Artists' Books

In Hand: Connecting by Making | Gioia 1

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This is Gioia 1, one of 5 book structures in the collection from Claire Van Vliet. I was immediately taken with these structures, especially Gioia. The woven binding, visible along the spine and between each leaf, was hard for me to make sense of- it held very securely, yet did not restrict the pages movement, allowing the book to be easily opened flat. The open spine formed a beautiful accordion of the woven strips, sturdy yet delicate. 

I soon discovered that these structures came from the book Woven and Interlocking Book Structures by Clare Van Vliet and Elizabeth Stiener. This book describes an array of creative and unique book structures where binding is done without the use of any adhesive, instead relying on careful weaving and folding techniques to secure them. Instructions in hand, I decided recreating the structure would be the best way to understand and explain it. 

The instructions called for coverstock or light card for the leaves and covers, and a thin strong paper (ex. Elephant Hide) for the weaving strips. I didn't have any paper of this type, so I experimented a bit. The printmaking paper I tried first creased and got dirty, but the same card I used for the pages ended up working alright for the strips as well. I think it could be really interesting to experiment with different materials here, other papers, thin plastic, or even fabric.

Broken down, the structure is quite simple. Slits are cut on each leaf, 3/4in from the spine edge in an A B A B pattern- this creates the alternating paths for the strips. One leaf is added at a time, the strips folding back and forth between each page to form the accordion that holds them in place. This can be seen clearly in the photo of the spine below. One result of using the same card for the strips was this more expanded accordion form- my version also had 8 leaves instead of the original 4. The right photo below shows the attachment of the cover- A piece of card double the width of the leaves, folded in half and secured with notches to hide the woven join inside. 

My finished version of the book! There is so much room to play and alter this basic form using colour, different numbers of strips, or by varying their sizes. Woven and Interlocking Book Structures provides a great understanding of the form for anyone interested in exploring. Available in the Emily Carr Library here!

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