June 24, 2014 by Erin Fletcher
Herringbone Bindery is now on Instagram! If you love following the blog, check out my Instagram account for daily updates of the creative activity in the bindery. I’ll be posting images of bindings in progress plus inspiration and designs for future bindings.
March 14, 2014 by Erin Fletcher
March 15th marks the first anniversary of the Herringbone Bindery Etsy Shop. All items will be marked 15% off in celebration and just in time to make room for a whole new collection!
Browse through a selection of blank journals in various sizes, leather bound notebooks and bookbinding kits.
December 3, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
Bookbinding kits are now available at the Herringbone Bindery Etsy shop. These particular kits supply the materials and instructions to bind your own blank flatback journal. Each kit includes paste paper made right here in the bindery with five different patterns available.
KIT INCLUDES:
1. 6 signatures for text block
2. 2 colored endpaper folios
3. 2 covers and 1 spine piece
4. 1 piece of bookcloth
5. 2 sheets of decorative paper
6. headband material
7. 1 piece of mull
8. 1 needle and thread
9. 1 piece of linen sewing tapes
10. 1 punching jig
11. 1 set of instructions
The instructions were written, designed and illustrated by me. They are easy to follow for any skill level and each page includes helpful drawings to illustrate those more tricky steps.
See the first 3 pages below:
– – – –
– – – – 
December 3, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
Earlier this year my family experienced the passing of Richard Gradowski, known by me and my cousins as Dzia which is Polish for Grandpa. My Dzia loved so many things in life and his passions created lasting relationships that touched so many lives. First was his love for Polka music both as an avid listener and talented musician on the harmonica and accordion. I remember hearing the cheerful rhythm of Polka music softly playing from the antique wooden radio in the kitchen upon each visit.
Secondly, my Dzia loved ducks, particularly mallards and loons. Seated at his work bench, my Dzia would carefully carve out the shape of each duck from a block of wood and hand paint each detail with superb skill and patience. These sculptures were scattered throughout the house and even gifted to my mother and aunts.
Lastly, my Dzia engaged in any material regarding WWII. His interest in war, no doubt came from his experience in the 1950s during the Korean War; where he was stationed at a United States Air Force base in DC as part of the motor vehicle squadron. As my family lay his body to rest, a military salute commenced. My mother was given seven casings from the volleys fired. One casing was meant for my Nana, while the remaining six would be given to her children. To honor the memory of my Dzia, I created a clamshell box to safely house each casing.
These are, by far, the tiniest clamshell boxes I’ve ever constructed. Using a thin binder’s board the pieces were carefully measured and cut down using the spring gauge on the board shear.
The boxes were constructed just like a standard sized clamshell box, except the interior tray has four walls instead of three. The trays are covered in navy Cialux bookcloth.
I wanted the casing to be surrounded by a soft material with plenty of padding. After laminating a few pieces of binder’s board to Volara foam, I tightly wrapped the padding with bright white Ultrasuede. The interior tray was lined with Ultrasuede as well and the pads lined both long walls. A piece of satin ribbon attached to the backside of the thicker pad allows for easy removal of the casing.
The case is covered in a matching navy Harmatan goatskin. The exterior tray is lined with blue Hahnemühle Ingres and stamped in gold foil with my Dzia’s name and the year of his birth and death.
Each box was handed out during my family’s Thanksgiving celebration. Sadly, my husband and I could not attend this year for the feast and festivities, but my cousins Meg and Gina sent me some wonderful pictures of the casing sitting snugly in its clamshell box.
November 6, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
For the past few months, I’ve had a Nag Hammadi model sitting on my bench, provoking me. I finally found the time to sit down, examine and recreate the model (which belonged to my lovely friend Anna). This particular binding is based off one of the mid-fourth century bindings, which were unearthed from an urn near the town of Nag Hammadi in 1945; the structure was quite simple to construct.
For my Etsy shop I’ve created a simpler version by leaving out the cartonnage and papyrus, while incorporating bright buffalo and goat skin. These blank journals are filled with kraft paper and are quite suitable for the traveler and homebody alike. The image below displays all the pieces that come together to make the binding.
The journals are bound in soft and supple leather. In addition to the wrap-around tie, there are ties at the head and tail to keep your pages safe and secure. Journals are available in a five different color choices, from sea foam green with red accents to…
mauve with maroon accents. See them all at the Herringbone Bindery shop!
September 6, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
In the market for a new journal or sketchbook? Need a gift for the writer or artist in your life. Celebrate the Book this weekend at my Herringbone Bindery Etsy shop and receive free shipping on all orders of $10 or more. Just enter code: READABOOK10 at checkout. Have a wonderful and book-worthy weekend.
August 1, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
If you missed Part One of this post, you can check it out here.
After cautiously and carefully paring a rather large piece of goatskin, I was ready to cover. Being that it’s summertime and rather warm in our bindery, I was faced with the challenge of a thirsty piece of leather and quick-drying paste. After wrestling with the leather, particularly the headcaps and corners, the book was successfully covered and put to rest overnight.
The design on the cover is quite simplistic, an inspiration from the first musical score titled Three Nyatitis. A nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked lyre from Kenya. The eight lines are spaced wider at the head of the cover then at the tail, where they end to form a partial circular shape. This negative space represents the sound hole of the instrument. The lines have been blind tooled into the leather.
The title for each composition has been gold tooled along the visible spine of the leather on either side of the blind-tooled lines. Each title has been hand-tooled with 16 point Centaur handle letters.
An interior shot showcasing the beautifully handmade paste papers from Deena Schnitman.
June 11, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
During a recent workshop, I revisited the Gary Frost sewn-board binding structure. Remembering how much I enjoy that structure I decided to bind a few for my Etsy shop using the same series of paste papers as the previous collection of books. Each sewn-board journal is filled with 48 blank Mohawk pages and accented with book cloth on the spine and board edges near the spine.
Check out Herringbone Bindery at Etsy.
Hand Bound Sewn-board Blank Notebook // Grey Cheetah – $25.00
May 14, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
Weggefährten is a German word that roughly translates to companions. I was approached by my client, Nadja to create a Coptic binding for a series of letters and collaged pages to present as a gift for her partner’s 40th birthday. Each page was submitted by someone who had made a meaningful connection with her partner during the course of his life. The ‘mountainous’ landscape on the covers was chosen by my client from a previous design I had done. She enjoyed the organic quality of the design and how it mimicked the pathways of life.
When I originally covered a Coptic in this manner, each section would overlap and turn-in at the tail of book. This created a very bulky edge at the tail of the book that was five layers thick as oppose to only one layer at the head. In order to avoid that excessive bulk, I cut each color section to the sized required. Once I drew out the design I was able to trace the shapes onto the paper, building in for turn-ins and a 2mm overlap. I used various shades of Hahnemuhle Ingres to create the design.
The Coptic was bound with hand-dyed linen thread to match the shade of Ingres at the six sewing stations.
In addition to Weggefährten, the Coptic was also stamped with the phrase 40 Jahre, which translates to 40 years. The words were individually stamped with brass handle letters to follow the horizon of the pathways. In order to do this irregular stamping on paper, I first trace the line my word will follow onto tracing paper. I place a piece of gold foil onto the cover, then lay down my piece of tracing paper. The hot tool stamps through the tracing paper and the gold foil. I do not remove either layer until the word is complete, this allows me to easily see where to stamp the next letter.
The color scheme of the book was quite surprising with pops of color and metallics in unusual places. The fold of each signature was highlighted with a bit of magenta Lokta to contrast with the subtle tones of the Ingres. The paste down is a gold metallic paper, which pairs nicely to the pale pink fly leaves.
In addition to the single pages of letters and collages, was a seven page comic and CD. Using the same pale pink paper as the fly leaf, I included a 4-flap enclosure at the end to house these additional pieces of reverence. The entire book is enclosed inside a magenta 4-flap enclosure for protection.
It was incredibly enjoyable to work on this project because it was outside my usual flow of work. The client’s reaction was ecstatic as she saw her vision come into being and couldn’t wait to present it to her partner. Check out more Custom Projects at Herringbone Bindery.
May 1, 2013 by Erin Fletcher
I was recently invited to participate in an interview with Susan Mills for her podcast Bookbinding Now, which is a New York-based community podcast posted every other Wednesday.
Before the phone interview, I had the pleasure of speaking with Susan about some of her experiences and found out that our ambitions are quite similar. She was very kind and encouraging and I’m delighted to have contributed to her podcast.
You can listen to the interview on the Bookbinding Now website or download it through iTunes. Enjoy!
