Coptic Bound 182 Page Handmade British Dramatists Junk Journal with Handtorn Paper in Antique Canvas Book Cover with Brass Edges & Ephemera

I bought this antique book in Shanghai, China. The green canvas is old and distressed.  It has a very light waterbased varnish on it now.  It has a wonderful fat, thick feel with great antiquing on the spine.  It has a real silk blue ribbon.  I lined the inner pages with cool red Chinese paint paper which I also lightly varnished.  I stamped a line from a Rupert Brooke poem on the back cover “the little dulling edge of foam that browns and dwindles as the wave goes home”.  I stenciled a cool gold Chinese goldfish on the back.

There are pieces of ephemera: an old book page I painted a buffalo stencil on, a little dangle with a dried flower that I made from an old cucumber box, and then a page from an old book with a magic bunny advertisement overlaid.

**To easily scroll through the images hit your arrow key.  If you linger on the images you can see them from very close up, too, if you like.

I LOVE handmade stuff, real folkart that’s actually, truly, from scratch.  I collect stuff that’s human and full of the heart of whomever made it.  All my journals are this way – I mean to make treasures. I’m not making a product, I’m building something beautiful.

In every case there is only 1 of these; you are buying the only one there will ever be.

VIDEO:  If you want to see every page of this product, please use the link that is a sort of mustard color right at the base of this listing.  In the video, I take you through the entire journal.

DETAILS OF THIS BOOK

SIZE: This journal measures about 6 1/4 inches wide (about 16.25cm) by 9 1/2 inches tall (about 24cm) and is about 1 3/4 inches thick (about 4.5 cm)

# of PAGES: 182 pages (I count the back and front of every page.)

# of SIGNATURES: 16 Signatures

BINDING: This is a coptic bound book.  The spine is quite flexible meaning that even though it is exceptionally sturdy there is play in it and can be lain flat for use.   I sew with doubled cotton crochet thread.

HARVESTING USED PAPER:  I employ actual used paper, with rips, spots, stains, glues; I glue pages together, overlay them if they’re not big enough, and repair pages with little patches. I prep each piece by washing it with a bleaching wipe.  Then I iron each piece four times.  I usually remove excess glue with acetone – I’m always thinking, “This is how to take something worth negative money and utilize all kinds of commodities to modify it…”  But I do it anyway!

I handcut or rip each page to size for each project. I collect all kinds of papers, some are handmade cotton, many are from commercial bags from my travels or from home.  I’m always rummaging.

SIGNATURES: I design each book so that the colors work, and I usually keep a kind of idea of the entire feel as I put it together.  I normally do a very thin page at the center of each signature.

EDGES:  This book has brass edges added to the top and bottom of the canvas cover in front and back.  These have been hammered on by hand – they’re there to keep the edges crisp.  (In this case the edge of the book is curved, so there is a bit of overlap in the edge.)

ALL SHIPPING IS FREE.* Once purchased I will ship within 48 hours unless the weather interferes. We live on an island off the coast of northern Maine.  In winter we get loads of storms and on rare occasions mail isn’t able to come or go off island, though never for more than a few hours or one day.

After I ship I’ll email you the tracking.

**If you live outside of the United States, please email me about shipping and tell me the exact name of the item and I will tell you the cost.

$95.00

1 in stock

Coptic Bound 182 Page Handmade British Dramatists Junk Journal with Handtorn Paper in Antique Canvas Book Cover with Brass Edges & Ephemera quantity

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