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Wire-bound handmade books
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As a production papermaker, I respond to the world around me in color and texture. At any one time I will have several buckets of colored pulp and mix them in the vat until I have a color that pleases me. Never satisfied for long, the vat will metamorphous from one color to the next with all the steps between. The result is a rich palette of handmade papers in many different shades. My artist papers are internally sized and I have quite a following among professional calligraphers. Until recently I wasn’t actually using the papers myself. That was until I took a wire-edge binding course from Daniel Kelm. WOW! I have fallen in love with the technique. Not only does the wire-edge binding allow any book I make to open perfectly flat but now I can use that variety of color and texture that so pleases me when I am making paper to add an extra element of surprise in each book. Pages may go from yellow to blue with all the greens in between or respond to the favorite colors of the customer who orders the book made.
Click on any of the images above to see more detail
While it resembles Coptic binding, wire-edge bound spines are anything but. A series of square knots binds the signatures and boards allowing for the book to be rebound if necessary without damage. I added a special twist to Daniel’s wonderful technique. I thought the spines would look even more special with the addition of small (seed) beads. Click on the images above to see the various spines using seed beads, silk braid and hand-dyed silk ribbon.
seed bead spine detail
silk braid spine detail | 
