Sherri's Meanderings

Book binding is becoming a fun hobby for me. It's relatively quick, as long as you have all the materials, and the learning curve isn't too steep!
My biggest challenge now is finding nice paper I like for the pages inside... I have a whole bunch of old sketchpads from various classes that aren't full, and have been ripping the pages out and cutting to the right size. I think that's the biggest chore of all, cutting all that paper!!
I've run across a lot of "Gotchas" along the way... if using fabric on a book, make sure the glue won't seep through! I have a book with embossed felt on the cover, and didn't realize how the felt would suck up the glue, and then not stick!! I ended up with glue all over the book (in all the wrong places), on my work surface, my clothes, and me!
A site where I've gotten most of my materials and inspiration is Volcano Arts (http://www.volcanoarts.net). Christine teaches classes in bookbinding as well as metal working. In fact, her studio is about an hour away, so one chilly weekend we drove down to pick up supplies. What a wonderful lady! She gave my husband and me a tour, and it's obvious she really loves what she does. If you're looking to do some bookbinding, I'd recommend checking out her website.

My first book was from a kit from Dick Blick. It was easy, and I'm saving ALL instructions and reusing them for additional books. The one below was from the kit:

And this oriental-inspired book is for a friend, with the supplies from Volcano Arts (the Kanji cloth was purchased at Michaels, and the misc. beads at a local bead shop).

I'd planned on uploading more pics, but for some reason, only these 2 came out. I'll see if I can get more uploaded soon!
Gotta get back to my books!
:D