Elsi Vassdal Ellis – Moving Steps Binding

Workshop Description:

This adhesive structure introduces a simple movement to the text block that is activated when the book is opened with the pages forming stepped fore edges that can be used for indexing or to build an image. Individual folios with a center panel serving as the glue seam are attached to the inside cover. The width of this glue seam determines the width of the fore edge steps. One advantage of this structure is that there is no image or content loss on the interior two-page spreads. We will examine this structure in both soft (text and cover weight papers) and hard cover forms.

Materials/equipment to be provided by students:

• Metal ruler
• Cutting mat
• Snap-off blade knife/X-Acto knife
• Scissors
• Masking tape
• Pencil
• Bone/Teflon folder
• Scoring bone folder
• .5-inch double-coated tape
• PVA
• Glue brush
• triangle or small T-square

See Materials Glossary for definitions and images

Materials/equipment to be provided by instructor:

• All papers for books (text blocks, covers)
• Binder’s board
• Bookcloth
• Instructions and supply resources

Instructor Biography:

Elsi Vassdal Ellis is an alchemist and storyteller. She taught design production and book arts at Western Washington University for 40 years. Her narratives are distilled from current affairs, common experiences, memories, and materials to emerge in book form. As EVE Press she has produced 175 editions (offset, letterpress, inkjet, printmaking) and 145 unique books since 1983 in a well-equipped studio. Her work is permanently housed in over 150 collections including the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Yale University Library, and The Wiener Library for the Study of Holocaust and Genocide.

Instagram: @vassdalellis