Merry meet all,
Snow falls on the cold streets of Halifax. I am looking forward to continuing my studies at the Herbal Academy. I can’t believe how fast the year has gone.
I finished the book. I love how it turned out. I stapled the signatures and trimmed the pages at Staples copy and print centre. I glued the pages in and the finished book looks great. I am very happy with how it turned out. I now have the task of filling the pages with new poems. I want to add in the completed poems, not drafts. I learned a lot during the project and it may be a long while before I make another one, but I do feel it was worthwhile.
I tea stained the pages. I had dyed the fabric with goldenrod and I used the cloths to separate the pages from each other. I am glad I did that now. It made it much easier for me to form the signatures, which were eight sheets to a set, and I was able to create 12 signatures. There were 12 folios in total, which meant there were 96 pages in total. By separating each page and letting them dry for 48 hours, and being that patient. I was able to have a good set of papers to bind. I arranged the pages in the way I wanted, knowing that how I arrange the pages and then glue them into the book will be permanent. I repaired any tears or frayed edges gently and used glue. I used white glue, a lot of glue. I stacked them just to see how it would look with the covers.
When I was sure, I went to the local print and copy centre, Staples, where I stapled each page twice using a long arm stapler. I trimmed the edges of the pages there too. My Mom carefully helped me fold the pages because if they are all relatively even, then they are easier to glue to the spine. So you can see a lot of thought went into this. I took real care and handled the pages carefully, carrying them in a special plastic folder and putting the folder in a plastic bag home from her house and to Staples. I bound the pages in, checking and rechecking that it was all the way I wanted it to be. I glued a strip of white cardboard to the front and back covers of the book on the inside to reinforce the spine section. I glued a strip of green cardboard to that. When I was satisfied, I glued a strip of the fabric I dyed with acorns to the spine of the book. I then glued another strip on top of that to help me know where to place the pages. So the spine had four layers, the green cardboard being the thinnest layer.
I set a clamp over the outer edges of the tea stained pages arranged into the sets. I made sure each inner edge of the pages was touching the glue on the spine. I used a LOT of glue on the spine. I kept the clamp on the pages and let the paper and spine dry overnight. The pages were now set in the book permanently. In the morning, I was happy because the pages dried from being tea stained properly. They had now dried properly from the glue and adhered properly to the book spine.
I love how it turned out. All those tiny and big steps all made a difference in how the book turned out. I glued my poem into the page and then I set about making the front cover fancy. Once the brown velvet was adhered with mitered corners, I could not tell the front cover from the back so I used my intuition. I could not feel the Celtic knot work I had etched in onto the davyboard on the front cover. I had to guess since once the velvet was on, it was no longer as obvious.
I printed out a black frame border and coloured it all in black. I glued it to a piece of the print cardboard with a halloween orange pumpkin print. I like how it looked. I glued a felt witch to that. Then I tried embossing the front cover with gold foil, and I like how that turned out. I think the gold folio gives the front cover a rustic but more mystical appeal. Yup I am in love with it. In fact, I want to add a little more gold folio as it is missing in some spots. I have to paint the spots where the gold foil is on where I don’t want it to be. I won’t do that till I have the gold paint.
I included a black and white photo tucked in a small envelope which I glued into the book, and I also added a note on the outside of the envelope. I had taken acorns from a grave and I wanted to show acknowledgement of that. I included a black and white photo of a scene in Mount Ollivet cemetery here in Halifax. I have to write more poems!
Well I tried the gold foil adhesive. I think I need to get a better adhesive for the gold foil to stick. I just googled to apply gold foil to paper and got twenty different results but I will be right back to tell you about the method that worked best for me. Ok so gold foil does NOT work for me. Since Halifax went from spooky October to white winder wonderland in 24 hours, I’m going to paint the frame gold tomorrow with gold acrylic paint. I have to buy the paint but yeah I am sure that will work better. After taking all this care to make the book, I don’t want to mess up now. I will wait and I am sure the gold paint will work.
Stay tuned to find out how that worked for me.
Blessings, Spiderwitch
