Page Turner

Leather-Bound Book by Margaux Kent

by Natalie Hope McDonald

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Published: Dec 2, 2009

Neal Santos

Print is anything but dead in Margaux Kent's world. The Fishtown artist/owner of The Black Spot Books (theblackspotbooks.com) makes pretty, old-fashioned leather-bound books and miniature book necklaces, usually constructed with one or two brand-new materials. The rest she finds at abandoned houses, yard sales and Dumpsters. Her favorite recent discoveries include old keys and fabric from a flea market in Paris. "I'm rearranging the past into something new and usable," she says. "I like attics and my grandmother's stories. I think of all the lives that have existed."

1 Select materials for your book's cover — leather or fabric, for example.

2 Choose what size the cover will be. Based on this, select the same-sized paper (acid-free stock is suggested for longevity) and decide on a page count.

3 Create the pages by taking each sheet of paper and folding it in half. Lay three to four pieces of folded sheets on top of each other to create a "signature." Make enough signatures to meet your page count.

4 Secure all of the stacked signatures into a vise. With a jeweler's or X-acto saw (cheapest at eBay.com), make six holes. Positioning these is tricky: If you're making a 6-by-4 1/2-inch book, for instance, there should be holes at the half-inch, 1 3/4-inch, 2 1/4-inch, 3 3/4-inch, 4 1/4-inch and 5 1/2-inch marks, starting from either side. Use these proportions for all other sizes. (Look to the right for a helpful image.)

By: Holly Otterbein (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

5 Place a piece of linen tape between the two sets of holes that are closest together. You'll be sewing over top of these.

6 Using thread, sew together the first signature. You'll do this by placing the needle from the outside into the hole at the farthest right; then sewing to the last hole on the left, and then back to last hole on the right again.

7 Grab your next signature and sew it to the first one by placing the needle exactly like it was in the previous step — from the outside into the hole at the farthest right. Then, when you're coming out of the next hole, make an X-stitch by hooking the needle underneath the left side of the thread that's connecting the linen tape to the bottom signature. (See the image below.) Continue sewing normally by placing the needle downward into the third hole from the right.

8 Every time you reach the two sets of holes closest to the tape, you'll sew this X-stitch. When you're going from right to left, you'll enter at the thread's left side; when you're going left to right, you'll enter at its right side.

By: Holly Otterbein (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION

9 Follow steps 7 and 8 until all pieces are woven together. Afterward, glue the pieces of loose linen tape down onto the spine with acid-free glue.

10 Return the pages into the vise until the glue dries.

11 Remove from the vise and cover your book by gluing the material around the paper stack.

12 Place a few heavy books on top of yours, and let dry for 24 hours.

(editorial@citypaper.net)

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