David posted: " A fine binding is one which uses traditional techniques of sewing onto cords, using a leather backed spine and often includes some gold tooled work. Books made in this way were the norm in late medieaval Europe and right into the 18th century although t" Old School Crafts
A fine binding is one which uses traditional techniques of sewing onto cords, using a leather backed spine and often includes some gold tooled work. Books made in this way were the norm in late medieaval Europe and right into the 18th century although towards the end of that century the cords began to be sawn into the paper block so were no so visible on the spine.
Some of the books produced during this period are beautiful works of art in themselves such as the Italian example here example here.
Italian 18th Century gold tooled book on Moroccan Leather
For the ESC exhibition I thought it would be a good opportunity to make a pair of matching books using these old traditional techniques and I have outlined the stages below.
As with all books the first stage is to choose the paper and fold signatures. I have included four sheets per signature in these note books and plan for one to be plain paper and the other to be lined. The paper has to be a good weight but not so thick as to stop them folding neatly into signatures. Also it must have a short grain so that it folds naturally from landscape to an A5 size. In this case I have used 100gsm weight paper with short grain from Bookshell Bindery.
Once the paper is folded it needs to be sewn as usual. For a fine binding such as this I like to sew onto quite thick hemp cords to get some good raised bands on the final book.
Sewing the signatures
Because the cords have no structure you have to use a sewing frame to hold the cords in place. Sewing Keys are used to secure the cords underneath and there are several ways to attach them. I have settled on the method shown here and the cords are then moved so that they are in line with the sewing stations already pricked into the signatures.
Next the signatures are sewn onto the cords. As only one hole is used per sewing signature it is necessary to come out and back into the same hole without catching the cords (if rounding is to be done later). This makes the process quite tricky but I find sewing books really calming, even when you prick your finger with the needle! I thought I would give a sense of the time it takes to sew the signatures with this video and it is in real time. This shows the first three signatures and the first kettle stitch at the end.
Preparing the Spine; rounding and backing
Finally the end papers are added. I have used made end papers in these books where two sheets are laminated together so that you don't see the back of the decorated end paper. These have to be made a few days in advance to allow them to dry. Following this process the work on the spine begins. There are a few stages to this. Firstly the spine is glued in between the cords but not onto the cords to allow the signatures to move on the cords when rounding later. When the glue is not quite dry, so still flexible, the book is cut straight (I use a guillotine rather than a book plane) and then it is rounded and backed. Rounding is the process by which a groove it put in the front of the book with a curved spine. Backing is where the signatures are folded over at the spine by the thickness of the board so that the board butts up to the spine and forms a smooth line across the front and back of the book.
Following rounding and backing the spine is glued again and this time the page finder and headbands are added. Finally the spine is strengthened with a thick paper across the back. The final result looks something like this although this one doesn't have the final stiff paper added and no headbands.
The book block backed and rounded
Preparing and attaching the boards
The boards are now prepared. Firstly they are cut to size taking great care to keep them square. I like a 3mm overhang all around the book block. Holes are then put through the board where the cords will be laced in and a groove is cut into the board to allow the cord to sit in across the front of the book so it can't be seen. This is a balance between cutting the groove deep enough to hide the cord but not so deep as to weaken the hinge point. As I am using quite thin board I compromised seeing the cords a little on the front so as not to weaken the hinge too much.
The cords then have to be separated and softened to allow them to mould into the cardboard when they are laced. I use the edge of a pair of scissors to fray them out. However it is possible to completely remove the cord altogether so care must be taken.
The boards are then laced-in which is a fiddly process and can be seen here in these videos. The cords are wet with paste so that as they pass through the board the paste becomes part of the board and then they are laced through the front of the board to the back and then passed back through a different hole to the front again. The cords are then hammered flat to mould them into the board. The videos below hopefully help to demonstrate the process.
The finished books with their boards laced on
Paring and cutting the leather
I have chosen good quality black goatskin leather for this project. It matches the paper I plan to use really well and pares nicely. I use a mixture of a Scharfix Leather Paring tool and hand paring using a French paring knife. I have wasted too much leather in the past paring too deep and then ruining the leather which means I end up leaving between a quarter and half a millimetre thickness on the leather at the edges. The leather needs paring all around the edge and also where the fold in will be for the top and bottom of the book. You can see the prepared leather in the photograph below.
Attaching the leather to the spine
This is one of my favourite parts as you are starting to create the beautiful outside of the book. The video below describes the process.
Attaching the paper cover
The paper cover has to be cut to exactly the size of the book to fit just over the edges of the leather. Making a half bound book like this makes the job much more complex as the paper needs to be cut to exactly fit the corners and to ensure that no book board is showing beneath. Once it is in the place the paper is actually very robust but care must be taken whilst it is still wet as it will easily tear. You can see the shape that must be followed here which shows the book block minus its paper cover and the outline of what will be cut out on the back of the cover paper next to the book.
Finishing off
Finally the gold tooling and labels need adding. You can see here that I have chosen to add a contrasting leather label. These can be personalised with names or titles depending on what a client might want.
I decided to keep the tooling on the spine simple and just highlight the raised bands and then finally I made a slip case for each book. Slip case making is an art in itself and the inside dimensions must be exactly the dimensions of the book plus 1mm to allow the book to slip in and out.
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