Thread artist's book

Our course in design has made me explore various ideas. I have played around with pattern, relief (slightly 3D) forms, artist books and colour.

One of the ideas that I tried was to make an artist's book made of thread patterns sewn onto soluble fabric.

I got the pattern from the internet, Liz Plummer's page on  how to make a concertina book.
I tried to copy her pattern but didn't use covers for the ends. I could not get the book to stand properly. There were a couple of reasons for this. The main one was that some of my 'pages' were too flimsy and would not hold the weight of the other pages.

The other reason seems to be that I tried to copy her idea of attaching two pages at a time, then turning each pair 180 degrees and attaching them. I just couldn't get it to work. Another contributor to the problem might be that my squares were not all the same size, due to the variations in shrinkage, depending on the density of the sewing and, probably, the different threads used. (I have to admit, that I just use colours that appeal to me, that I haven't really taken much notice of what the threads were made of.)

Marianne, our teacher, made a paper model for me that didn't turn the angle, all the pages were attached in the same orientation. It looked lovely in paper form - which is what the design is developed for, of course.

So I decided to take apart the little bit I had done and reattach the pages in the same way. It looked much better.

However, two more problems cropped up:
the flimsy pages didn't stand up very well and the book didn't stand properly
I accidentally attached all the pages, not leaving the last one so that I could fold the book close, and it got squashed in transit one day.
So then I had to take it apart again, partially, and devise a new way to make it stand up. I took out a page that wasn't as solid as the others, folded the book down hard to get it back into shape, and then attached some very small eyes and hooks to hold it closed when I want it that way.

This one has less 'pages' than the one above. 

Here you can see the little hooks and eyes on the ends. The book can be folded away.

Hopefully, it will not get much handling and will stand up.