I made another book – this time a journal for me. It was a lot of fun. It’s not perfect, but I love it just the same. This is an exposed spine type of binding called “Coptic Stitch”.

Apparently, we Muslims have our own tradition of elaborate bookbinding. Here is a link to some references. If you’re looking for topics that your child (probably older) can research for a term paper, perhaps this is a good topic. They can even try some of the bindings themselves, InshaALLAH. Also, this link shows an elaborate Islamic bookbinding. Keith Smith has several books available for bookbinding. I think his books are cheaper on his website than anywhere else (unless you find them used).

There are lots of different types of bindings and I thought this would come in handy for book covers that the kids may destroy over time or books that naturally break at the spine (old textbooks, etc). It’s really easy and can be done very quickly. A tutorial can be seen on flickr. She has some really beautiful handmade books.

I will also try to find and post a couple of YouTube video tutorials that I found, InshaALLAH.