I'm on a bit of a bookbinding buzz currently. My current project is making a book cover based on alligator skin for my copy of Linnaeus' Systema Naturae. I've developed a fascination with those alligator handbags that used to be fashionable decades ago before we had environmentalism and PETA and so on - you know the ones I mean, with the little alligator heads and feet stuck onto them. Why did the fashion industry suddenly decide the latest must-have accessory was a dried alligator head? I have no idea, and I find that question fascinating in itself.
Happily, reproducing the interesting texture of alligator skin does not require skinning an alligator. First up, I need a basic book cover made from cardboard. A beer box is ideal for making sculptural book covers, and here's one I emptied earlier. You can see the cover has a front, a back, and a cardboard strip for the spine, and this is really all it needs. From here, it's just a matter of decorating it.
The two covers and the spine are stuck together with a cloth hinge. Once it's been made a little sturdier with the assistance of some paper and glue, I'm able to get down to the exciting business of creating texture. Alligator skin is not really scaly; it's more sort of pebbly, so I'm using paper pulp "pebbles". It's kind of like making a mosaic.
Next time, I'll show you how I make the dried head.
Happily, reproducing the interesting texture of alligator skin does not require skinning an alligator. First up, I need a basic book cover made from cardboard. A beer box is ideal for making sculptural book covers, and here's one I emptied earlier. You can see the cover has a front, a back, and a cardboard strip for the spine, and this is really all it needs. From here, it's just a matter of decorating it.
The two covers and the spine are stuck together with a cloth hinge. Once it's been made a little sturdier with the assistance of some paper and glue, I'm able to get down to the exciting business of creating texture. Alligator skin is not really scaly; it's more sort of pebbly, so I'm using paper pulp "pebbles". It's kind of like making a mosaic.
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| Progress shot of the cover getting its pebbly texture |
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| The finished book cover |
Next time, I'll show you how I make the dried head.
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