I’ve been practicing making simple slipcases for case bound books. It’s a fiddly and sometimes frustrating business, where just an eighth of an inch can make all the difference to the fit of the book in the case. Practice really does make perfect. Here are a few (not all are perfect!).
For more than 35 years I had been lugging an oversized watercolor paper pad from house to house (16 of them), country to country (3 of them) and continent to continent (3 of them). I had painted on only two of the pages. One painting was a not entirely convincing portrait of Ian Rush, a legend at Liverpool Football club in the early ’80s, and the second a copy of a cover of a Pink Floyd album. Both made my kids laugh out loud.
So I decided it was time to ditch the paintings and incorporate the paper into a book. By now the paper has softened up beautifully – the edges a little worn and dented. I decided on a larger format book, case bound with multiple signatures. I’d also make a slip case and use some lovely Japanese paper I’d been saving for something special.
The result is a really satisfyingly tactile book with a lovely weight to it. The Japanese paper worked perfectly, though I didn’t waste it on the inside of the slip case.
