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.

Book 115 - A Journal of Hand-Made Paper & Bamboo Beads

It seems that even when I'm exhausted and just want to make somkething quick and simple, I end up spending two hours and learning something new. Actually, it amazes me that I learn something new on every book I do. Of course, sometimes it's more a case of "relearning" than of initial learning. Seems like not only do I always learn something new; I remember it until JUST before I need to use it again.

Anyway, this started out to be a simple, pretty, quick pamphlet book. I had this pretty hand-made paper that I found in, of all places, Office Depot. It's made in Monterrey, Mex. and was cheaper than any hand-made paper I'd find in the States. I may have to go back for more.

I was just going to use it as a cover, fold up some recycled paper into a couple of signatures and stitch it with a pamphlet stitch. But then I thought it would be cool to interleave the recycled green paper with pages of medium-weight tracing vellum I found. And then I had these bamboo beads that would look so nice on the spine. And then the few thin signatures looked puny.

So here we are a couple of hours later with this pretty journal. It has 3 signatures and a total of 60 pages (120 both sides) of alternating papers.  Each stitch goes through the beads and back into the same hole so the threads run along the gutter of the signatures. Well, I got the pretty part right, I think, just not the simple and definitely not the quick.