Book 248 - Little Blue Notebook w Chinese Paper - Japanese Stab Binding

I made this little notebook so I could use some odd paper my sister picked up in Vancouver's Chinatown. (Also because I was tired and it's easy, but don't tell anyone.)

I have no idea what the pierced cream-colored paper is for. But it was intriguing. The weight and texture are like a two-sheet paper towel after you've peeled off one layer. I liked the cut-outs and wanted to show them off with some contrast, so I opted to put a piece of solid color paper under each sheet, The colors alternate bright red and royal blue. I cut the question mark from red paper and glued it down.

The covers are cut from a heavy, canvas-textured card stock. After wrapping it around the block, I clamped everything together neatly and drilled the holes for the stitching. The traditional Japanese stab binding is done with narrow navy blue ribbon.

This is kind of a silly book. It has no purpose at all and would not be practical for much of anything. But I think it's cute. And it got me to finish my book for the day.

 

Book 198-A Chinese Red Perfect Bound Notebook

This neat little notebook with a perfect binding features more of the Chinese paper I bought a few years ago in Portland, OR. I seem to be on an Asian kick right now. Ah, red and gold... pretty!

Perfect binding makes a very  neat package. The pages of this book are a heavy cream paper with a felt finish. The side edges are cut; the bottom edges are hand torn. With a perfect binding, you stack the cut pages up with a very clean, neat cut at the spine edge. When you're sure the spine edge is really tightly stacked and all the pages are even, you clamp the pages together and paint that edge with a special glue called padding compound. To get a good bond, you fan the pages just slightly in each direction while gluing. When it's dry, the pages are attached together.

I used book board for the front and back cover. They're covered with a gorgeous bronze-colored paper with a swirled satin texture. Then I glued the red-and-gold Chinese paper on the front. (If anyone can tell me what the Chinese characters  mean, I'd love to know.) For a tad bit more interest, I added a piece of  red-and-gold joss paper just inside the cover. Finally, I covered the spine with a piece of red duct tape, well burnished down onto the glued edge of the perfect binding.

This is a neat book, solid in the hand, nicely squared up and easy to hold. As a journalist and editor, I've done a fair number of interviews in my life, without a tape recorder. This notebook would work for standing up note-taking because it's narrow enough to hold in one hand easily and stiff enough to write on while holding it.

Day 197 - A Chinese Notebook with Japanese Ledger Binding

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.