I’ve been devising new Japanese stab binding designs for nearly two years, and my sketchbook has gone along with me on quite a few travels. And now…it’s full! So I made a new one.
Here is my old friend…
And my new one, with a bit more pizazz:
Both binds were from Keith A Smith’s book on section sewings.
I recently managed to get my hands on around 8 lbs of shoe leather scraps. I have a couple of different ideas of what I might do with it. It was weird to sew. The scrap I chose to use for this book had some flaws, but it was soft and there was enough in the one piece for the spine and four corners. It was so thick that I wasn’t able to fold it over the edges of bookboard like a normal leather half-bind, so instead I glued it all to a thick piece of cardstock. I used PVA…..never again! It was everywhere! Next leather experiment will be with wheat paste. (as soon as I find some.)
The bind is loosely based on two of Keith A. Smith’s 2 section sewings… the inside (3 & 4) sections are sewn together, the middle inside (2 & 5) sections and then the outside.
I might add a cover to the French link stitch eventually, but I’m currently low on glue…the 3 section sewing is from Keith A Smith’s book. 
A smaller journal that is slightly more compact than the other. I used two needles to sew the bind. It’s from Keith A. Smith’s book #2, but didn’t actually have pattern instructions so I improvised. I think the reason I don’t create more of this kind of binding is that it takes so much paper to get the spine wide enough to do anything interesting. Not sure how to remedy that…
becca making faces 