ookbinding. When you want to create a new binding for a book (such as a design binding), you first have to remove the existing binding and separate the sections in preparation for re-sewing. This process is called 'pulling' the book and this video shows the steps involved.
Most bookbinders have a knocking down iron in their bindery - more often than not it is considered just a useful weight. Here I demonstrate the original use - for knocking down the shoulders in sections of a book.
Cutting and folding corners when bookbinding is straightforward enough, but you can buy corners jigs to help cut the covering material in exactly the correct position. Rather than buy these, it is really easy to make them. Here's how . .
There are several methods of turning in leather corners when creating new bindings. This is just one example, and is the method I now tend to use more than any other. I would typically thin the leather for the turn-ins to about 0.5mm before working the corners.
This video shows how I approach simple paper repairs - filling in missing areas and also dealing with small paper tears. Although I am not a qualified conservator and there are other ways to do this, I find this approach to be a practical method for straightforward in-situ repairs. The hard bit is often finding the right kind of paper to fill-in lost areas! UPDATE: Thin light boxes like the one shown in the second part of this video are now available online for less than £15. Just search for 'A4 Ultra-thin Portable LED Light Box'.
Traditional tooling on book covers - even using metallic foils - can be an expensive business as the traditional hand tools are not cheap. However, creating lines on covers need not be a difficult or expensive thing to do. Here I show how to use a simple hand made brass stylus tool to create foil lines on leather or cloth. (Oh, and any weird noises in the background of this video are just the heater for the tools!) Hot press foils are readily available online for a few pounds. Bear in mind they do differ - some are designed for use with leather, others more general use - so its advisable to ask for a sample before buying. There are of course many colours to choose from, so get creative!
I am often asked how to trim the edges of books once they have been sewn. Most hobbyists or those starting out in binding don't have a guillotine or traditional plough to do this, so this is one alternative approach which uses a very sharp paring knife.
Most modern books are made using mechanically applied hot-melt plastic glue on the spine. This can be a very effective adhesive but a problem to remove as they are not soluble in most common solvents. The spine can be ploughed or guillotined off, but that may not be appropriate in many cases, especially for sewn bindings. This short video shows how most of the glue can be removed using gentle heat. You may wish to do this if re-binding or repairing a book, though if you are not changing the shape of the spine and the glue is in good condition, then it may not be necessary to remove it at all.
Bookbinders can incorporate leather jointed endpapers into books as a decorative element, but they also separate the free endpaper from the pastedown. This opens up a number of possibilities in design and materials, for example having decorative doublures on the inside of the boards. There are many ways to make a leather jointed endpaper - this is just one. Hopefully you will be able to adapt the endpaper construction if necessary to suit your own needs.
Sewing a book normally when you have a lot of sections can result in excessive swell which can make shaping the spine correctly problematic. The method of sewing 'two-on' helps reduce the swell by reducing the amount of thread required.
Trimming the edges of a book using a plough is an ancient yet effective technique, but getting the book positioned correctly in the laying press so the cut is accurate can be a frustrating part of the process. A ploughing aid can help this by setting up the position of the book out of the press and guaranteeing an accurate cut. As far as I know no-one produces these commercially (yet), but they are relatively simple to make and an absolute boon if you use a plough! (Credit to my friend Bob Hamer who made this one for me.) Footnote: I understand from others that the original design for this simple but effective device was probably created by a John Alabaster here in the UK in the late 1990's. We are indebted to his ingenuity!
Many old Bibles and other large books may benefit from over-sewing (or over-casting) the shoulders when being repaired or re-bound. This technique strengthens the shoulder area, securing the first few sections as well as potentially securing the cloth joint and, in this case, the board attachment cloth. This may not be appropriate practise in a conservation sense, and I would be unlikely to use this on very valuable or historically significant volumes. However, many larger books over the past couple of hundred years were over-sewn for added strength and this can commonly be seen when repairing these books. You can refer to Bernard Middleton's book 'The Restoration of Leather Bindings' (page 94/5) for more information.
One of the most fundamental things a new bookbinder learns is the importance of grain direction of paper and other materials. Get this wrong and there can be all sorts of problems with warping boards or cockled paper for example. This video looks at what can happen if a book is produced with the paper grain going the wrong way.
Leather onlays can be one of the most effective ways of decorating a leather binding, whether as a direct onlay after the book is covered, or as a back-pared onlay before the leather goes on to the book. However, cutting out detailed or complex designs in thin leather can be awkward. This simple method of cutting out onlays was first shown to me by Paul Delrue, and it is an approach I use frequently. I hope you find it useful!
One of the factors that can make a book particularly special is suitable edge decoration, and this is a feature of many design bindings. Whilst gilding a book edge is a traditional approach, more contemporary tastes give us the opportunity to be more creative. Here I demonstrate the process of decorating a book edge with acrylic paint, though there are of course many alternative approaches and materials you can use. I frequently use acrylic inks or incorporate sprinkled gold leaf for example. However, the key to success is preparing the book edge effectively and also polishing the edge after decoration. The video looks at the whole process from start to finish.
It is quite common, when making a book, to find that your boards have warped as a result of materials contracting when drying. This can be particularly evident with full leather bindings. Here I show you how to compensate for warped boards by adding linings to the inside and I discuss the considerations when doing this. (It also demonstrates why grain direction can be critical!)
Tooling with carbon is an old technique used to create designs or lettering on a book cover in black rather than traditional gold. Originally this was done by collecting soot from a candle on the brass hand tool and applying it to the binding. Some binders still do it this way, but an alternative and perhaps more straightforward method is to use old carbon paper. Here I show the basics of how to use this approach on various materials. I hope you find it of interest.
When working on large Victorian Family Bibles, I use a paste wash to polish the leather rather than a wax or other polish which I find can be a bit greasy or unsatisfactory in some other way. This is a simple and effective method which I use on both the boards and the spine. If I am re-dying the leather, the paste wash is applied directly after the leather has been dyed. PLEASE NOTE: this method is not suitable for all books or all leathers. Some leathers, such as 18th century calf bindings, may well blacken irreversibly on contact with water. If you are unsure, please contact a professional binder or conservator.
Back-pared onlays are a favourite technique of mine when working on leather design bindings. It produces a flat leather surface rather than a raised onlay and is especially great if the onlay is to be positioned over a joint or at a turn in.
An element of many design bindings is the use of fine onlaid/inlaid leather lines. This video demonstrates how to create and position narrow strips of leather in a straightforward way using leather thinned on a Scharffix, Brockman or similar paring device. There are other approaches to doing this of course, but I find this to be reliable and effective.
Many people learning bookbinding consider buying some handle letters for titling but are unsure about how to start learning to use them. Here I show a few hints and tips about how to practice with your handle letters. As with many techniques, practice really does make perfect. I never claim to be expert in tooling, but I do know the more you do it, the better you get. In this video you will see a couple of ways to practice without wasting leather or worrying about making mistakes. Make time to play, have fun and get familiar with your handle letters. Having followed the tips on the video and practiced repeatedly, then you can start pasting some leather to a piece of board and try to tool a short sentence perhaps. Make some labels for books, and eventually you will gain the confidence to tool directly onto a book! Have fun!
A gold rubber is used by bookbinders to remove excess gold leaf from a binding after tooling a design or title. Being slightly sticky, it lifts the excess gold without lifting the tooled gold and prevents loose flakes of gold leaf from contaminating other work in the bindery. Gold rubbers are hard to come by commercially so this video shows how I make one beginning with a crepe rubber which is readily available from bookbinding and art suppliers. Note: it is worth just testing your new gold rubber before using it on important work to ensure it does not mark your leather, for example if the paraffin has not yet been fully absorbed.
I may be giving away one of my signature approaches here, but adding sprinkled gold leaf to decorated book edges is a favourite approach of mine. It's relatively simple to do and the effect can be stunning. It can be done on the head, tail and fore edge, though the burnishing on a rounded fore edge is a little more fiddly. The edge has been sanded to a very smooth finish and sized with a weak paste/water mix. Once dry it was decorated with acrylic ink and is now ready for the gold leaf. . .