Introduction to book-crafting and bullet journaling

Book-crafting

• Ursula Jeakins’ instagram and site.
• DAS bookbinding – professional bookbinder in Australia
• Nik the Booksmith – lots of lovely and unusual book projects
• Lovely tutorial on how to stitch single section books, includes saddle stitch, dot dash and chain stitch (like the Montezuma chocolate bar book). The Sea Lemon YT channel has a lot of bookbinding resources and a playlist is here.

The books I had with me:

Some of my favourite and regularly used papers and suppliers:

• A4 KHADI PAPER (Please note that this is an affiliate link which will give you 10% off your first order with Jackson’s and I will receive a small commission which does not impact the cost for you).
• Handmade papers from Pegasus Art like the marigold paper (you have to order a minimum online but if you go to the shop near Stroud, you can buy single sheets)
• Tomoe River paper – for those calligraphers or fountain pen aficionados
• Paper pad of decorative cover papers from Hobbycraft (don’t forget about wallpaper samples, if you can get hold of them.)
• Recycling box items like cereal boxes
• We used 90GSM paper in class, printed with a dot grid pattern. If you wanted a thicker paper so that you have more options with painting and sketch go for 160GSM.

Tools and equipment:

• Pencils
• Binding clips
• Self-healing mat (I get mine from ebay here but you can also buy them in Hobbycraft and the Range).
• Metal ruler (we used these ones)
• Craft knife/scalpel – I really like the Swann Morton Handle no.3 with a 10A blade but you can get cheaper ones from The Range or Hobbycraft.
• Bone folder/paper folder or creaser
• Size 15/18 bookbinding needle or can be bought here but I really like the size 1 needle from the Korbond needle pack which you can buy in Tesco
• Fiskars 3-in-1 Corner Squeeze Punch Well Rounded – I could not find the same one as mine available in the UK but this one or this one look like they do the same thing.
• Wooden-handled awls

Thread

• Waxed French linen thread (fine) available in lots of lovely colours here
• Waxed cord in lots of lovely colours here
• Thicker thread also used for jewellery making here and here
• I brought three different types of thread to class with me Meisi Super Fine, Meisi Original and Fil au Chinois Linen – all available in lovely colours and ready-waxed.
• Don’t forget you can wax your own embroidery thread – I got wax here
• Another lovely Etsy shop for thread and supplies is Stuff for Making Books

tips

How much thread to use? For a single section book and saddlestitch, you will need 2.5 times the length of the spine. For Dot Dash stitch you need about 3 times to be comfortable tying off. For chain stitch, give yourself 5 times the length of the spine.

Remind me how to make the jig (for getting your stitches on the spine)? There is a video here at 8 mins in, the instructor shows you how to make the jig.

Shephard’s Bookbinding supplies at this site and if you want to have a go at making your first hard-cover text book, take a look at this it’s an instruction sheet (£3.00) on how to make the the book, which becomes the content of the book. There are also accompanying videos on their site for free.