Today I've got Chinese and Japanese a bit mixed up. This long, narrow notebook is a Japanese ledger binding done with variegated ribbon. But the paper is Chinese. I bought this in Portland, Oregon's China town a few years ago and it's been sititng around waiting to become something pretty ever since. I saw it today while clearing out a box and had to finally use it.
I glued the two pieces of Chinese paper to gold-colored pearlescent card stock for extra body. I cut tan text paper to size, punched wholes in the entire stack and bound it at the top. I threaded the ribbon through some multi-colored glass beads before tying it off.
This type of binding was commonly used in Japan to keep ledgers. It's designed to hang on a hook on the wall. I can see hanging this somewhere you want to have handy access to a jotter--a place to jot down to-do lists, birthdays to remember, scribble ideas. It would add a nice touch of color to a wall.
It reminds me a bit of something I saw a lot when I lived in Holland years ago. Birthdays are really important to the Dutch. They buy a birthday calendar that is long and narrow like this and hangs on a hook. It has one page for each month with just a line for each day where you can write the name of anyone having a birthday on that date. Very often, they hang them in the bathroom, right inside the door. Well, after all, it's someplace you are going to be every day and if it's right in your face, you'll likely look at it and not forget Tante Henrika's birthday.
I glued the two pieces of Chinese paper to gold-colored pearlescent card stock for extra body. I cut tan text paper to size, punched wholes in the entire stack and bound it at the top. I threaded the ribbon through some multi-colored glass beads before tying it off.
This type of binding was commonly used in Japan to keep ledgers. It's designed to hang on a hook on the wall. I can see hanging this somewhere you want to have handy access to a jotter--a place to jot down to-do lists, birthdays to remember, scribble ideas. It would add a nice touch of color to a wall.
It reminds me a bit of something I saw a lot when I lived in Holland years ago. Birthdays are really important to the Dutch. They buy a birthday calendar that is long and narrow like this and hangs on a hook. It has one page for each month with just a line for each day where you can write the name of anyone having a birthday on that date. Very often, they hang them in the bathroom, right inside the door. Well, after all, it's someplace you are going to be every day and if it's right in your face, you'll likely look at it and not forget Tante Henrika's birthday.
So the binding is loose enough to open all the way. I like that. Yes, we have birthday books and calendars here as well, but I did not realize that birthdays are a big deal in Holland. I learn something new every day, at least I hope to.
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