Shantell Powell

Pop-Up Book: Binding Technique

2018-01-05T21:29:26Z

The binding method I used for my pop-up book is the single sheet binding method. This method allows the book to lie flat without any need of scoring the pages. It is well-suited to thick pages, which is the case for this book with its pages of illustration board. It also gives an interesting look to the spine of the book.

In order to do this, I had to locate six curved needles. I couldn’t find packs of just curved needles, so I had to buy multi-packs of assorted needles. I now I have more tapestry, carpeting, darning, etc. needles than I will ever need. I purchased a heavy-duty awl to make the holes for each stitch.

I used grey embroidery floss for the binding. Grey was chosen because it is neutral and doesn’t distract from the colour scheme of the book.

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Pop-Up Book Process

2018-01-05T20:33:30Z

My original plan for my pop-up book was to sew it. I misunderstood the original concept, and thought it only needed to be an interactive book. I wanted to use things like fringe, zippers, etc. combined with sewing techniques (eg. pleating). However, I found out that this didn't meet the project parameters, so I scuttled it. I thought I might still be able to use fabric, but this would likely more than double the amount of work I'd need to do, and I didn't have that much time to devote to the project. I would still like to create this sort of book at another time, though.

So I started investigating a variety of kirigami/origami papercraft techniques. I soon realized that beyond the absolute simplest techniques, I have no natural facility with paper-folding.

After a lot of struggling, I was able to make a kirigami paper sculpture, but I couldn't get it to close again.

I tried making an origami pop-up book, but that didn't go so well. Here are my failed attempts.

I attempted to create a foldout collection of flowers. The tutorial videos I watched made it look relatively simple. The tutorials were a lie! Everything kept exploding, and no fixative seemed powerful enough to maintain structural integrity.

I will attempt paper-folding techniques again when I am not so pressed for time.

Lest I enter a kirigami rage of epic proportions, I instead chose to work with a variety of construction techniques. With my background in sewing and metal arts, construction techniques are more aligned with my skillset. I chose to use illustration board instead of paper since paper isn't sturdy enough to support some of the mechanisms I'd be making.

The first page is a case in point. It uses a penny slider as a mechanism and demonstrates the design principle of contrast. It shows a contrast of colours, texture, and movement versus stillness.

In order to create the penny slider, I used old arcade tokens and a button (got some sewing notions in there, even if only invisibly!) and affixed them together with rubber cement.

The decorative element of studded wood was cut from a magazine photo and mounted onto thick paper. I used mayfair paper for the black, and left the reverse side of the illustration board alone for its tan colour. The white side of illustration board was used to form the frame for the penny slider.

Here it is, in motion:

The next page uses a simple pop-up concept with paper fold-outs in the shape of three hearts. These are hidden within an even simpler page fold-out. The symmetry of the composition demonstrates the principle of balance

A waterfall page demonstrates the principle of rhythm with a variation on the pull-tab technique. When you pull on the tab, the squares cascade in order. For these I used mayfair paper and repurposed paper from a magazine and a sheet of origami paper obtained at the Design Thinkers conference in Toronto, 2017.

The final page uses a simple fold-out kirigami technique, with right-angle pop-outs of different size demonstrating the effect of scale and proportion. For one of the pop-ups I used a photograph of the moon. For the other, I used a decorative ball. Both images came from recycled magazines/books. The overlay page is made of textured paper I purchased combined with cut-out paper recycled from a magazine. The pink and blue construction paper were purchased. This all rests atop pastel paper.

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Skinfolk: Binding the Book

2018-01-01T13:18:49Z

My original plan for binding the book was to use a style which left the stitching visible. However, I had a difficult time finding the right tutorial. I eventually found a tutorial for single sheet bookbinding and did a mock-up.

I had to purchase a few supplies first of all. I needed six curved embroidery needles, red embroidery floss, and an awl. I also had to drink a couple of glasses of wine. Why? Because I needed a cork to safely store my awl, and waste not, want not, right?

I also had to practice making a leather-bound book cover. My first step was to measure and cut a piece of thick card stock. I chose a comic back board. I then cut a piece of leather with ~3/4" border all around. I used rubber cement to bond the leather to the board.

I next put rubber cement over the other side of the comic back board, waited for that to dry, and carefully folded down the leather.

I then went to the corners and added more rubber cement to affix them in place.

The leather side of the cover was done, but I still needed to finish the reverse side.

Next I cut a piece of lining paper slightly smaller than the comic back board to cement on top of it all. It was done. The next part was to prepare a template for the single sheet binding, and make corresponding holes in the cover with my awl.

Happy with how my mock-up turned out, I repeated the process with the leather for the Skinfolk book, careful to line up the beadwork just right. It's especially important to affix the beaded leather in place. If the leather had not been cemented into place, the threads holding the beads in place could eventually fray from the friction of rubbing.

As for the binding technique, I first practiced on regular printer paper and used sewing thread. It soon became obvious that sewing thread was far too thin, so I cut it all out and started over with heavy cotton thread: the sort I use for weaving. This thickness was good, but the paper was too thin, and was getting torn by the binding style. There are two fixes for this which are incorporated into the final book. The pages will be printed on heavier paper, and the binding margins are reinforced with tape. This will extend the life of the book.

The single sheet binding tutorial was posted by Sea Lemon on YouTube.

The entire process of preparing the cover and binding the book is time-consuming, but not difficult. Preparing the covers, with all the cutting, waiting for rubber cement to dry, etc., took several hours.

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