The Memphis Brooks Museum currently has an exhibit entitled “A Taste for China”, an exhibition of traditional Chinese visual and decorative arts and their connection to the Western world. In honor of the exhibit, the museum’s gift shop invited me to create handbound books with Asian motifs to sell during the run of the show.
The books measure approximately 5″ X 6 1/2″ each. All have fabric covers and their individual signatures, that is sections of several pages, have spine protectors made from Thai mango paper. The spine of the book itself is exposed and the binding is handstitched, a modified version of a traditional bookbinding technique known as the Coptic stitch.
Below are photos of additional handbound books with Asian themes that I have made, but are not currently at the Brooks Museum.

Wayang Kulit (Javanese shadow puppet), handbound, handprinted Indonesian batik fabric, Belgian secret binding, handstitched

Chrysanthemum, Kaffe Fassett cotton designer fabric, handbound, Belgian secret binding, handstitched

Japanese stab binding, handstitched, handprinted Indonesian cotton batik fabric, Dupioni silk, Thailand coins, hand dyed and hand twisted tencel (eucalyptus) yarn

Handbound blank journal, handprinted Indonesian cotton batik fabric, Belgian secret binding, handstitched
Filed under: book arts, Memphis | Tagged: book arts, bookbinding, coptic stitch, handmade book cover, Memphis | 1 Comment »