Bijou Books: The Biscuit 2.0
Version 2.0 of the biscuit book is a great improvement on my first attempt at the thing. Coptic binding turned out to be the best binding for these, allowing the biscuit to retain its boxy profile and keeping the biscuit covers nearly flush with the text block.
The covers are double thickness, made of two thin pieces of board. Two boards were covered in a pink polka-dot paper (with the design facing the text block), and were attached to the text block during the coptic binding process. The second pair of boards were covered in felt, stitched into biscuits, and then glued over the first boards, concealing the coptic board attachment stitches.
The double-layer covers also allowed me to conceal the ends of two lengths of ribbon, used to tie the book closed.
I was asked to make these as Christmas presents for the four granddaughters of an elderly lady I work with in the mall. “That’s what they’re getting from Nana this Chrissy: your little cookies, and a packet of sour plums each.”
Hmm…sweet and sour…there’s a secret message for you from Gran in there somewhere, girls.
Miri’s Journal
And, of course, there’s Miri’s journal, which I put together yesterday. By no means perfect, though it came out looking okay, as a book. I am not unhappy with it, anymore, and I hope Miri will like it, too. There’s always the next tagebuch, and the chance to make something different and better, in a few years’ time. She really uses them, Miri, which is why I delight in making them for her. It is the touch of a person’s hands, and a lifetime of being lovingly used, that burnishes and enriches the existence of a piece of craftsmanship.
