TInception: or Binding a Tin into a Book

I ordered some beautiful eco-dyed silk noil from Tierney Barden last week and she sent some extra goodies along in the package. One of them was a little yellow tea tin and when I saw it I knew that I wanted to try binding it into a book. I got the idea from Andrea Matus DeMeng in her Propsero's Books class last month. When she was teaching us the coptic stitch she said she had bound a mint tin into a book. I was intrigued and wanted to try it myself.

My daughter Lila saw the first book and joked that I should bind a tin book that fits inside another larger tin and so on, hence the title of this blog and the title of the book she inspired: TInception.

I hope you like the pictures.

-Gina

Mica and Tintype photo cover for my first tea tin bound book.

Coptic stitch is used to sew the signatures and tin together.

Book parts ready to be sewn.

The finished book. I actually resewed this book (not shown) as I made some adjustments on the second one that I wanted to incorporate in this one as well.

Signature on left and tin on right.

Back of the tin and the next signature.

The tin contains some bits Tierney sent me and 3 pamphlet stitched booklets.

Tin contents.

Another signature in the book. I like using vintage papers and photos to give books a sense of time and place.

More book pages/signatures.

TInception; for each book level you descend it becomes an order of magnitude harder to bind! The top level book measures 4 x 2.5 x 1.5 inches.

The bound tin (right).

Book two inside book one. This book measures 2 3/8 x 1 5/8 x 3/4 inches.

The tin bound in book two (right).

Tin book three measures 1 3/8 x 1 3/4 x 1/2 inches. I could only put on a front and back cover before running out of room in the larger tin. It was still the hardest one to bind.

All three books showing their relative sizes.

The 3 little books bound and nestled inside the final tin.

All 3 books showing the photos and mica covers.

The binding of each book.

I used mica and antique writing from autograph books or inscriptions from old books as the back covers. I love the way the natural mica has inclusions that look like ink spots.

Mica Book

Making a book with mica pages presents some challenges. If you use natural mica, you can't glue or tape it as the top layer will simply pull away and leave the rest of the mica sheet unattached.  There is also the issue of binding a single piece of mica without a center crease to sew into. One solution is to use Keith Smith's Sewing Single Sheets method, but I don't like sewing if I can fold instead. So, to make my book I used Beauty in Use's slot binding method shown in Claire Van Vliet and Elizabeth Steiner's  Woven and Interlocking Book Structures. The pages vary in size and width, with the bound edge and bottom squared up. This gives the book an irregular top and fore edge, which I like.

Hope you enjoy!

-Gina

Preparing the binding strip.

Mica ready to have the corners cut.

In the middle of adding the mica to the binding. This method uses slits cut into the paper as well as the corners of each page. They go in opposite directions and make a perfect fit when bound.

The finished book. I love this kind of mica with red, blue and black inclusions. It looks like ancient writing or a secret star map.

A top view of the book.

The end.

Still Eco-Dyeing: Week 3

I am still playing around with eco-dyeing a month after taking Leslie Marsh's workshop. I usually get distracted by a shiny new technique, but I think this one appeals to my science brain. I am experimenting with different papers, plant materials and water baths. I just want to keep trying out new combinations. Here are the results from this week's batch.

Enjoy!

I used Arches Textwove and Somerset Book paper for this week's project. I cut the large sheets (20 x 26) into 3 long strips, sprinkled leaves on top and rolled them onto my copper tubes. They were tied with twine and boiled for 1.5 hours in water, vinegar and Ranger Distress dye (Vintage Photo). 

1. Spanish moss, onion skin and eucalyptus leaves sprinkled on Arches Textwove.

2. Liquid amber, spanish moss and eucalyptus leaves on Somerset Book paper.

3. Onion skin and liquid amber on Arches Textwove.

The papers still wet from dyeing are number 3, 2, and 1 from left to right. The Arches came out the best again with the Somerset looking pretty, but pale in comparison. The onion skin surprised me with its orange-brown color. I was hoping for purple. The edges of the papers did come out purple so that may be where the color went. The liquid amber seems to be very yellow in the recent batches I have made. I continue to enjoy the process and the results.

Here are the finished papers, cut down and folded to fit in my journal.

 Please check out my next blog to see what I made with some of last week's papers.

Cover to Cover Workshop

Seth Apter came to town this week to teach two workshops for San Diego Book Arts. I had the pleasure of taking "Cover to Cover" in which we used old book covers as pages for a mixed media book. I haven't done much mixed media in my art life, although I adore it. Seth made it both accessible and fun by breaking down the process into its component parts. We made many layers of color and texture that managed to form a cohesive whole when we were finished. Seth kept reminding us that an ugly page was just one layer away from beauty and if we didn't like something keep adding to it until we did. Good advice and a good mantra for life as well. Thanks Seth for a wonderful experience!

Enjoy the pictures.

-Gina