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—this can take the form of creative writing, bookbinding, photography, and more!
If you have a project or piece of work you think fits this description, then send an email to [email protected]! The concept of “craft” can be a loose one; we want to see your creativity, in whatever form it materializes!
And now, without further ado, check out this month’s Craft Corner, featuring recent graduate Charley Eatchel!
Charley 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’ books, from Professor Michael Prior’s Burning Province to Professor Penelope Geng’s Communal Justice in Shakespeare’s England. 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.
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How did you get into bookbinding? Have you noticed much improvement from the beginning to now?
I discovered bookbinding firstly through Instagram. I’ve 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’ve improved since I started. I’m trying more and more complicated detailing, my process has gotten quicker, and I think my painting is also improving somewhat.
How do you decide what to paint on the cover of each book?
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’s 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.
Has this physical act of working with a book changed the way you think about your writing at all?
While I can’t think of specific examples of how bookbinding has changed my writing, I think there is something to physical creation—in any form—that 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.
Where do you hope to go with this craft in the future?
Cloth-rebinding (what I do) is an easy entry point for bookbinding, and while I really enjoy it, I’d 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’t have all the resources I’d need to do something like that, but I hope to eventually. I’d 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.
Thank you to Charley for sharing this craft with us! I’m looking forward to seeing what books they rebind next. Please keep an eye on The Words for other additions to the Craft Corner, and reach out to us if you have a craft you’d like to be featured!