Instagram Bookbinding Challenge: July / Formation

I've been participating in an online bookbinding community challenge, where each month bookmakers from around the world challenge themselves to create a book on a chosen theme for the month. The theme for July was Formation, which could be interpreted in many different ways.

First steps of my book for July. 

Formation can be the process of being formed, and I wanted to try my hand at creating paper cloth or fabric paper for my cover. I started with a lightweight cotton fabric piece, and spread thinned PVA all over it. 

Then I layered tissue from old sewing patterns until I had 2-3 layers of tissue (with more glue brushed over each layer) covering the fabric.

It took a couple of days to dry completely, but once it was dry, I cut my cover piece, layered another fabric piece under it, and sewed random lines all over it with my sewing machine. (Random, but still in formation.) The end result is kind of like leather, and easy to work with. It gets softer and more pliable the more you work with it.

Then I stitched around the outside to give it a nice clean finish.

For the pages, I used handmade papers, again thinking of the process of forming the paper itself, as this journal was created.

I used a simple longstitch binding, with the stitching in nice neat rows on the spine (formation....).

I thought this vintage button complemented the design nicely.

Thanks for stopping by! If you are on Instagram, search the hashtag #areyoubookenough to see how other participating artists interpreted the theme. Prepare yourself to be inspired!