Fabric Covered Coptic Stitch Sketchbook - Two: TO DECKLE OR NOT TO DECKLE, THAT IS THE QUESTION

"TO DECKLE OR NOT TO DECKLE. THAT IS THE QUESTION"

Well, here we go! If you are back with me I assume you have gotten paper of some sort with which to do this little project. A word on paper - there is no reason you can't use anything you have on hand, up to, and including, computer printer paper. BUT, as many of you have found, not all paper works well for sketchbooks. Some of it is too lightweight and wrinkles when you work on it with water. Not good. Regular watercolor paper is fine, but has a lot of texture that may not work well for pen and ink. It doesn't for me. I like 90# Hot Press. 

If you ordered the Strathmore Mixed Media Hot Press paper I suggested, and you have it, it looks like this. It is 22" x 30", has four clean, smooth edges, a lovely, smooth vellum finish and is a soft, off-white.

Life's Little Mysteries Dept. - I SWEAR the last time I ordered it, this paper arrived with two deckled edges and was a noticeable creamier color. What the heck is this paper?

Well, it makes no difference. You just have to decide how you want your pages to look. If you like nice clean edges on your pages, you can stop right here and get out your scissors. If you, like me, want nice, soft, raggedy deckled edges on your pages, then we have more work to do. 

Deckles happen in the papermaking process. If some edges (or all) of the edges of your paper are cut, we have to improvise. There are several ways to do this. I use this easy method for my sketchbooks. 

First, use your fingernails to score up about 1/4" on the long edge of one side of the sheet of paper. 

Then use the back of your plastic spoon, the side of the handle of the plastic knife, or a bone folder (if you have one), to make a nice sharp crease. 

 Slide the serrated knife into the crease, hold the paper securely with your free hand and saw down the length of the fold. Due to the grain of the paper, this procedure is harder on the two long edges and may be a little taxing.  If you get some raggedy looking tears here and there, more's the better, I think. If you need more precision, maybe cutting, instead of tearing, may be more to your liking. I happen to like the one or two places I get that look like they were gnawed on by wharf rats. 

I like my sketchbooks to open in "book" orientation, with pages that are the length of the spine, top to bottom. So, MY next step is to fold the paper, with its FOUR deckled edges, the long "hot dog bun" way. Of course, if you haven't done the deckling, it is the same deal, only with four SMOOTH, sharp edges 😍.

 Crease the fold well, and use your serrated knife to tear down the crease.

Now you have two long, thin sheets of paper, with four edges all the same. 

 Fold each of these pieces into fourths, across the strip, the hamburger bun way (how many of you can tell from this that I was a schoolteacher?) 

 After you've creased and folded, and sawed down the crease, you will have 8 leaves from your one sheet of paper. Do this again with your other sheet. Now you have 16 leaves. Fold and crease these in half, BUT DO NOT TEAR THEM. These 16 folded leaves give you your 32 pages. This is a very handy amount, I have found. I LIKE the feeling of finishing a sketchbook, and find that 32 pages is a very manageable amount to get done in a month or so. AND THEN I GET TO MAKE A NEW BOOK!!! 😃😍

 I like to make a book with six signatures. So, for me, four signatures of THREE leaves, and two signatures of TWO leaves, is ideal. Of course you can mess around with more pages, more signatures, etc., etc., to your hearts content. 

 This is the way the pages orient if your initial fold of the paper is HOT DOG WAY. 

If you choose to, or if you made a mistake in folding, your book orientation may be like this - long way. That is nice, too, isn't it? Try it both ways. 

Now stack up your signatures and look at your handiwork. 

I have 6 signatures with lovely, soft deckled edges. 

Does EVERY project you do involve the approval of a cat?

Next post will address "DEALING WITH THE ENDS".