Jessica Ebert

With this binding I knew immediately that I wanted to take inspiration directly from the wonderful text and images inside the volume, and that I wanted to create a case binding that would incorporate some of my favorite hobbies besides bookbinding, embroidery and watercolors.  While I’ve been using watercolors in my bookbinding for years now, I am still very new to embroidery; in fact, it’s a hobby that I picked up during the pandemic.  Since combining all these elements was a new adventure for me, I did what I always do for conservation and for bookbinding, I made small samples cards to test out various materials, and then I created a model.  Once I knew my model was a success, I could move forward with my Yarn Thread String binding.

The textblock, including the over-marbled paper I chose for the endsheets, was sewn with a French link stitch on three linen support tapes.  After rounding and backing the spine of textblock, I worked on the sewn-on decorative endbands.  Next, I lined the spine with layers of Japanese tissue, followed by a cloth hinge and several paper spine linings.  Preparing the cover consisted of backing an oversized piece of Essex linen (color: cedar) with iron-on fusible interfacing.  Then I created the layout of the cover design, taking direct inspiration from the featured artists and manufacturers inside Yarn Thread String, and transferred the design to the linen using a Pilot FriXion pen.  I then used QoR watercolors and Golden Hi Flow acrylics (gold and silver) to paint my design.  Once dry, I could begin stitching; for this I primarily used black DMC embroidery floss (usually 1 or 2 strands, depending on the area) to outline the painted design areas.  One afternoon, I even took my embroidery hoop with me to my favorite local brewery, Streetside, so my husband and I could enjoy the beautiful weather and a couple beers while I worked on the stitching.  Once the stitching was complete, I trimmed the linen down to size and created the case for the case binding.

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