Artist book with Coptic binding

The Copts, early Christians from the Egyptian region, developed a sophisticated binding technique with which book covers made of robust materials such as wood, leather or ceramic can be joined together with a book block. The only condition: the material must be perforable. This binding requires some patience and skill, but is a good prerequisite for experimental work. Link to video introduction

The instructional films (tutorials) take you through the process and cover all three parts. The videos have unlimited replay and can be watched at any time. You will be provided with a written handout as well.

Part 1: Making a collage for book covers and pages

First we make a collage for the design of the covers and inner pages. Each collage is the result of its creation: paper, writing and color overlap layer by layer, some things remain visible; others are pasted over, painted over or washed away. In this way, one can also easily rework “mistakes” or integrate them into the work. The tutorial explains step by step how to make a collage and which papers and pastes are suitable.

Part 2: Cover and book block production & punching

After finishing the collage, we use this material to make the book pages and cover the boards for the book cover. Then we prepare the text block and the boards for the assembly of the book by making precise holes.

Part 3: Book sewing

Materials
Collages (thin colored paper e.g. wet-strength tissue paper, old book pages, a board for stretching the paper, water activated adhesive tape), paper for book pages (e.g. endpapers paper, colored Ingres paper, drawing paper 100 -120 g/m²), bookbinding tools (scissors, cutter, steel ruler, pencil, cutting mat, needle, waxed linen thread, bone folder, awl, bookbinding glue & paste (PDF), paste brush, scrap paper, etc.); personal writing tools (e.g. nibs, brushes, balsa wood, automatic pens, pencils, Cola Pen, drawing pen, etc.), writing liquids (ink, gouache paint, etc.), paints & tools for background techniques (acrylic paints e.g. airbrush paints, wide brushes).

Paying
After sending your request by e-mail you will get an invoice and you can choose to transfer the money in my account or to send it by Paypal.