Further thoughts

After a holiday break more issues for consideration appeared: Sian had highlighted scale and thread structure and I had a huge note on my desk that said 'surface integration' to which I had added 'integrity of shell'!! 
My immediate action was to review the surface structure and think of how it could be improved...after a few hours, many cups of tea, a period of pulling things apart, machining different ideas of radiating threads  a thought arrived saying 'how will the shell covers work?'.   Scale was indeed the first issue to be resolved the shell needed to be large and strong enough to attach the inner pages and would my book need to stand  up alone or was it OK for it to lie down? 
Back to the drawing board and here is what followed:

Ref 4.11-2.1

Ref 4.11-2.2

I reduced the scale of the original fan shape by 70% and added in the horizontal lines that were as much a part of the shell as the radiating lines.  For stability of the cover to the inside pages I would need to ensure that the oblong shape at the top of the shell was firm and large enough!

Ref 4.11-2.3a and b

Considering how exactly the surface would be made and how large,  I wanted an incorporation of fabric, paper pulp and thread.  4.8.4 appealed as a role model but it would need more strength in its structure.  Here is a first stage of fabric and thread,

I decided to distress the finish before adding the paper pulp and the fabric to set in the shell. While they dried - it was taking two days for each side, even with a wood burning stove going full bore- thoughts turned to the hinge!

 The key was a hinge that was strong enough but that blended with the 'fabric' of the shells. Would I have to use stitches on the folds to stabilise the piece?  I did not want to adversely effect the movement of the 'accordion' or impinge on the word flags making them difficult to read.  I was considering using a combination of hand made paper and opaque or tracing paper for the flags. A rough sample of an accordion fold was made, a piece of fabric bonded to pelmet vilene in an earlier module came to hand so had a practice. Image 4 below shows it folded, image 6 shows the inside view with folds machined stitch on the edges.

                                     Ref 4.11-2.4

                                                                       Ref 4.11-2.5

Two razor shells that had been in my treasure box could be used, the theory being that they would cover cardboard 'stays' that attached to the accordion folds.  See ref 4.11-2.6. The bonus of this book began to appear that it would look interesting when open and also flat - was I hedging my bets by not making it compulsory for it to stand up! 

Ref 4.11-2.6

Oh dear after two days of nurturing and turning the first shell set had moved!!! Would this be useable? Onto the next piece and would decided if it was back to the drawing board once I saw how that one worked.  At least the waiting meant I could get up to date with my admin report.

Below more views before  making colour co ordinated accordion  and doing some fine tuning!

   Ref 4.11-2.7

Ref 4.11-2.8

Stitched Edges

Ref 4.9.1

Ref 4.9.2

Contemplating how the lettering and drawn thread theme could influence the edges of papers I made the following five samples. The idea of loops as well as the angular placement of letter blocks in Chapter 2, shown at the bottom of this blog, where with me for this exercise. Sample 4.9.1 uses machine stitch 6 on my Bernina Activa 140 which provides a multi outlined 'v' shape done here in Sulky variegated cotton thread.  To complete the edges of paper not at the fabric edge I hand sewena variegated perle thread in feather stitch. The background fabric was a thin muslin that was used as a sieve when draining of the water from last pieces of paper pulp and some of the pulp dried onto the fabric.
For sample 4.9.2 I pinned, studded and added tied loops to the edge, this would allow layers to be added but on the left hand side pinned some wide bias binding which was slit so that it could be used as a hinge. The bottom edge had hand stitched button hole detail which could also act as a joining edge if another edge was butted against it.

Ref 4.9.4

Ref 4.9.3

My next themes bound the edges of the paper to add strength.  Sample 4.9.3 on left shows felt borders using machine stitch 7 over the paper and with pulled threads used to decorate the edge with loops or random tied threads replicating the loops and straight lines in the word 'calligraphy'.  This broke up the 'hard' straight edge but border sample 4.9.4 keeps it line when bound in hand dyed muslin and a hand stitch to emphasis lines. More random pieces of the fabric were hand stitched on the paper.

Ref 4.9.5

Ref 4.9.5a

The samples, 4.9.5 and  5a show one piece of paper that was too large for the scanner but the run of a double line of a machine stitch, stitch 14 on my machine, and used on the edges, was also placed in the middle to show that the paper could be folded into a book shape.  The rounded edge of the paper on the bottom left of 4.9.5 would probably look better  as the top right corner of a finished cover, giving a glimpse into the content or index of the book. As in sample 4.9.2 the background fabric was a 'sieved' fabric.

Details from Module 4 Chapter 2