July’s project in the Handmade Book Club was a Buttonhole Binding with Hard Cover. Club members tested their skills by making their own book cloth for the book board, or they could make a soft cover version if they so wished. This binding is considered an intermediate-level project, and wow, they sure created some really incredible journals!
See What the Club Members Made
Sally created her book cloth with cotton fabric and used 160gsm mixed media paper for her signatures.
Lisa’s book cloth was created from her fabric stash. She used sketch paper & scrapbook paper for signature covers.
Denny’s gorgeous work of art was made with oil paper, square strings, assorted glue/paste, and waxed linen thread.
Helen hand-painted her stunning cover! And I love the pop of color on Vivien’s spine.
Donna used a dyed fabric cover with a handmade button accent. Each signature was wrapped with a blue/orange paper she hand-dyed.
Sue’s covers were made with cotton batik fabric, cotton craft, and an old cotton summer dress. (I love that!)
Dee added beads after each signature was sewn in for a fun accent! Jill used fabric over chipboard, 110 lb. paper, and red, yellow, and green paper that she had on hand for her signature covers.
Brenda made her own book cloth and cleverly decorated the signature spines with washi tape!
What are the Club Members Saying?
Thanks Ali and team another wonderful tutorial. I really like everything about this book. – Sheila D.
I always look forward to the first of the month. I love learning a new binding. – Suzanne B.
I’m looking forward to making this, Ali, thank you for such thorough instructions! – Dorothy W.
I love this book, actually I love all the books we make! – Karin M.
Our July Guest Artist
In addition to the book project each month, we also get to learn new techniques from special guest artists. Our July workshop was led by Kerry Engel, who showed us how to make resin book covers. We seriously had so much fun with this class!
We have some really amazing guest artists lined up over the next several months! We open the doors to the club just a few times per year, but if you’re on our waitlist, you’ll be among the first to know when our next opening will be.
WHAT IS THE HANDMADE BOOK CLUB?
The Handmade Book Club grew out of my love for teaching and community. Having spent more than 10 years teaching in-person classes, I decided to reach a wider audience in 2019 and founded the online Handmade Book Club.
The Handmade Book Club is a community of bookmakers from around the world. Each month, I teach a new book binding project to the club members. In addition to making books, we love learning about ways to fill our handmade journals. That’s why we have guest artists and speakers join us every month! Club members also have access to a robust selection of past projects within the archives.
Whether you’re an experienced bookmaker or a complete novice, the Handmade Book Club is a community for you. You can try out a free book project here.
