Carving and sanding the covers.
Painting multiple coats of milk paint; starting with white.
Sanding through the paint layers; a most arduous task!
The text blocks are assembled and the sewing stations have been added using an awl - the books are now ready for sewing!
All the books are sewn (a total of four)!
The leather and wood closures work well as a way to hold the books together.
I recently completed a suite of miniature wooden Coptic books. I am continually inspired by nature; particularly ephemeral objects such as leaves, pods, dried flowers, nests, shells, insect wings, feathers. Oh the list goes on! For these small books I focused on leaves. I carved simple leaves on the front covers. I then applied multiple layers of milk paint in shades of blue and green. When milk paint is sanded and polished; it has a distressed and aged quality. I used Mohawk Superfine and Ingres papers for the text blocks and sewed the books with waxed linen threads. I used leather and wood for the closures. Take a look at the process.
Adding additional coats - first blue; then green.
Holes have been drilled determining the sewing patterns I will use. Now, I am selecting the various papers for the text blocks.
Sewing using two needles and waxed linen thread.
I love how the sewing looks on the spine of Coptic books. Some were four needle bindings, while others were two needle.
Opened Book
These books are so much fun to open and handle. Their interior pages can remain blank or hold text and imagery. The possibilities are endless!