A concertina is a simple, accordion-folded booklet – a length of paper folded into a zig-zag of pages. These little books are great for showcasing photos or sketches, collecting memorabilia, journaling or even creating small story books with your own writing and illustration.
There are many variations. In some, the strip of paper is
folded horizontally to create pockets before it’s folded into the concertina.
You can attach covers. And you can even add additional pages with glue or
stitching.
Skillshare is one of those on-line schools offering classes that range from photography to caring for houseplants to tips for running a more profitable business, although most of the classes fall under an aspect of creativity. Some of the classes are free and Skillshare does offer a free trial period (usually a week) to explore the for-a-fee classes. Even better, check out the instructors’ web sites – they occasionally offer a free month or two to try out Skillshare.
I watched Bridget’s class a few dozen times to see how she was getting such even and precise folds. For one thing, she has years of experience! But no matter how much I tried her method I could not get it to work. She was using a lighter-weight paper and I think that suited her method, which was to simply pinch the paper where you wanted the fold, make the fold, smooth it out with a bone folder and carry on.
I had Stonehenge printmaking paper on hand and, being thicker and heavier, it needed to be scored before it would fold neatly.
So I turned to a few books. Rachel Hazell, whose book Bound:
15 Beautiful Bookbinding Projects came out in 2018, gets wonderful folds in
even thicker paper than I use by scoring and folding the strip first in half, then into quarters and then into eighths.
This didn’t work for me either. Sigh…
For one thing, you end up with 8 pages. And I wanted my pages to be 5x5-inches and with the Stonehenge paper, which is 30 inches wide, I could only have six pages. So I tried measuring and marking off at 5-inch intervals. Again, no luck. And I think that’s because I still wasn’t able to score and fold with enough precision.
Here is the method that, at the moment, works best for my skill level.
The Stonehenge paper I use is exactly 30 inches wide and about 22.5-inches long. I say about because it comes with two beautiful deckled edges that resemble hand-torn paper. I love preserving the deckled-edge for the concertinas. So using a metal carpenter's square I measure and cut a 5-inch strip off each long side of the paper.
Then, with the inch markings on a self-healing cutting mat, I line up a ruler and, using a bone folder, score at the 5-inch mark.
I make that first fold along the score line, and flatten and smooth with a bone folder. That can take a bit of firm rubbing -- a piece of scrap paper under the bone folder prevents marring your good paper.
Now, with the fold at the bottom, slip a straight-edge under the upper edge of the first folded page. I try to line it up so I see just the tiniest hint of the metal. Score and fold as before.
To smooth the fold I flip the strip so the pages are on top.
The fifth fold brings me to the last page. And, darn, just about every time I'm out about 1/64th of an inch! But no worries -- I trim off the extra bit.
Occasionally, I'm a tiny bit short. This isn't a big deal, especially if you're attaching covers -- the tiny discrepancy doesn't even show. And the covers are the fun part!! We'll have a go at those in the next post.
