To answer sheknits questions this is my awl it pokes the holes in the paper before the needle goes through the holes. As you can see it tip is very small and it gets thicker, you push the awl in to certain points for different books. Coptic books need the awl pushed to the thickest point as the thread goes through each hole several times. A case bound book only needs a small hole as the thread on goes through once.
There are many different styles of Awls and I have several but I always come back to this one. It's my favorite awl, I'll dig around for 20 minutes to find it rather than use my other ones. Not sure why but I love this one and will be sad when it breaks.

Sewing the sections

This picture shows all the sections of a book neatly folded and ready to be sewn. It also shows my linen thread and my hunk of natural bee's wax used to wax my thread with. You wax the thread to keep it from knotting up on you. There are many different stitches that can be used when making a book, this book was sewn with linked stitches and kettle stitches on the ends.

How a book is born!

This is the first post in a series to come showing how I construct a book. Today's post shows the first steps of starting with a larger sheet of paper and either folding or cutting it down to the correct size. The two tools shown are my bone folder and my paper knife, very important items to every book binder. The bone folder gets used on almost every step of the process, I have 3 different folders but thats another post.
The pages shown here were used to create the blue kimono book below.

Another Great Kimono Book

This is my newest addition to my Etsy shop! It is another book made from kimono remnants, this one is a "rougher" silk but i love the texture it has and the understated beauty. It sports a black silky ribbon for a book mark. This is one you just need to have in your hands to understand how great this book is! If you want to take this book home you can find it here!

New Favorite!

I'm just so fickle! I try to love all my books equally but it's just so hard! This is my new fav! My Aunt's books are out the door and out of the top spot!
This is my new beauty! It is a 6" square book that is wrapped in a gorgeous kimono fabric remnant! It has a gold organza ribbon for a bookmark with a red bamboo coral bead at the end. This fabric has a great red sheen to it that can be seen in the other pictures listed here! Go check out this great book and give it a great home!

Just for Mom!

This is an oldie but a goodie from my shop! I love this book, it is wrapped in a great chocolate chip paper with an equally great purple spine. The book cloth on the spine is iridescent and really makes the book pop! This would be great for Mom or yourself! If you would like to see more pictures of this book or take it home you can find it here! Act fast it's on sale for Mom this week!

Busy Busy Me

Phew I've just been so busy I forgot all about the fact that I had started a blog! I'm terribly sorry for the lack of updates these past few weeks. I've been working on some very cool items that are not going to be for sale that I would still love to share with you. My Aunt is getting married in two weeks and I have been making several books for her wedding and bridal shower. I know I say this everytime... but I think these are my favorite books and I had a very hard time putting them in the mail this week.
They are a Japanese stab binding technique covered in a Japanese Chiogami paper to match her peach theme. I love the gold ribbon as the paper has gold accents all over it. The larger book has peach paper in it as is a photo album while the smaller one has white paper for a guest book. I also sent an Origami book for everyone at the shower to sign! They are great for showers and parties of all types, last week I made one for a first birthday party too.

I also managed to get a treasury yesterday that has 1 day left on it, you can view it here for another 24 hours!