Drumleaf Binding with Andrew Huot

I recently took a class with Andrew Huot called "Binding for photographers and printmakers." The title should have given me a clue - maybe work that isn't flat would not work so well in these bindings. But I wanted to learn drum leaf binding. My fantasy is to lay a group of two page spreads (a piece of paper folded in half) on my work table and work on them with collage and paint. Then choose the ones that work together, and glue them back to back. I don't want to have to make art on the back of any of these pages. If you enlarge this image you can see gaps between the pages in the overhead view. There is room for notes - I slipped a piece of paper with comments in between two pages. 

Drumleaf binding, mark making samples

The book above does not close completely. There is thin collage and a fair amount of paint on some of the pages. And all pages bow out a little. It's made with Stonehenge and does feel very nice in my hand. The content is mark making experiments I did in a class with Jane Davies. There is a video of this book on my Instagram account, judehoffperson

Double folio accord with one misplaced page.

Above is my sample for the Double Folio Accordion book. One of my pages is out of order, creating a page where there shouldn't be one. This format is also made with sheets folded in half, it satisfies my requirement of being able to work on a group of pages out flat, then gluing them together. It wouldn't close flat with collage or paint on the pages, but maybe I can accept that.

The other problem with both these books is that they are presented with straight cuts to make them look tidy. One reason I love coptic binding is that I can have torn page edges. Would a tidy straight edge look out of place with my books? Does it matter if they are wonky? Maybe not. Maybe wonky across the top and on the fore edge is okay. Maybe torn edges would be okay too. I'll have to try that. Except of course on the folds of the accordion.