Coptic Bound Books
Coptic binding is one of the oldest forms of making a book and I can see why it is still popular today.
It´s a strong way of binding all the pages and cover together with the stitching exposed on the spine.
This style allows the book to be opened completely flat, for this reason I think it´s really nice for people who like to draw or write in their book.
Here are a few examples thst I made recently…
Mini-Amigo
Heres just a little book I made, I thought its size would make it useful to put in a bag and also it´s handy as you can shove extra bits of paper inside and close it up with the leather strap.
The Notebook Guardian – Organiser
I made this leather cover to be a kind of guardian for my notebook … Although I can make some pretty elaborate books, I always carry around one those little A6 paper notebooks… They are available with different paper, lines, squares and plain…There are many different companies who make them, and they are super handy and you cant get precious about them because they just papare and card.
The only problem is they get destroyed pretty quickly in a bag and sometimes it can be hard to keep all the little pieces of paper together, so thats how I came up with this design… It can hold 1 or more A6 books, all the bits and pieces you might have, plus 2 pens…
The main idea for this design is something that is super hardwearing and tough… This definately is, It´s made from highest quality cow leather sourced locally from the saddle makers her in Andalucia. The texture is soft, smooth and strong, as the leather wears after years it will only look better.
I can make these by comission, also with any other decoration you might wish (stones, wood etc.) and maybe with different coloured stitching for example.
Snaily Book
This book is now the new amigo of my friend and fantastic artist Andi…
Coptic bound, and covered with blue leather, swirly bits and beautiful snail shells.
My big sketch book…
In the end it kind of turned out like a big scaly fish skin, with a little bit of moroccan style thrown in…
I´ve been needing a big A4 book to keep all my design ideas, colour samples and templates, now it´s finished and I already stared filling it up with new ideas.
Hope you like it!
The green sun
This little creation is a sketch/writing book, made with mixed wieght paper, he´s case bound with a hollow spine all wrapped up in hand dyed aqua green leather. The featured stone is labradorite.
Hope you like it!…
Inverano – Diary
2011 diary
Fully bound in a dark blue leather. In the centre of the flower relief I have set an Amethyst stone. Featuring plain black endpapers and bookmark and green headbands.
Bluebells
This is a personalised book for a selection of short stories written by my mum.
I had a lot of fun experimenting with InDesign creating the entire page layout and content design. The design and page watermarks based around bluebells which relates to the themes in the stories.
The hard back book is hand made with blue leather and green japanese hand made paper.
Mandala
Heres a little book I made for myself. This is a mandala like flower design. The semi precious stone in the centre is Labradorite.
The book is rounded and backed with a hollow spine. Deep purple coloured leather and multicoloured card textblock.
A Landscape In Leather
Here is a book I really enjoyed making… Inspired by the Iberian landscape.
A relief work covered completely by blue leather. This book with white paper blanks, has a hollow spine and blue and black headbands.
Suede Sketch Book
This book, casebound totally in green suede is a simple but hardwearing design, for use as a sketchbook with mixed wieght and coloured papers bookblock…
Flower
This book is an experiment made from a mixture of suede and vellum and leather…
Case bound with hollow spine…
“Maledictis” 2011 Diary
Heres a personalised diary I made for “Maledictis Producciones”…
Its highly personalised with the skull emblem of the company in relief on the front. For this diary I also made a little skull from silver for part of the bookmark.
This is a single section pamphlet binding A4, black bookcloth and brown leather.
Snail Race…
When I was living in Ibiza the whole garden of the house I was living in was full up with snail shells, really beautiful ones and some quite different to the ones I was used to in England, some huge, others tiny and look a bit like UFO´s …
So I ended up with a bit of an obsession collecting snail shells… Now I have loads but not too many ideas about what to do next with my extensive collection…But well I used a few making this funny little book.
It is bound in a Coptic style with thick cartridge paper bookblock.
I called it the snail race…
Paper Books
Here are some little books I made from some beautiful decorative paper that I bought…
Originally I bought the black paper with this kind of Morroccan style to cover the book I was making for my boyfriends birthday.
Heres a few pictures of the outcome…
Quote
“A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without it going off in your face. It is one of the few heavens remaining where a mans mind can get both provocation and privacy” (Edward. p. Morgan)
Etica :: designs in leather 