When you become a marbler, you start appreciating everything that has to do with paper, from its manufacturing stage - especially a traditional one - to its final use. And if you're familiar with marbling, you would know that centuries ago, it was mostly used to decorate books and end papers by bookbinders.
I've been reluctant to dive into bookbinding however. It is one of the hardest diminishing handcraft out there and it does not get enough appreciation. When sewing - with a needle and thread - fragile material like paper, bookbinding becomes a very delicate and difficult craft.
But for the sake of a good challenge (and art expression) I decided to make use of my own marbled papers and sew a notebook from scratch.
When I take on harder projects, I usually motivate myself by aiming to make them as gifts instead. And so I invest a lot of love, care, attention, and positive energy go into them.
This gift project was for a gentle soul and good friend, Leyla, architect and distinguished writer. I thought the marriage of marbling with the cloud of Arabic text would make an inspiring notebook for her to jot down her thoughts and ideas.
The MARBLED papers I used are originally paper rejects from a printing press located in Beirut's suburbs.
I had came across a stack of paper the printing press was going to dispose of. But instead, I took them home and marbled them.
The papers did not curl as I applied my glue and molded on the cover board nicely.
For my pastedown on the back I used a black silk paper.
For my signatures covers, I used the same printer rejects but without any marbling.
The Arabic texts are from draft printing of philosophy and social study books. They made a nice and interesting transition to another signature full of white blank papers. The binding style I opted for is called coptic stitching.
The first page on the notebook reads in Arabic "Daftar Leyla", which means Leyla's Notebook.
And on the end I placed my branding.
The final result is a notebook worth 2 days of work and full concentration. I was greatly satisfied for a first try at bookbinding. And so was Leyla.
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