Intermediate Bookbinidng: Week 4

My classmates and I showed up early for class this week to practice our leather paring. After a few rough but better 'noodles', we put away our knives and the leather for the evening. We're still working on finishing the first book and it's going to be a half cloth (well all cloth but 2 different colors; half and half)book. The book still isn't finished but it's getting there.

Cords laced through super (the cloth over the spine)

The cords and super need to be trimmed so they look uniform once glued.

This is a sturdier structure and the boards get glued on before they're covered with cloth.

You stand the book up to make sure you put the boards on square. Despite the funny camera angle, my book is, in fact, pretty darn square.

Here a top view of the cloth covered spine. I find the hardest part about this structure is tucking the cloth on the head and tail of the book into the space between the spine and the book block but, after trying to work with leather, this time around, the tucking was pretty easy.

I used to have a hard time with corners too, but after a lot of practice, I'm getting pretty good at it.

A Book, A Book!

My first multi-section hard cover book, finished!

I have been in love with books since before I could read (Harold and the Purple Crayon, anyone?), and I'm always making simple books and zines but I had never made a 'real' book. You know, one with multiple sections and a hard, cloth wrapped cover and spine? So, a few weeks ago I enrolled in a Beginning Bookbinding workshop at the San Francisco Center for the Book. 

book pages and end sheets, waiting to be made

Over the course of 8 weeks,lead by our fearless instructor, Juliayn Coleman, my classmates and I will make 4 hard cover, multi-section books, learning different covering, binding and sewing techniques for each book. 

book pieces, waiting to be glued together

Our first book was a bit of a challenge, especially since I'm super clumsy and messy therefore have a fear of glue (and a fear of getting it all over everything). I quickly found out I had nothing to worry about and was well on my way to making my first book.  

first finished book

After 2 and half nights, I had completed my first ever, legit, hard cover book with a cloth spine and corners, patterned Japanese paper covers and a built-in ribbon bookmark. It's not perfect but I love it anyway.

pieces for book number 2

book number two sewing close-up

On the third night, we began our second book. It was going to be another multi-section book but this time we sewed over tapes. Tapes are actually pieces of fabric in a lovely grey; I thought it was a shame you never get to see the tapes when the book is finished but, alas, that is how it's done.

Cover for book 2

The second books was full cloth with a slightly rounded spine. Juliayn had brought in a selection of lovely book cloth for us to choose from but I found this awesome raincoat-esque cloth in a bin at SFCB and used it instead.

sprinkled edges

Since only person can use the guillotine paper cutter at a time, we had a little down time so Juliayn showed us a simple way to decorate our edges using liquid ink, a comb and a toothbrush. To continue with the rain/raincoat theme of my book, I chose a blue ink and tried to make my edges look rain splattered. 

finished raincoat book

While I was happy to make my first book, I have to admit, I'm really extra excited with this second book! I think the raincoat theme helped.

raincoat book open