Merry meet all,
I tried my hand at bookbinding. I want to tell you all about in this post. It turned out real well. My cat is seated on her favourite, well she loves all the rugs, and trying to keep cool in this infernal heat. I will tell you how to bind your own herbal book. As most of you know, I’m studying at the Herbal Academy. I don’t know how you all feel but I hate binders. They are so mundane. The bound book includes the lessons from the mini courses – Botanical Drawing and Flower Pressing – I took at the Herbal Academy.
Now I’ll tell you how I bound a book brimming with beautiful flower illustrations & photos, and of course, butterfly stickers. I borrowed that curved needle from my Mom. I don’t know what you call it but it is for book binding. I bought all the supplies I would need, such as a large bottle of glue, paint brushes, bookbinding cloth, endpapers covered in butterflies- it’s truly beautiful. I also obtained a meter of dark forest green broadcloth from the fabric store, a bone folder, and linen thread.
I laid down newspaper onto the table. Glue can soak through anything and make a real mess. Newspaper, paper towels are great for keeping things clean. The book covers are 9 x 12″. The pages are 8 1/2 by 11′. I like the way it turned out. I deliberately wanted the covers bigger just to be on the safe side. It is better than too small to fit anything. I also returned the small needle to my Mom and end up using ribbon to secure the pages.
The pages for the book were already printed out. A few things went wrong as I began the project. I poked tiny holes into the pages on the wrong edge of the paper. The linen thread broke too easily. I felt down right intimidated by the project. I kept hearing that nagging inner voice to work on the book but I resisted. Finally I caved in and found an alternative to binding the pages together. Ribbon! That was much easier on me. I already had a beautiful purple ribbon. I dug it out and put three hole punches in the pages. By now, the pages have the tiny needle marks and the three hole punches in them but I didn’t care. This book is for me and that is that.
I punched the three holes in careful to keep all the pages aligned. I had a total of 150 pages. Then I wound the ribbon in. I tied tight knots and dabbed a small drop of glue on the ribbon knots to ensure they never come undone. I lit the ends of the ribbon with a lighter so they never fray. Ok now that the pages were secured, I moved onto making the actual book covers. I had already glued book binding cloth onto the two book covers. I cut out the spine of the book which measured about 2 inches. I cut the green cloth to size. One thing here about book binding: leave nothing to chance. Measure EVERYTHING. You will thank yourself later.
The spine wasn’t already covered in fabric. I found a white cloth which I ironed and laid it out on the spine. I glued the cloth to the spine piece. I have a cool little yellow tool for spreading glue. I have no idea how I lived without it. It sure comes in handy. I covered the spine of the book with the white cloth and glued it to the spine of the pages. I let it dry but I did use my yellow stick to smoothen out the glue. The book binding cloth was a lighter shade of green than the fabric for the outer covers. I didn’t mind because it will never show. I smoothed the edges of the dark green cloth over the book covers. I did opposite ends first and I used a lot of glue. Like I mean a lot of glue. The glue will soak through the fabric so it is good to have what is under the book to not be too absorbent. I smoothed out the glue to prevent bumps or puckers. I let it dry.
Then I glued the spine of the pages to the spine of the book covers. I laid the book – insides facing up, and I kept the pages in place with two peanut butter jars. I did that so only the stuff I want glued together is glued. I left it all to dry for several hours. While I waited, I made a herbal bookmark. I had some endpapers left over from the book. You can see the print on the inside book covers in the picture.
To make the bookmark, I glued the printed endpaper to a piece of cardboard with a glue stick. I gathered lavender and rosemary and glued it with Mod Podge to the cardboard. I hole punched a hole in the top of the bookmark. I left it to dry. Leaving these types of projects to dry overnight is best. It takes patience to complete these projects. It is worth taking the time to do them carefully. They turn out much better than if you rushed it.
Now the book is done! I suspect the pages are not in the correct orders & there are pages I didn’t expect that are glued in but it is all trial and error. It still looks beautiful. I love it. This book is a treasure to last for years to come. I am so grateful to study at the Herbal Academy.
However, the glue stains show on the outer book covers. I will find something pretty to hide that. The book is bound and I love it. I hope this inspires you to create something too.
I was busy with herbal recipes in my witch’s kitchen yesterday. I brewed a jar of rose elixir. It involves honey, rose petals, lemon petals and brandy. The potion will steep for a month. I am sure it is worth the wait. The potion in the labeled jar looks beautiful. The herbs are growing amazingly in my garden. The beans are growing well and my cucumbers. I wish the heat would go away because the pumpkins and tomatoes haven’t set fruit and I am getting worried. I deeply watered the garden this morning. The heat will be unreal today.
As I type here, sipping mint tea, and forever grateful for the fan on, I want to express my gratitude for the bounty of nature around me. I cast a spell to have this apartment and nature was on the list of things I wanted. I love living here. I can’t wait for the insects to be gone though, mainly the mosquitoes. Yeah they can go – and the wasps. August is the spiders month. Once August rolls around, there are spiders EVERYWHERE.
Merry Lammas !!!
Blessings, Spiderwitch
