My second class at the Bookbinders Guild this year was Portfolio Box.

While everyone else in the class chose elegant, sophisticated palettes – I (of course) took the wild colours route – immediately gravitating toward the vivid lime bookcloth. They all think I’m bonkers, which I totally own.

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Base boards all cut. I’m a big fan of debossed shapes on my books and boxes, hence the holes.

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Outside of the box complete – everything very carefully laid out and glued! We made a shim with board and bookcloth to ensure the spacing between the boards was correct and the box would fold without issues.

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I had a really difficult time deciding on the accent paper and looked off and on around the bindery for a couple of hours. I eventually found the perfect small marbled sheet hiding in a drawer.

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All folded and finished!

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I’m still deciding whether to fill those circles with the accent paper. They’re not glued in and I’m sitting with it for a while.

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I always enjoy creating alongside others! I’ve no other binding classes planned this year, but I will jump on whatever comes up.

I’m currently making some books for gifts – but I’m definitely rusty. I really do wish past me had taken better notes – but thankfully there are a surprising number of bookbinding youtubers with excellent and helpful content.

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