Book 208 - "Rose" - A Round Palm-Leaf Binding of Rose Windows

Since I liked  the palm-leaf book I did the other day, I thought I'd try another one... but different. So I made it round. I came across some gorgeous photos of stained glass rose windows from churches all over the world and picked a variety of them to use.

First I had to size all the photos so they were exactly the same size and perfectly round. Then I printed them out on good satin finish photo paper. I glued each photo onto a backing of black pearlescent card stock for extra stability then cut them out. I recently bought a circle cutter, which helped keep them nice and round. I made two covers just a tad larger, also with a rose window photo, then added a black disc label with the word "Rose" spelled out in smaller circles.

The binding is merely a length of sturdy black linen thread sewn through a hole dead center in each disc, with an irridescent bead knotted onto each end. You can pull the window pages well open to see the detail in each window. When closed, the excess thread is tied around the book and wrapped around the beads.

I have to admit, this came out much nicer than I thought it would.

Book 205 - Rumi Poem Palm Leaf Book - Shadow and Light Source Both

This palm leaf book featuring a poem by Rumi is my first book made with some of the gorgeous hand-made paper Audrey Hollinger sent me from The Papertrail in New Dundee, Ont, Canada. Isn't it pretty?

I've been thinking about this book for awhile and as soon as I saw the paper, I knew that's what I would use. I've been wanting to do anothr palm leaf book and I wanted to do more Rumi poetry. Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi was a 13th century Persian poet and Sufi mystic. His poetry is magical to me and this in one of my favorites. It reads:

How does a part of the world leave the world?
How does wetness leave water?

Don't try to put out fire by throwing more fire!
Don't wash a wound with blood.

No matter how fast you run, your shadow keeps up.
Sometimes it's in front!

Only full overhead sun diminishes your shadow.
But that shadow has been serving you.

What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.
Your boundaries are your quest.

I could explain this, but it will break the glass cover on your heart,
and there's no fixing that.

You must have shadow and light source both.
Listen, and lay your head under the tree of awe.

When from that tree feathesr and wings sprout on you,
be quieter than a dove.

Don't even open your mouth
even for a coo.


I printed the poem out in sections on the computer, tore the sections into individual pages. I also tore the hand-made paper into pages, then glued the poetry sections onto them. The paper for the pages looks gray in  he pix, but it has a perlescence to it that makes it almost silver. So pretty.

For the covers, I used some purple hand-made paper, lined it with the silver gray paper, and put a piece of lightweight board in between, to give it some rigidity. I punched holes in the center of each cover and each page and threaded through a cotton cord with some glass beads tied to the ends. The cords hold the pages together and wrap around to hold the book closed. To open it, you untie the cord and pull the pages apart enough to turn them and read each page.

This is a really ancient book structure, first used for Buddhist sutras. I like the structure and want to do more palm leaf books. This one feels not quite finished somehow. I do know it needs a few hours under heavy weights, but there's something else missing too, some finishing detail. I may have to spend a day or two with it to figure out what it is. When I do, I'll likely re-photograph it and post the new pix here.