Here's the next bookbinding project, which was to bind my journal and correspondence from 1992, a tumultuous year when my grandmother died, ending an era that had defined much of our lives as a family. That year I was also trying to face the fact that I would have to have some major surgery, which terrified me. But in spite of these difficulties, I was beginning to sense the light from the opening of new spiritual and artistic doors. As I began to think about the cover for the journal, having re-read some of what was inside, I decided to try to do a painting that would express some of the emotion of that particular time in my life. This is the gestural underpainting with which I began, and the first wavy stamps in whitish-grey acrylic.
And this is a detail of what it looked like when it was finished. When the painting was nearly done, I felt it needed some marks made with a pen -- some scribbled marks, hatchings, or even letters. As I thought more about the latter idea, I decided to write an inscription on the book, a message about -- and for -- my grandmother. But I didn't want it to be overtly obvious, or even legible. I mixed a thin burnt-umber in acrylics, and used a calligraphy pen nib to write my message, loosely following the curl of the vortex from the edges into its center. Then I went back and scrubbed over the drying paint with a cloth to soften and blur the edges, and when it was completely dry I worked on the surface in a few places with sandpaper to further distress the surface.
The spiral motif went onto the cover of the journal, and the straighter, complementary section became the back. I wanted to use linen for the spine to go with two other journals I made a long time ago, but linen is always dicey: too little glue, and the fabric won't stick to the boards, too much glue and it comes through the fabric and shows. All seemed to have gone well until I removed the front of the book from the book press: the pressure of the press had squeezed some extra glue through and left a stain on the bottom part of the spine. That was pretty discouraging, but finally I decided to put a label on the spine to cover up the problem, and went ahead.
The 8 1/2 x 11" inside pages of the journal had been punched for a plastic binding years ago, and I pondered how to structure the binding itself. I decided to try using laces that would incorporate the existing holes, rather than a sewn Japanese-style binding which would have to avoid them. It took some trial-and-error punching through mock spines, with different types of chisels, before I was able to get slits that would work.
Now, what to use for the lacing? I started out thinking I'd do it in linen tape (above) or in brown grosgrain ribbon, but then I remembered an old watered silk ribbon that had been in my grandmother's "trimming" drawer that I've been carting around for probably forty years. The color was perfect, but it was too wide, and had some faded spots. I decided to ignore the imperfections, because I really wanted to use it. So I cut the ribbon in half lengthwise, turned the edges in and sewed them carefully to form a 1/4" wide band, and pressed it flat. It no longer looked like watered silk, but that was OK. Then I did a trial run lacing the covers in Xs across the spine, which is how I'd imagined doing it. The lacing looked great but it didn't hold the book flat and tight - the holes were too close to the edge. I realized I'd have to lace it vertically, more like a sewn binding. That worked but I had a terrible time getting the ribbon through the holes twice; I used a tapestry needle and pulled it through with pliers, breaking one needle in the process. I had to go to the store today and buy more.
Then, at the very end, I stabbed myself (I was trying a large but non-blunt needle - bad idea) and a big drop of blood fell right on the edge of the linen spine. I said a lot of bad words and rushed to the sink to get a wet cloth and some salt; fortunately I was able to get the stain out, and the blood didn't get onto the paper. But I was very glad when the binding was finished - this had been a long, difficult one!
In spite of all the near-disasters, I'm pretty happy with the result, and very glad I was able to use that ribbon, after all these years!


