Cèilidh Nam Freumhan

Tag: bookbinding

  • Practice is Passable

    Practice is Passable

    Normally, I don’t post something the day I actually do it. But today, I was especially frustrated because I don’t feel like I’m making progress.

    I bought some chipboard so I could try working with a more professional material. I’m still using printer paper for now, as I want to get this down before I start using my nice paper.

    I made six signatures with five sheets of paper each. I wanted to make sure the stitching was visible, so I got out the waxed thread that came with my upholstery repair kit and threaded a bookbinding needle.

    The waxed thread is very difficult to manage. I couldn’t keep tension, and I think it’s just too thick for bookbinding. I got to the third signature and realized I wouldn’t have enough thread for the other three, so I decided to just sew on the cover and call it good.

    And of course…I was about 1/2″ short.

    Then I got out some embroidery floss, which is too thick for the bookbinding needles. I was able to thread a curved needle, which seems like a great option for this type of binding. However, I haven’t worked with a curved needle before, and I kept dropping it.

    I made sure I had plenty of thread this time. So obviously, it got tangled, and I had to start over for the fifth time. (I left out some retries because they’re really not important in the grand scheme of things.)

    I finally got four signatures plus the cover secured. Yet even though I blamed the waxed thread for the tension issues, it was me all along.

    Thus, the cover lies flat, but only because the stitching is so loose.

    I started this blog because I wanted to share the learning process, which includes days of frustration and failure. Though I suppose nothing is truly a failure if you manage to learn something along the way.

    Maybe I’ll do a Tunisian crochet thing next…even though I know I have tension issues there, too!

    Practice makes passable for now.

  • Another Attempt at Japanese Stab Binding

    Another Attempt at Japanese Stab Binding

    I try to use what I have on hand, but for the life of me, I couldn’t get a good template because everything I had was either too flimsy or too much.

    I have some waxed thread, but it’s meant for upholstery repair and gave me a lot of problems between the wax and the thickness.

    I also have a ton of embroidery thread, but it’s too thin to work with on its own, and I kept shredding the covers.

    I had purchased cardstock, but I didn’t get the right finish, so it looked like I had made a construction paper notebook for my third-grade dinosaur project.

    I want to make A5 notebooks, as well as traveler’s notebook-style notebooks, but A5 paper, being slightly different from letter size, somehow costs far more than letter paper.

    So…I found some letter-sized chipboard and decided to try again with printer paper and some embroidery floss that arrived today.

    Here is the setup once I got all the paper cut and the holes poked through:

    The next problem was that my bookbinding needles don’t have eyes large enough for embroidery floss. That seems like something a bookbinding needle should be able to handle, but what do I know?

    I finally found a needle that would work—from my upholstery repair kit—and of course it broke after going through the first hole.

    I found another upholstery needle that did work, finally.

    This attempt went much better than the last, especially because I bought a paper guillotine and wasn’t cutting every page by hand. Clearly, I like to punish myself by cutting single sheets of paper one at a time…

    I’m pleased with my second attempt, knowing I still have a long way to go.

    I also need to remember to hinge the front cover before I sew everything together. Preferably with the Teflon bone folder.

    Hence the awful crinkles on the finished product.

    I present:

  • When Motivation is Low…

    When Motivation is Low…

    My last post discussed hitting a creative block, which in turn has caused a bit of an internal struggle. I want to keep creating, but I also don’t want to force myself—nothing kills my passion faster than feeling trapped.

    Today, I told myself I had to do something. I decided to bind another pamphlet, since it really doesn’t take a lot of time or effort (at least, minimal effort for my current skill level).

    I had a file folder lying around that I thought would make a nicer cover than the card stock I had been using. I also wanted to try out my Teflon bone folder.

    The folder was a little larger than the paper when folded in half, so that removed the “trim the paper” equation entirely. However, I have not mastered scoring yet, so when I folded the file folder, it still ended up with some weird creases.

    I also wanted to try the other thread that came with my upholstery repair kit. That thread is more like regular sewing thread, so I had to tread carefully. I had been using the thicker waxed thread, but it didn’t tighten well and ended up looking really messy.

    I made the holes in the paper, and they were a bit off-center, as usual. I plan to make a book-piercing stand at some point, but since I am still practicing the binding itself, that can wait a bit.

    The sewing went faster this time since it wasn’t my first try, and I am happy with the overall look.

    I love that the thread is unobtrusive.
    From the outside, the file folder made a much nicer cover than I expected.

  • Binding Pamphlets Like the Pamphlet Binding Pioneers

    Some days just don’t go very well. Some days seem like every attempt at anything at all just doesn’t work. Then you need a win.

    This doesn’t mean it has to be perfect…just something that sort of works.

    I needed a “brain break” (for lack of a better term) but I still wanted to practice something. I decided to find a bookbinding technique that was easier than Coptic or Japanese stab binding, but I didn’t want to do accordion binding, which is basically folding paper like an accordion and sticking a cover on each end.

    Pamphlet binding it is! I found a tutorial for five-hole and got to work. I wanted to keep it simple, so I got 8 sheets of printer paper and a piece of my 250gsm cardstock. Plus, of course, my bookbinding tools.

    I took the sheets of paper and folded them in half all together, the same way I did for my Coptic attempts. I used the handle of the knife to really crease the folds and keep paper creep at a minimum (I am terrible at trimming, as seen later). Note: I used the knife because it works just as well (IMO) as a bone folder and it is something I already have on hand.

    I scored the cover separately and I am not sure why, so I will probably try everything together next time and hopefully not have to trim.

    Scored pamphlet with obvious need of trimming.

    I decided to sew, then trim. Which wasn’t the best option, but hey, it was my first time.

    So…first I marked where the holes should be for sewing. Then I used my awl to poke holes through. Pretty straightforward.

    Here is the inside of the pamphlet after the first stitch:

    I do have trouble with the waxed string I am using – it is hard to pull it tightly without ripping the paper, so in the future, I need to find something in between this and the regular sewing thread I have at home.

    A few minutes later, I finished the stitching:

    I think it looks cool! Simple, but cool and useful.

    Okay, I promised to talk about trimming…as shown above, the paper was sticking out of the side of the cover quite noticeably. And if you’ve read my other posts, you know this is unacceptable.

    So I got out the cutting mat and an x-acto knife. I had to set something heavy on the pamphlet so the pamphlet wouldn’t suddenly shift, the knife wouldn’t launch into my finger/hand, and give me yet another (!) X-Acto knife scar. Don’t ask how I got the first one because it was just me doing something too quickly and without thinking through the issue.

    I was trying to be soooooo careful here. And then I sliced through the edges of the cover multiple times. Which caused a lot of not-so-nice words to flow out of my mouth.

    Hence…I need a better trimming method. Trimming a finished pamphlet with an X-Acto knife and hoping I wouldn’t hit the cover was apparently not it.

    Anyway, if you don’t look too closely, it turned out mostly fine. And once I practice a bit more, I feel confident I can resize future notebooks and use them in the traveler’s notebook-style cover I made a few months ago. Which means I could eventually make my own refills instead of ordering more.

  • I Like Knowing Things

    I Like Knowing Things

    One of the things I’ve realized this year is that I don’t really collect hobbies.

    From the outside, it probably looks like I bounce from one thing to another. Gardening. Bookbinding. Norwegian. Citation templates. Herbs. Cocktails. Ancient history.

    They’re all over the place.

    To me, though, they’re all the same hobby.

    I like understanding how things work.

    The garden has made that clearer than anything else. Before this year, companion planting was something I’d read about. Soil composition was something I’d heard people discuss. Medicinal herbs were mostly names in books.

    Now I get to watch it happen.

    I’m seeing why one bed dries out faster than another. Why some plants seem happier next to certain neighbors. Which herbs attract pollinators and which ones don’t. Which vegetables struggle through a heat wave while others barely notice. It’s no longer just biology in a textbook. It’s biology happening in my backyard.

    That’s probably why my garden is organized the way it is. It isn’t the most efficient layout, and I’ve certainly spent more time weeding because of it. But separating plants by water needs, companion planting, shade, and other variables lets me see what works and what doesn’t. I’m treating the garden as one giant experiment.

    The same thing happens with my other projects.

    I didn’t start making notebooks because I thought notebooks were too expensive. I started because I wanted to understand how books are made. Every mistake teaches me something, and every notebook gets a little better than the last.

    I originally started learning Norwegian because I had a reason to. Somewhere along the way, though, the language became the reward. I enjoy the grammar, I enjoy listening to it, and I was ridiculously proud of myself for using it in Oslo, even if it was only a little.

    The citation bundles might be the clearest example of all. I don’t enjoy formatting bibliographies. I enjoy solving problems, and I kept thinking about how much easier graduate school would have been if I’d had something like this on my desk.

    Maybe that’s why all of these projects seem connected to me, even if they don’t to anyone else.

    I’m not really collecting hobbies.

    I’m collecting understanding.

    woman surrounded by books and studying on her bed
    Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com
  • Another Coptic Attempt and Some Naughty Words

    Another Coptic Attempt and Some Naughty Words

    I don’t know what it is this week, but everything I’ve tried for the second time seems to have been far more difficult than the first.

    I managed a row of single crochet for the first time, then immediately discovered I was incapable of doing it again. And this notebook…

    When I made my River Song planner cover, I removed the paper block completely intact—glue, stitching, and all. Naturally, this led me to think, “Why not make a tiny, tiny A6 Coptic notebook?”

    I already knew black paper behaves more like cardstock than regular paper, so I planned accordingly: four signatures, two sheets per signature, plus some black cardstock I already had set aside for the covers.

    First, either the cardstock I bought is too heavy, or someone on the internet lied to me about how well it would work.

    Second, my bookbinding needles are apparently designed for projects much larger than a delicate little A6 notebook.

    Third, my only thread option was from an upholstery repair kit that, for reasons known only to the manufacturer, included regular sewing thread. That was probably a blessing for a notebook this small, but it’s definitely not going to hold up for anything larger or thicker.

    By the time I finished, I had used several words I wouldn’t say in front of my mother.

    The upside of making such a tiny notebook is that it’s difficult to see the sewing details. Since I don’t think my stitching was particularly impressive, that’s probably for the best.

    But hey—once again, it lays flat.

    At this point, I’m beginning to think that’s becoming my signature accomplishment.

    Get it? Signature?

    pages torn from a different notebook
    Pages repurposed from a different notebook.
    hole prep on the cover
    Front cover with holes.
    finished edge
    Finished notebook from the side.
    notebook open
    It lays flat!
  • My First Coptic Binding Notebook (Mistakes Were Made)

    My First Coptic Binding Notebook (Mistakes Were Made)

    One thing I was determined to do last weekend was attempt a Coptic-bound notebook. I’ve made one with Japanese stab binding in the past, but I haven’t tried it again since then.

    So… I almost didn’t try this at all.

    When I went to cut my letter-sized paper in half using a Swingline paper guillotine, I discovered the ruler isn’t exactly… accurate. I lined the paper up at 5.75″ (half), and somehow ended up with one side at about 60% and the other at 40%.

    All the Amazon reviews talk about how accurate this thing is, so I have to assume they meant the cutting quality—not the measurements. I even watched a long tutorial on how to use it. There was a whole section on the ruler, and the creator never mentioned measurements—just that you can’t cut anything smaller than an inch.

    Not very helpful, right?

    unevenly cut printer paper sheets after trimming attempt
    Inaccurate ruler on the paper guillotine

    At that point, I stopped fighting the guillotine and just folded the paper in half before cutting. Not ideal, but I also didn’t expect to need conversions just to cut paper.

    I had already folded the signatures the night before and left them under a heavy book overnight. I added the freshly cut covers to the stack and briefly decided I wasn’t going to attempt the project at all.

    But then I finished everything else on my list.

    So I tried anyway—while watching my baseball game.

    I gathered what I needed: a pencil, an actual ruler, a cutting mat, my upholstery repair kit, and my bookbinding needles. The thread in the repair kit is waxed, and I figured that would be perfect since it’s strong.

    photo of bookbinding tools
    Bookbinding tools

    Spoiler: it was not perfect.

    I couldn’t get the stitching tight enough, and when I tried to force it, one of the holes in the cover ripped. At that point, I committed to the chaos—this was officially a prototype.

    Then I learned that your thread needs to be long enough for the entire notebook, not one piece per signature. So I had to add more thread partway through. It’s visible if you look for it, but honestly… not terrible.

    By the time I finished and attached the cover, I had a notebook that definitely lays flat—but also has noticeable gaps between the signatures because of the loose tension.

    Trade-offs.

    notebook is laying flat and showing a gap between signatures due to the loose stitching
    Lays flat but thread is too loose

    Afterward, I made a template for poking holes in the covers and signatures, which actually turned out well. I used the awl from my upholstery kit for this.

    (Important note: DO THIS ON A CUTTING MAT or your hardwood floors will reject you forever. I, for once, made the correct life choice and used the cutting mat.)

    template to poke holes in the notebook covers and paper signatures
    Hole template

    What I learned:

    • Don’t use waxed thread on 92 lb cardstock and regular printer paper
    • Don’t trust a guillotine ruler to measure anything accurately
    • Don’t pull too hard unless you want your cover to fight back

    And finally… don’t be too hard on yourself.

    It’s a prototype.

    picture of the finished prototype
    Finished prototype

  • I Don’t Need Form – I Need Function (Planner Setup)

    I Don’t Need Form – I Need Function (Planner Setup)

    When I first wrote about my commonplace book, it was mostly a place to gather notes and ideas. Since then, it has become something much more useful: part reference library, part creative workshop, and part record of what I’m learning now.

    Like most good tools, it changed as I changed.

    Commonplace books are often used to collect interesting information across many subjects. In my case, that has turned into several notebooks for several passions.

    I have one dedicated to Highland culture, where I once half-seriously decided I should write a dissertation. I have another for Torah study and Jewish learning. I even bought matching notebooks for continuity and built a reusable Traveler’s Notebook-style hardcover, which I turned into a replica of River Song’s diary from Doctor Who.

    My gardening notebook is one of the most practical. I drew the herbs I planted for easy identification, gave each herb and vegetable its own page with planting instructions and uses, and sketched a not-to-scale map of the garden with beds organized by water needs, height, and invasiveness.

    All of this eventually led me to planners.

    When I first discovered bullet journaling, planners, and sticker culture, I fell down the rabbit hole and bought far too much. Eventually I realized I am simply too minimalist for that world.

    I tried the much-loved Hobonichi Cousin. It had many good features, but the pages felt too busy and included sections I knew I would never use. I looked at other planners and couldn’t justify paying premium prices for branding.

    Then I found Wonderland222: clean, functional, and refreshingly minimal.

    Even so, it still wasn’t exactly what I wanted.

    So now I’m designing my own planner in Scribus. So far I have a daily page template and a calendar spread, but my goal is to arrange monthly, weekly, and daily pages in a way that makes sense to me. I’m also creating a custom baseball tracking section.

    I’ll print it myself, bind it myself, and design the cover myself.

    If it turns out well, I may even make a few for others someday.

    The real lesson in all of this is simple: use what works for you.

    Stickers didn’t work for me. Trend-driven planner culture didn’t work for me. Buying things because everyone else loved them didn’t work for me.

    What did work was learning my own preferences.

    I buy tools I can use for years. I choose quality over clutter. I build systems that support my actual life.

    I don’t need form.

    I need function.

    traveler's notebook-style homemade planner cover