Pocket Book: Theme and Variations Part Two

Last Sunday I ended the description of my paper experiments with this structure.

But wait … there’s more!

You can add as many double pages as you wish, just as you can add pages to the structure I started with last week.

Because the pages are folded, there is no opening on the outside (spine) folds, so this structure only functions as an accordion.

You can reverse the folds so that the solid surfaces are on the inside. (The white pointy finger indicates a mountain fold on the folded paper page. The black pointy finger indicates a valley fold on the card stock connector.)

Assembly is the same: just join folded paper pages with card stock connectors.

Now you have an accordion with double page spreads on the inside.

As well as the horizontal pockets on the outside, this structure also has vertical pockets on the fore edge.

Although I came up with this structure through a logical progression, it is not a new idea. Here’s a picture from calligrapher Beth Lee’s blog Painting Speech. She learned the modular accordion from Elizabeth Simmonds who learned it from Anne Cowie.

Next variation: replacing the card stock with another folded piece of paper. I folded one set of pages (purple) so that the edges met exactly, and a second set (yellow) with a slight gap so that they would fit over the first set.

If you fold the pages and assemble them with the solid surface on the inside, you get a structure that is superficially identical to the last one.

It turns out that this is not a novel idea either. Here’s an image from a 2012 blog post by Hélène Huber. She learned the structure in a workshop taught by a woman named Ann, who learned it from a book.

You may have noticed that I folded my pages so that one turn-in was larger than the other. (Judging by Hélène’s image, so did her instructor.) My logic was that the structure would be stronger and more stable if the joins in the two papers were not in exactly the same place. There is another advantage to this choice. Assemble the pages with the pocket side in and the solid side out. By positioning the smaller turn-in on the bottom on the outer page and the larger turn-in on the bottom on the connector page, you can produce an accordion with double pockets. Bring the bottom turn-in on the connector page out and over the upper turn-in of the outer page.

I have done a Pinterest search and a Google Image search and not found this structure, so it may be new. I will not be surprised if I eventually discover that this has been created by someone else previously.

Next week I will return to this structure.

It led down a different path which eventually involved the use of adhesive.

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In other book arts news:

Valentine’s Day is a week away. If you are still looking for a special card to make, you might check out two new designs from Rob Ives. (I have shown my favourite below.)

He created the cards for Brother International, and the patterns and instructions are free to download. You can find links for his cards here.