Friday I went to Kelly Paper and picked up a wide variety of paper styles to experiment with. There are many different textures, thicknesses, and subtleties of color when it comes to paper. The subtle details in the paper were my favorite aspect. I also found some old fonts at Unique Antique. I’ve been experimenting with them and I am considering incorporating into maybe the section titles or cover art. I also learned about quilling (paper rolling) at Collage. As you can see from the picture on the right, it is qui
te a unique craft. I’d like to incorporate it into my work in some way…
So I have cover materials and paper now. On Sunday I visited SCRAP again for a quick moment and brought home some more durable materials that I could potential use for the spine. I have cut out a sample piece for use on a prototype. The material is strong and appealing in combination with the cover materials. I also like the variety of colors. It’s guaranteed based on the materials I’m curating 
that all the handmade copies of the book will resemble one another but will also be entirely unique and highly variable in color and style. I look forward to seeing all the many different copies sitting side by side or stacked up. 🙂
Binding has been a big topic of interest for me lately. I’m very curious about the many ways that its done and I’m perplexed by which method to choose for my own books. There are many complex ways to bind books that are beautiful but would need to be done by a hired professional. Other simpler techniques range
from ugly, rudimentary, and not so durable–to elegant, simple, and effective. I am aiming to find a simpler technique that will create a lasting product. I look at the binding of every book I pick up now. And I wonder which one will be right for me…
I like this simple stapling method as a possibility for initial binding, but then I would like to combine that with affixing stronger materials to the outside. I could hire a professional, but I don’t know that I’m interested in that for the handmade copies. I want them to be forged with my 
own hands, even it they aren’t quite as elegant that way. I’m wondering what type of glue a person would use to affix cloth to paper… At any rate, the prototypes are coming along nicely. But I need to get back to editing my written work and putting it in the final stages, so that I can print it on the sample paper and see how everything looks all put together.
I’m also excited to get some visual art going. I just don’t have the skills for it that other people do. And I know they would do greater justice to the images than I would. So I’m really hoping to get the ball rolling better collaboratively soon… Until then…
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