It’s a Secret
June’s hand-made book was a Secret Belgian Binding. Since I’ve never made a not so secret Belgian Binding, I wasn’t quite sure why it had to be a secret.
However, all was explained in the video lessons.
Belgian binding uses one long piece of thread/twine/string to sew the cover to the spine.
This secret has each set of holes sewn separately, i.e. top cover hole, top spine hole, top back cover hole. New thread for second hole on cover second hole on spine second hole on back cover and so on.
This creates a very stable book with signatures being sewn in after the two covers and spine are assembled.
I tend to watch the entire set of instructions all the way through, then go back one by one and complete each step. Sometimes I stall out on the very last step–afraid I will ruin the whole project. I have discovered though that paper is much sturdier than I thought it would be—not as sturdy or as tolerant of handling as fabric but still re-do’s are possible.
I used a gift bag for my covers; i tried to get out the wrinkle but not so successful. The signatures are Neenah Text paper in a desert sand color.
the hardest part was cutting that small piece of book board for the spine.
And while I was playing with paper I made the July book too. This one was an easy construction–a reverse piano hinge. Of course I had to make it difficult by using mat board as the signature covers and yupo paper as the accordion. The process involves cutting slits through the signatures and folding the accordian accurately. Mat board is stiff and hard to cut; yupo much thicker than Tyvek the recommended paper.
But I did get it done. The mat board had some of my photographs adhered as part of a class I took many years ago. If you are wondering what the photo is—it is a stack of lawn chairs—I know–odd choice but I liked the patterning.
The interior pages are a heavy weight copy paper torn in half. After some thought and because I am just not sufficently experienced to pick up a piece of paper and tell what kind it is—I have started to label the first page of each signature using a stamped letter—for this one it is a capital C with copy paper written in my best printing along with the weight.
Sylvia Weir Art 
I’ve been doing the same with labeling, except I write the kind and weight of the paper along the bottom of the inside of the back cover, keeping it small.