Hand-bound books, and the notes that go with them
Birch & Bound is a small bench in a spare room where I sew notebooks, repair old paperbacks and keep a record of what works.
Most of what is here started as scribbles in the margin of a project. Over time those scribbles turned into short, practical notes: how to read paper grain, how much paste to cook, why a stitch pulled loose. They are written for people who are just starting out, because that is who I was not long ago.
New this month: a small-batch recipe for wheat starch paste that keeps for about a week in the fridge.
Recent notes
- Cooking wheat starch paste in small batches
A reliable ratio, a microwave shortcut, and why I strain it twice.
- The Coptic stitch, slowly
An exposed-spine binding that opens flat. Notes on tension, kettle stitches and the first signature.
- Finding paper grain without guessing
Three quick tests to tell long grain from short grain before you cut anything.