Each of the book pages – see previous posts for these – had a reinforcing paper piece added, overlapping the spine edge, to increase the strength when they came to be stitched together. After some testing I decided that as my papers are handmade and don’t have a definite grain they tend to tear easily when I’m pulling thread through, despite the reinforced edge.
I had watched a video where the tutor used Contact (clear sticky-backed sheets) cut into strips and adhered over the spine to strengthen pages. Seemed like a good idea to me so I did the same and it worked perfectly. One thing to be aware of is that it lifts slightly where holes are punched but trimming a tiny fraction away around the now-punched hole solved that problem.
The monoprinted leaves on the cover came out very well and I cut a piece of Ezy-carve for the printed wording.
The pages maintain their shape, stand well and open completely which is good as it will likely be displayed in a similar way in the exhibition.
In the close-up above the reinforced spines are very evident, and adding both the extra paper and Contact over that has increased volume and stability to the structure.
A big thank you to Sea Lemon for the youtube tutorial on single sheet binding where I learned to do this stitching method. You can find her instructions here.
Tactual Textiles by Claire 
Claire your book looks fabulous. It’s a perfect binding to show off your prints, and the finished book is so good. Thank you for sharing each step with us.
Thanks Dinah. I really enjoyed doing the binding and it means art pieces can be fully opened up to be seen instead of having folded pages bound in signatures. Hopefully I’ll be posting it next week to the exhibition organisers.
What a beautiful book! Thanks for sharing your method and thoughts.
Thanks Ama, now it’s your turn to have a go at this binding – although you probably already know it as you make so many great books!
Wonderful!
Thank you so much.
Really looks good. You are a perfectionist! But it’s not just very well finished, the work is lovely.
Thanks Mary, it was fun to do and I’m looking forward to having another go at the binding which I like a lot.