Student Stitched Artist Books Resources

This page shares information to extend on what we covered during our workshop.

I buy most of my art supplies online, from several different sources depending on who is having a sale, and what I need in my order. I look for overall value in the pricing of the item, delivery cost and quality of service when ordering.

I encourage you to shop around for different pricing and the possibility of online sales from other retailers.

Please let me know if you source from a different supplier so I can share it with other students.

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I’ve categorised the information below. Each link will open in a new window, so you won’t lose this page.

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The information below:

ARTIST BOOK REFERENCE BOOKS

Below are just a few excellent artist book resource books. Do your own searches to find the best prices for each book. Some are new and some are only available second hand, so shopping around may be needed to get the best pricing.

Making Handmade Books – 100+ Bindings Structures and Forms is my absolute first go to reference book.

The Art of the Fold – How to Make Innovative Books is my next go to book – noting though that this book focuses on folded structures with no gluing or stitching.

Bookbinding, A Step-by-step Guide is a new addition to my library, and a great resource for bookbinding techniques.

There are many more, so keep an eye open in in-person and online book stores. Rummage second-hand book shops to see what you find.

These books are a great starting point for showcasing a wide range of different handmade and artist book examples:

Keith Smith has published several books about non-adhesive bindings. I’m not sure what is still in print. He does sell form his website (USD), but I’ve not bought from there. You can find his books on Amazon and online second hand book sellers.

OTHER ARTISTS TO CHECK OUT

There are book artists all over the world. Below are some of my favourites. If you come across someone else, please let me know so I can add them to the list below to share with others.

AUSTRALIA

UNITED KINDGOM

USA

BOOKBINDERS

Artists books are made by both artists and professional bookbinders. Bookbinding is a highly skilled craft in its own right, and their is a real artistry in what bookbinders will create. Below are links to some bookbinders whose work I have recently been introduced to, and admire greatly.

If you are interested in fine-tuning you bookbinding skills, consider joining the Queensland Bookbinders Guild. They run regular workshops that teach beginner and beyond bookbinding skills.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Some great Facebook Pages and Groups to follow:

And some Instagram sites and hashtags to follow

And don’t forget about the Pinterest rabbit hole. This is my Artist Books board in Pinterest. You can use this as a starting point for your own explorations, and I am always adding to this board.

ARTIST BOOK ART PRIZES/AWARDS AND CHALLENGES

Galleries, foundations and organisations who run awards and art prize programs for artist books are often a great reference for the art form in their online galleries for previous competitions:

This link will take you to the 2020 Libris Awards catalogue.
And this to the 2022 Libris Awards catalogue.

And below is a YouTube video of the finalists from the 2023 Northern Beaches Artists’ Book Awards. You’ll see my Sky dancers book at the 8:49 mark.

I may have mentioned the #areyoubookenough challenge – it is a great monthly challenge to follow in Instagram to see how different people around the world create their own interpretation of ‘books’. You can follow and enjoy the images shared by artists, or participate:

The 2025 challenge prompts:

  • JANUARY – Wild
  • FEBRUARY – Binding
  • MARCH – Layers
  • APRIL – Organic
  • MAY – Purpose
  • JUNE – Retro
  • JULY- Freedom
  • AUGUST – Games
  • SEPTEMBER – The 5 Senses
  • OCTOBER – Round & Round
  • NOVEMBER – Space
  • DECEMBER – Color

The basic hashtag – www.instagram.com/explore/tags/areyoubookenough
But also lookup or follow each of the monthly hashtags to see the full array of what people are creating.

 TOOLS & MATERIALS

If you don’t have specific book making tools on hand you can generally improvise and find something that will do the same or similar job. If you want to start to build a collection of tools, these are my recommended starting point items:

  • Waxed linen thread – Irish Crawford Linen
  • Unwaxed linen thread
    • look for places selling Guterman linen thread – a thin thread option. Spotlight sometimes has them in stock.
    • I buy large spools of unwaxed linen thread from Etsy. Beware – I have bought ‘waxed’ thread and it arrived unwaxed. It was a good price and I can wax it myself, so no big deal.
  • Wax – beeswax from art and craft stores and candle suppliers.
  • Needles
  • Bone folder
    • you can buy bone folders from many arts and craft and bookbinding supply stores.
  • Bookbinding Awl
    • Bookbinding suppliers
    • some arts and craft stores
  • Gridded cutting mats
  • Blades
  • Corner cutters
    • this is the brass Outer Corner Cutter we used int he workshop
    • do an online search for “Outer Corner Cutter bookbinding” and see who else is selling similar products in different sizes across a range of prices.

PAPER

Paper glorious paper! There are so many simple, plain, textured, coloured, embellish, thick, thin and everything in between papers to explore and incorporate into handmade book making. Keep an eye open at art supply stores, stationers, Spotlight – so many places sell all sorts of papers. Below are some places I have bought decorative papers for book making:

I wrote a 4-part blog post series wrote about printmaking paper you might be interested in:

ACRYLIC BOOK CASES

There are many businesses that can make custom-sized acrylic slip-cases and boxes for your books. I use Miles Plastics, based in Caloundra. I draw a diagram of what I want, include measurements, then email it through for a quote.

If you want to see who else makes them, do a Google search for something along the lines of “custom made acrylic boxes”.

You can make your own. I choose not to because of the toxicity of the materials.

ONLINE STITCHING RESOURCES & REFERENCES

There are many online tutorials sharing variations of Coptic binding techniques. Below are a few that I like to reference:

If you want to learn Coptic Binding in-person, I can’t recommend a workshop with Adele Outteridge or attendance at  Summer School highly enough. Adele is a fabulous teacher and generous is what she shares.

Qld Bookbinders Guild run in-person workshops throughout the year.

RENAISSANCE WAX

This is the wax that I use to protect some papers in my bookmaking. I generally use this wax for papers where I think the colours from one paper may rub to another paper. I found a big range in price for this product, depending where you buy from, so shop around for the best price online.

MORE RESOURCES

  • Qld Bookbinders Guild – workshops, classes, library, demonstrations, Brisbane
  • Google Arts and Culture – This is Not a Book: Australian Library of Art Artists; Book Collection
  • The Journal of Artist Books
  • The Bonefolder – an e-journal for the bookbinder and book artist
  • Printed Matter – a non-profit organization dedicated to the dissemination and appreciation of artists’ books
  • Centre for Book Arts – promotes active explorations of artistic practices related to the book as an art object
  • bound:unbound – book artists collective
  • 23 Sandy – 23 Sandy is an online gallery featuring unique & limited edition artist books by a talented roster of artists from around the world
  • abecedariangallery.com – representing artists working in the book arts genrethrough curated exhibitions, sales to private and public collections, publication of artists’ book reviews, print and online catalogs and an online store front

Editions Studio – a community of book artists run by book artists founded by Sarah Mottaghinejad (and home of the #areyoubookenoughchallenge):

STATE LIBRARY OF QLD

“The Artists’ Books Collection, one of the component collections of the Australian Library of Art, is one of the largest publicly available collections of artists’ books in Australia, and is recognised as one of the best in the country. It consists of around 1700 works featuring both Australian and overseas artists.”

Find out more about the Artist Book collection here.

You will find a link to the database of books in the collection. You can visit the library to view some books, other books you will need to search the database then book a viewing time.

And this link will take you to a series of videos of Artist Book lectures.

MY ARTIST BOOK WORK

I have had a love affair with making books for as long as I can remember. Below are links to other pages within my website showing some of my recent artist books:

LETS GO SHOPPING 🙂

Below are links to different online stores where I buy supplies and equipment form.

RECIPES

This is the recipe I use for the cake I make for workshops. I make a few variations – swapping oranges for lemons or mandarins, and sometimes adding dark chocolate pieces. YUM.

And this link is the recipe for the marmalade drop biscuits.

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