This was a fun project but I have to say I was a bit hesitant when my client said that he wanted his book printed on parchment. The thought of cutting, folding and stitching animal skin made my pescatarian stomach a bit uneasy, but I decided I was up for the challenge.
After the book layout was complete, the paper was purchased from Pergamena in New York, sent out to a printing company that specializes in printing on parchment and then shipped to me in Long Beach. When it arrived at the studio, I cautiously opened the package and was surprisingly delighted at what I saw. Each page was unique and beautiful with varying textures and colors, no two were alike.
Of course working with parchment is nothing like working with paper so it was a learning process, fortunately a smooth one. Each sheet had to be trimmed carefully as the printing was not consistently in the same place on each sheet. Then each sheet was scored, folded and pressed overnight. Next the signatures were collated, station holes punched and finally the book block was stitched, glued up, pressed again and then into the guillotine for a final trimming. The client wanted suede endsheets with a decorative border stitching. He also wanted the endsheets to be one continuous piece so I cut the suede to fit the bookblock, ran it through the sewing machine for the decorative stitching and then stitched the suede wrap to the bookblock.
The raised ligature on the front cover was hand cut and then carefully covered in a dark brown leather. The book's title, "Unrequited" was foil stamped on the spine in 22K gold on the Kwikprint and finally the bookblock was cased in, pressed for a few days and turned over to a very happy client who then passed the gift on to it's intended recipient.
This is the largest box I've made to date and I'm really excited about the possibilities it has opened up. I had always seen the 38" x 26" dimensions of the bookboard as the limit. After watching a home improvement show about how laminated plywood beams are made I decided that more than likely those limits didn't exist. For each of the 11 pieces that make up the structure of the box, I cut 4 strips of .059 bookboard and laminated them, overlapping the seams of each. The box measure 42" long, so I used one piece of 38" and one piece of 4 1/2" and reversed the placement on each layer. After the glue had dried I trimmed the ends down to the proper length. This produced a super strong and stable piece of bookboard that I knew could support the weight of the finished box. Since the box is so large it was important to build it with 1/4" walls, standard 1/8" walls would have made for a very flimsy and unwieldy structure. Trimming the pieces was a bit tricky. As with the pieces of any box it is so important that they are cut at perfect 90 degree angles through their width. 1/4" thick pieces do not fit into the board cutter so they are all hand cut. It takes a real steady hand and perfect attention to keep the blade straight when cutting through that thickness. Once all the pieces were finally trimmed and glued, I covered the box in a lime green linen cloth and lined the trays with a deep wine colored Dupioni silk. I really like this color combination and am very happy with the finished product. I'm looking forward to applying this new technique to the creation of some unique and impressive custom portfolio and presentation pieces. 
