Fail Again Fail Better: Caelia's Vigil Book

I was asked to make a vigil book for Caelia's elevation to the Order of the Pelican. The pelican in her piety is the symbol of the Order and of all the order symbols, it is the most detailed, with lines and divots all through the motif, plus there are little birdies and their beaks to sculpt! These details were a challenge to sculpt in clay, but once I dove into it, it really came together rather quickly. I did decide to cut the baby birds from three to two because I found the thrid bird cluttered the space and made all the babies hard to read, even before the leather was pressed down. In the end, I believe that was a good choice as the two little birds fit nicely under the body of the mother.

As always with my vigil books, they are a mixed bag of periods. The raised motif technique can be found on St. Cuthbert's Gospel, dating from around 690 CE. St. Cuthbert's is bound with a Coptic stitch but my book is sewn on cords, which is a more medieval technique. I am still working on headbands so they are not threaded in to the boards as they would be in a period book. I also use modern materials, so these books are more an attempt at art instead of an attempt at period replication.

I tired a few new things and made a few mistakes. Instead of smearing the glue on the boards and motifs, I tried putting the glue on the leather. It worked really well, except in the smaller divots around the paws and the legs of the pelican. I think in the future, I will put the glue on the leather and add a little extra around the details of the motifs and see how that works. The modern technique of using a thick piece of craft foam to do a "first press" of the cover works really well to bring out the details of the motifs, so that is something I will keep doing on these books. When I get around to my next iteration of St. Cuthbert's, I think I will try a few layers of felted wool to see how that works as a possible period technique. As for mistakes, the biggest one was wrapping one of the headbands a little to much. I went one set of wrappings too many because I forgot how to end the headband. It is a good reminder that even though I basically know what I am doing, it never hurts to have your instructions and tutorials hanging out nearby. I am going to make some more practice books in the next few weeks and headbands are going to be a part of the practice.

There are a few skills I need to work on when it comes to books. I need to work on my wood work. I can cut the boards and drill hole in them but I need to start to bevel the edges. I also want to try a few other sewn on techniques that require channels in the boards which I only have a vague idea of how to do. I hope that moving up from plywood to solid boards will help jump start that process. We will see.

I am, however, super proud of how this book turned out. I mean, I still see all the flaws, but it looks spectacular hanging out at the vigil and I got many compliments on it. Now on to the details and the pics.

This book has twenty quires (signatures) of four folded sheets of paper. The paper is Mohawk Superfine Text Weight 8.5 x 11 (short grain). I used twine for the cords and for the core of the head bands. The text block was sewn on using waxed linen thread. The head band was wrapped with black and red No. 8 cotton yarn. The book boards are birch craft plywood that were hand cut. I hand drilled the cord holes (using a screw) and hand sanded it. The motifs are paper clay and cotton cord. The cover is white leather (from my stash so I am unsure of the details on it) hand painted with Angelus Leather paint. The end pages are from my stash of handmade paper made in Thailand. I used PVA glue throughout the process.

Sewing on cords. I always forget to put a board or something to prop up my text block but things seem to work out okay.

Two text blocks for two pelican vigil books

Birb. Pelican in her Piety sculpted out of paper clay

Puppers. Wolf head for the device

Pelican and device finished and dried.

Rounded spine

End bands and naked spine

Cords fanned and glued to the book boards to attach the covers to the text block

Back of naked book (I would have a picture of the front of the book but it was all blurry. And it looked like this only the spine was on the other side. :)

Motifs glued to the cover.

After first press. Normally, I would have already done the fold ins on the cover (basically wrapping the leather around to glue onto the inside cover) but I like to get the motifs in the press ASAP so I do a second press after I finish the fold ins and glue down the end pages.