Kinburn Ukraine

This archival, hand-sewn journal/sketchbook is made from 80 gsm Mohawk Superfine archival paper stitched with Irish linen thread in the linked pattern that dates back to the ancient Copts. This stitch allows the book to lay open easily at any page.

 This book’s endbands are blue and white cotton, and its bookmark is blue goatskin.  This book is wrapped in a retired nautical chart from 1998, showing the Kinburn Penninsula in the Black Sea on the coast of Ukraine.

 Treasure binding began with monks in the 6^th Century who would encrust volumes with jewels. During the Renaissance, there was a resurgence in treasure binding. This is a contemporary revival of the treasure binding in which a lucky charm has been embedded in the cover of this book.  

 The talisman in this journal is a fused glass ornament made by fellow Indiana Artisan Liz Perr-McColm at My Glass Fix.  Glass is melted but also hardened, tempered, thickened, and toughened by heat. Out of the fire comes the Phoenix.

This book is roughly 6 x 9” with a few more than 150 blank pages.