Sculptural Books Workshop, shaped book and cover

I am teaching a workshop in making sculptural books next week and thought that participants might be interested in making and coving a book with shaped pages. I also decided to set up the pages for sketching by pre treating with some coffee and dilute acrylic paint. I cut the pages from 130gsm cartridge paper, here they are laid out ready for painting.

I dipped some cotton thread in the paints to get a different effect on some of the pages and I used the threads to bind the book.

Here are the pages drying.

And the covers, covered with some scraper paper (another example for the class).

I made pockets inside the covers for bibs and bobs (and leftover scraps of decorated paper)

Then sewed with double needle Coptic stitch using the acrylic coloured threads that I waxed by pulling through a slab of beeswax.