Tip Jar Thursdays! No. 1 - Rebinding • Art House Co-op

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Tip Jar Thursdays! No. 1 - Rebinding

Hey sketchbookers/prospective sketchbookers!

For any of you who may be arriving a little late to the sketchbooking party, or have been a tad scared to take those first baby steps to beginning your own sketchbook, we are excited to introduce… drumroll please… Tip Jar Thursdays! Yay. Here we’ll be taking the opportunity to explore all the fantastic techniques we’ve had the pleasure to flick through over the past couple of months with some how-to tips, as well as a few decorative and hand-crafted gems of our own which we’ve gathered up at the Brooklyn Art Library and want to share with you. Any skills or techniques you’d like to share or discover? Ever wonder what this fanciful-sounding “découpage” actually means? How to fold and bend wonderful pop-up pages? Adapting the paper of the sketchbook to suit your own techniques? We’d love to hear any suggestions you have for this journey of creative endevours! Leave us a comment and let us know.

Our first Tip Jar Thursday is going to focus on the process of rebinding, a must-know for any of you budding poets, short story writers or even obsessive compulsive list-makers out there. Depending on the kind of media you use, you could also rebind your sketchbook with suitable paper, watercolour paper for painters or gridded papers for those of a more technical or architectural ilk. Caitlin, our in house book binder extraordinaire was on hand to give us some expert tips. Cheers Caitlin!

You will need:

Your sketchbook (obviously!)

Your chosen paper (we’re using lined paper in this example)

Scissors

Binding thread (or any heavy thread)

Tapestry needle

Blade

Binders tape

Flat blunt knife

Awl (for punching holes in the paper)

Sushi bag of supplies* (*only necessary in Caitlin’s case!)

1. Remove staples from your sketchbook using a flat blunt knife, or a burnisher for all you printmakers out there. Bye bye staples… forever!

2. Using your awl, or a sharp pointed tool, pop four holes along the inside fold of the paper you’re going to use to rebind your sketchbook. Place the cover of your sketchbook underneath your paper sheets and use the four original holes in the cover as a guide.

3. Thread your tapestry needle using binders thread or any heavy strong thread. We used Lineco Binders Thread. Make sure your tapestry needle is not too fine and is suitable for whatever thread you’re using.

4. Make a strong double knot at the end of your thread.

5. Starting at your first hole in your paper, guide the binder’s thread through from the inside out, so your double knot will be at the middle page of your book. Then continue the thread through the next hole from the outside in, then repeat with the second pair of holes, using a basic binding stitch. Make sure you keep your stitches tight as you stitch them so the pages are kept neatly together.

6. Tie a strong double knot at the fourth hole at the middle page of the sketchbook. Make sure the knot is tight and as close to the paper as possible to ensure the pages do not come loose.

7. To give the book a clean smooth finish, pick up some bookbinding tape from a bookbinding supplies store, or even some electrical tape if you can’t find any. Trim the tape to measure exactly along the outside seam of your book.

8. Remove the backing paper from the bookbinding tape and press down firmly along the outside seam of the book. This archival binding tape will also give your sketchbook durability and will make sure it stays neat and tidy in it’s new home on our bookshelves at the Brooklyn Art Library.

9. Pose with completed rebound sketchbook. As Caitlin says, “It’s so easy, even a monkey could do it”. Good to know, Caitlin! She’s one talented monkey.

Et voilà! A perfectly rebound shiny new sketchbook, personalized especially for your needs. Wow!

Catch you back here next Thursday for the second installment of Tip Jar Thursdays!

- Fiona