and friendships made. It's sad to think that Life Book 2016 is nearly over, though endings make way for new beginnings and of course, big new beginnings are ahead of all of us! My deepest gratitude and love go out to all of you for having joined myself and the guest teachers on this spectacular journey. Big hugs, love and moonbeams to all of you. Tam xoox I appreciate you! Much love, Tam x Copyright Willowing Arts 2016 - www.willowing.org