! The concept of \u201ccraft\u201d can be a loose one; we want to see your creativity, in whatever form it materializes!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nAnd now, without further ado, check out this month\u2019s Craft Corner, featuring recent graduate Charley Eatchel!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nCharley was an English literature major who graduated in the Fall of 2023. As a parting farewell to the department, Charley gifted a project they had been working on for some time: a rebinding of many of the English professors\u2019 books, from Professor Michael Prior\u2019s <\/span>Burning Province<\/span><\/i> to Professor Penelope Geng\u2019s <\/span>Communal Justice in Shakespeare\u2019s England<\/span><\/i>. These books are currently on display in the English department just outside Old Main 210 if anyone wants to take a look! Below, Charley answers a few questions about this project, and the craft of bookbinding in general.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n_______________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How did you get into bookbinding? Have you noticed much improvement from the beginning to now?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\nCharley’s rebound books!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI discovered bookbinding firstly through Instagram. I\u2019ve always been interested in crafting and liked trying to combine it with my book-ish interests (for example, making my own versions of fictional objects in my favorite stories). Because I follow a lot of book-related accounts on Instagram, I started getting videos of bookbinders in my feed (@hana_bob_ in particular was really inspiring) and eventually wanted to try rebinding paperbacks into hardcovers. I did some light research online and on YouTube for basic tutorials and then just went for it. I definitely think I\u2019ve improved since I started. I\u2019m trying more and more complicated detailing, my process has gotten quicker, and I think my painting is also improving somewhat.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nHow do you decide what to paint on the cover of each book?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It kind of ends up depending on the individual book (as well as the aesthetic of the fabric that I rebound it in). I tend to take inspiration from a book\u2019s original cover in a lot of cases, but sometimes a thematic element\/image or just a cool concept strikes me for a book. I like to sketch out my designs before painting, so I can try out different ideas and settle on something I like. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nHas this physical act of working with a book changed the way you think about your writing at all?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
While I can\u2019t think of specific examples of how bookbinding has changed my writing, I think there is something to physical creation\u2014in any form\u2014that offers a new perspective to the creative process. Designing and creating something by hand really evokes a sensory experience and appreciation that I think is very important to writing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhere do you hope to go with this craft in the future?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cloth-rebinding (what I do) is an easy entry point for bookbinding, and while I really enjoy it, I\u2019d like to try more complicated types of binding in the future. Many bookbinders I see online create leather-bound books with vinyl detailing and other cool embellishments. I don\u2019t have all the resources I\u2019d need to do something like that, but I hope to eventually. I\u2019d also definitely like to try to sew together the text block (the pages) on my own to fully bind a book from start to finish.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nThank you to Charley for sharing this craft with us! I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what books they rebind next. Please keep an eye on <\/span>The Words <\/span><\/i>for other additions to the Craft Corner, and reach out to us if you have a craft you\u2019d like to be featured!<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Birdie Keller ’25 The Craft Corner is the newest addition to the Words! This corner is a place to feature the creative, hands-on exploits of members and friends of the English department\u2014this can take the form of creative writing, bookbinding, photography, and more! If you have a project or piece of work you think […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":0,"parent":6183,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6189","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6189"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8699,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6189\/revisions\/8699"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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