The Joy Of Unbinding in Order To Rebind Journals

It’s March and I am finally stepping up into the world of binding books again.

I have been watching tutorial videos recently. I seem more drawn to tutorials for new binding structures than ever before. Prior to this, I have been happy doing a pamphlet stitch or something else fairly simple.

Ahhh…these days I expand my horizons and I begin to put theory into process. More on that later.

One thing that did happen while I was taking a class recently (another story for later), I pulled out three of the last journals I bound. One of them is ok. Well-bound. Sturdy. Secure.

The other two, the thread I used to bind them is too thin and I knew it when I bound them–but I wanted to get them done. Once I bound them, they sat on my shelf in the to be sold pile, sitting there. With the rest of them that I have yet to list for sale. I admit I am a bit afraid of the opinions of others about my work and I didn’t want to feel bad about doing anything.

These two books, I pulled off the shelf, snapped their binding threads. It wasn’t all that hard. Each book only had two signatures. I had originally thought of combining the signatures of both books into one journal, but the papers in each are too eclectically different. So I simply laid the signatures aside, bound with binder clips for the moment, and I will be adding at least two new signatures to each book. I want to completely redo the spines of both books. Then I will rebind each book, using a far stronger twine or thread, as well as using a completely different binding technique. I had used a simple pamphlet stitch, which is my go to, or it used to be.

Would you be interested in seeing video flip-throughs of the completed works?

Let me know in the comments below.

Until next time.