Oriental Binding

Location
Stables Studio


Making an Oriental Book

Sunday 28 May 2023

Closing Date 26 May

Tutor: Gail Stiffe

The rolled scroll was the dominant book form in Asia from the 5th to the 10th century. It was then replaced by an accordion style book which made it easier to read and handle. Almost without exception the pages of Japanese books are of double thickness. This is because the fluid ink used for calligraphy and wood-block printing would bleed through the absorbent hand-made papers, and because the earlier frottage wood-block printing process damaged the reverse side of the paper. The development of the book in Japan was closely linked to the development of printing. From the early 14th Century the most popular book in Japan was a pouch book or Yotsume Toji, where folded pages were bound on the cut side of the sheet, there are two versions, a four hole version originating in China and a five hole in Korea

Participants in the workshop will make a hard cover concertina (orihon), soft cover five hole toji binding and a ledger book (daifuko cho). The toji and daifuko books are useful forms for single sheet binding. The orihon book form is one of the most useful forms for artist books and would be suitable for displaying photographs.

Bookings

Bookings are closed for this workshop.