About bookbinding

You don’t need to be a professional in bookbinding to make a great quality notebook.

Maybe the first test doesn’t reach a perfect result but you will be surprised how easy the improvement goes and how fast the mistakes are solved. After two or three notebooks done there is not room for bad quality. Excellence is the goal, not perfection. Perfection is impossible and it’s not welcome in a handmade artwork.

The  notebook made by yourself offers a higher level of satisfaction than any other. You add the passion and love for it, your favorite paper and details. You add a part of yourself in it. Unfortunately it’s not possible get that from the shops, where an industrial notebook is done by a bored worker, probably Chinese or robot, who is paid per hours and produces hundreds of them every day. Your dear and loved notebook is just one more. On top of that the quality standards in the notebooks paper used to be poor nowadays. Endless variety of brands and styles, more than ever, with poor quality. And expensive. Only about 15 sheets of paper are needed to fill a pocket notebook, which is less than 1 EUR even for high quality paper.

Bookbinding is an old technique and there are many methods. I’m showing here how to fill a Moleskine notebook with your favorite paper, that’s what I use in my last notebooks and was a clear milestone in my journals evolution. You can also make the cover in real leather, which is even easier. I will show that in a separated post.

Bookbinding is a relaxing task. Bookbinding is perfect for meditation.

1.) Materials:

-Moleskine cover.

-Good quality paper.

-Scissors.

-Cutter.

-Ruler.

-Thread and needle.

-Adhesive for bookbinding (elastic, neutral PH if possible)

-Cotton fabric for bookbinding (used over the spine)

-Papersand

2.) Folding the sheets. Cut the A4 sheets in A5 size. Only 15 sheets A4 from 100g/m2 paper are enough for a Moleskine pocket. Fold them and make groups of 3 sheets each. Press them properly.

3.) Binding. Perform 5 holes with a needle and a template. Sew applying the method you like.

The easy method I apply will be explained in a next post.

 

 4.) Paste the stack. Press the sheets in order to apply glue only on the edges. Set the cotton fabric and apply more glue. Release the stack and paste the wings of the fabrics to the paper. This will avoid tiny clearances between the sewn sheets.

Keep the stack under weight for a time while become dry to keep the paper full flat.

 

5.) Cutting the paper. Cut the edge of the stack to fix into Moleskine dimensions. Use the sandpaper to shape the corners.

6.) Remove the paper. Kill the Moleskine. Do not suffer or produce too much tears. Cut the paper from the second pasted pages (front and rear part of the notebook). Reuse the register tape and glue it in the new paper.

 

7.) Insert the new paper. Paste the stack made with the new paper into the cover. Apply glue only on a small area of the external sheets, not in the edge.

Voilá! New notebook is ready for all kind of inks.

8.) Extra. When the notebook is complete is good idea to add a few more details like a stylish paper in the first pages or an acid-free tissue paper pocket for better conservation when being stored.

Le Voyage du Mat

The journey of the fool (better say Mat) is the travel of everyone. It starts much earlier than our own existence and goes from an egg to other egg.

Tarot is an inexhaustible fountain for trained eyes.

Almanach Hachette

Marches aux puces in Paris bring always surprises. Last time I found a collection of almanacs with the tittle Almanach Hachette. Two seconds after having one of them in my hands I knew it was the book of the year. What an amazing discovery! They are not only almanac but also a encyclopedia and a useful guide for life. I bought two (1899 and 1935).

I could say it's one of the best books I've ever seen.

They talk about everything, from beards style to chances to be married depending of the age. Also sky maps or military ships in those days. The illustrations and aged paper add the perfect style for these jewels.

Take into consideration each illustration, each face and each detail was made manually with each own metal model in order to apply ink and print it.

My first idea was use the pages for scrapbooking but now I feel like a crime if I hand the scissors and destroy such an artwork.

By the way, one point is clear: The quality of these kind of things decreases with time. You can see how year after year the style, quality and dedication are a little less. Nowadays, when all is under the productive and profit way of do things, these books are lost. No time for passion, just fast and low quality productions for mass.

Response to an alien attack proposal

Fermi´s paradox offers an endless questions about alien existence, bla, bla… just philosophical entertainment. But the important point is: Are we ready for an alien attack? Probably they will fumigate us as insects. Our weapons have nothing to do. I propose a desperate and low chances of success solution: show them we are able to do great things. For example, create a planet size copy of Picasso´s painting "Las señoritas de Avignon". Each human should participate with a 190 m side square part, including babys and clumsy people. Even if aliens don´t perceive it, I guess some part of the mortal ray attack could be stopped by the painting (dense canvas preferred). Well, in the worst of the cases, if mankind is finally destroyed, we could be proud to create such a nonsense final artwork. Absurd and epic end, yeah!

Barcelona new skyline proposal

La Sagrada Familia is taking too much time for such a minor artwork. The city needs something more visual and shocking. A 900 m high stupa will cover the cathedral and will add more character. It could also keep several malls and cinemas for modern people entertainment and the cathedral construction could continue inside as well. On top of that, the harbor will be expanded and it will take half of the city, therefore huge cruiser ships will be allowed to reach the stupa. Av. Diagonal, the main street, will be partially navigable. Big number of houses need to be demolish, however debris and people could be used as construction material and slaves.

Some pages of the last completed notebooks. Continuation

 

Some pages of the last completed notebook

The eternal fountain pen

No need to refill or change cartridges. The ink will last per omnia saecula saeculorum. Water is taken from humidity in the air and then is mixed with a special stone placed inside named Donaunite, which grows naturally in Donau river. 

Nib is made with special 96 k gold, discovered recently with Alchemy techniques mixing gold and lotus flower. The result, lotus gold, is the best for nib in fountain pen. 

An 8 holes wheel allows to change the ink/water flow, producing several levels of blue.

About inks

"This magic bottle contains the lovely words I will dedicate to you, new ideas, dreams, equations, notes and experiences I can't even imagine now. All is inside already."

The Orange Manuscript. Ready to be shipped

After long time setting up the pages and testing, The Orange Manuscript is ready. A facsimile compiling 120 selected pages of the notebooks written during the last years.

How could I define my undetermined writing? This artwork itself is a love letter to notebooks, a flight of fancy and also a part of me. A holder to keep ideas and experiences with full passion and dedication. Discover by yourself the feelings with this travel along its pages.

Printed in high quality vergé paper. Great level of detail.

Pages manually bound. Both paper and adhesive for bookbinding are free of acid.

The Orange Manuscript includes the following pages:

Original Moleskine cover.
120 pages pocket size (140 x 90 mm).
Numbered and signed copies.

Price: 285 € (euros)

Certified shipping to worldwide and taxes included.

BITCOIN accepted. Send me an email to pay in BTC.

Please send an email to naranjacorreo@gmail.com to place an order.


These videos show some pages:

Русский глаз

Drawing a green eye with Polychromos.

My last notebook. All in one

Have a look at the video:

South of France in Tri-X atmosphere

Somehow I've missing Kodak Tri-X style today and I decided relive it in digital. I always think original processes are the key and simulations are nothing else than empty ways to nowhere. After a few tests and a lot of fun I've found some kind of acceptable results with last photos from South of France.  The possibilities of digital are endless and it's easy to wrongly believe they could cover everything. They are not trying to simulate the film but bring back the magical and special Tri-X atmosphere.

 

Lección de anatomía

Ayer descubrí una tribu inédita

Ayer descubrí una tribu inédita. Sus gentes nunca habían estado en contacto con la civilización antes. Sucedió así: estaba yo de paseo y me desorienté momentáneamente mientras mi cabeza recordaba las formas tan perfectas de unas rodillas que había visto el día anterior, tan femeninas como poco alemanas dada su finura. Me metí por donde no era y acabé en una pequeña arboleda. Oí voces, me asomé y allí estaba la tribu, detrás del supermercado Netto y al lado de la carretera que bordea Donauwörth. Eran claramente homínidos y su número no sobrepasaba la cantidad de veinte. Se percataron de mi presencia y me capturaron dos hombrecillos de los que me podía haber deshecho sin dificultad dado mi desarrollo muscular. Me contuve y pedí que me llevaran ante el jefe de la tribu, que resultó ser un anciano con una manta marrón que daba a pobre. Pregunté si no tenían algo mejor como representante, pero no me debieron entender bien. Eran todos diminutos y ninguno sobrepasaba el metro de altura. Mientras el anciano hablaba, tres bellas nativas me ofrecieron frutas y flores, que agradecí con un gesto ensayado consistente en bajar los párpados lentamente mientras la cabeza asiente con un movimiento medido. Las tres se enamoraron de mí al instante. Comencé a tomar notas manuscritas de semejante descubrimiento, pues de ellas dependerían los estudios posteriores que otros expertos realizarían. Pude catalogarlos como braquicéfalos, de forma erguida y tono fibroso, si bien dos mujeres al fondo tendían al atocinamiento. Las descarté de la muestra para no alterar los datos recogidos. Me mostraron su agricultura, consistente exclusivamente en habas, y dos cabañas. Conocían el fuego pero no la rueda. En compensación por el buen trato recibido, les di a conocer dos aportes fundamentales para su desarrollo: primero les organicé un detallado calendario válido para los siguientes 300 años sin necesidad de ajuste alguno. Después les hablé de Velázquez, aunque la mayoría de ellos todavía seguía preguntándome cosas del calendario, que parecían no acabar de comprender nunca, ni siquiera los más aventajados. Aquella gente tenía las entendederas muy cerradas, pero sin embargo eran muy aptos para la generación de bellas melodías. Me regalaron un #:*%ç, como ellos lo denominaban, similar a una bandurria pero con una decoración floral. Observé que no contaba con chamán alguno y les informé de las ventajas de tener un chamán, Me ofrecí a ello si lo consideraban oportuno. A media tarde me despedí de ellos. Quizá vuelva pronto algún día.

Página compacta

Creo que es la página más densa de mis cuadernos. El interlineado es el propio del papel verjurado y más fino ya no puedo escribir.