MyHandboundBooks

Since my dash has become horribly boring (and believe me when I say that it has to be especially dull so that I get bored), I need book blogs to follow. So please, if you would reblog, I’d be able to follow you.

Latest Creation! 

“Zhen xian bao” (Chinese thread book), a traditional concept adapted by Daria Wilber from Ruth Smith’s Folded Secrets. Folded and glued by Annalisa from various sizes of Shizen cotton paper. While these aren’t instructions for this particular design online, there’s a more origami-based variant here by paperkawaii/Chrissy.

For the final day of Daria Wilber’s maker residency at ppld, she taught me how to make these lovely zhen xian bao. From what I understand*, these thread books are an art form that came from some of the tribes of southwestern China. People (particularly tailors and seamstresses) would make beautiful paper wallets like this one to hold threads, needles, fabric scraps, patterns, basically anything that could lie relatively flat. The pockets keep everything contained, while the flatness and size of the books make them very portable, so they were incredibly utilitarian in addition to being works of art themselves.

There is so much to love about these that I don’t care that I had to use glue! Daria brought this beautiful screenprinted 100% cotton paper, and it is even more beautiful than the pictures show. She was so generous to let me have enough for not just one, but two of these. And look at all the pockets! As you can see, mine has 5 pockets, but that’s really a miniature version. Daria teaches classes on how to make 15- and 17-pocket versions of these books, and traditional zhen xian bao have had even more pockets than that. And really, who doesn’t need more pockets in their life?

I waited to post this because I decided to give it to my friend Krisztina for her birthday. She is a quilter par excellence, so hopefully she can, in the grand tradition of the art form, use this to keep some of her sewing supplies organized. Now that I’ve finally gotten it in the mail and delivered, I can put it up here without worrying about spoilers. Happy birthday, Krisztina!

A Little Known Chinese Folk Art: Zhen Xian Bao

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/095288044X/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_HrTdwb04JD4BN

And here’s an example that I made, with 15 boxes:

Journals made using Antique Photographs by MyHandboundBooks on Flickr.

Compilation of Book Sculptures

Still More Mend and Make Do

Pages of this 1821 book of poetry by Quaker author Bernard Barton (1784-1849) have been carefully repaired by an earlier owner.