#dddots bookbinding

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Learning to be Zen about it: The Pseudo Coptic Binding

I have always been very adamant about doing open spine books as commissions because I think it is a very weak structure and the longevity of the book is very greatly compromised. 

However, I have learned to accept that there are customers who prefer this type of bindings and accepted this one commission from a very lovely young lady. 

The book is bound using a waxed maroon thread (polyester unfortunately, not linen) using a link stitch often referred to as the coptic binding. 

To de-myth this, I will soon make a model of what a proper coptic binding is, so that more people will be aware the difference with the pseudo coptic binding that is often taught online.  

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The Ugly Pumpkin Box

During Halloween, I am always very fascinated with the ugly pumpkins and gourds that are put on display at the local supermarket. They usually have knobs and bumps and to most people, they are very ugly. But to me, I love the textures and I often wonder if they are for sale. There is never a sign about whether if they are decoration or if they could be bought. When I was in Taiwan late last year, I saw a little ceramic tea caddy that was in the shape of a pumpkin, I really loved it, but decided not to buy it because I did not exchange much money, though now, I do really wished that I had bought it. 

When I found this hexagonal box, termed as the lantern box, all I could see is a pumpkin. And I wanted to look for a cloth or patterned paper that could bring out the distinctive shape of the box. I chose a piece of marbled paper by Jemma Lewis and it was ideal!

I must say, any box that is not square or rectangle, is really a challenge. The angles involved have to be carefully calculated and measured. Sometimes, when I make boxes, I tend to let the box guide me along with the measurements, i.e., it becomes almost organic and my boxes usually are extremely snug. But for a hexagonal box, I tried my best to be accurate, but when I was trying to measure out for the lid, it was no longer an even hexagon. It is almost oblong. During the making of the internal walls of the box, again, the angles at which I had to cut the board was mind-boggling. 

Apart from the previous egg box, this one is my favourite, I might try making another one. But perhaps I have to keep my game up, and be even more meticulous in measuring than I already am.

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10 Watercolour Travel Journals 

Once in a while, I do edition bindings. This is the second book produced by my customer for his travels in Indonesia in 2018. Back in 2017, he made 6 copies of his first book, and also following the look set back then, we decided to keep the batik element in the books.

We chose a single colour batik this time, bound using the same disappearing spine Bradel binding, using a matching solid blue book cloth to break the patterns. The books are all unique, having a different part of the batik on the cover, as well as different colour endpapers. My favourite ones was the one with the huge peony on the front. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the endbands, which I made using part of the batik pattern. 

I admire my customer’s adventures and envy his beautiful watercolour paintings. They were all painted during his travels deep into the Indonesian jungle, living like a local. It always brings me a lot of joy looking at his paintings while binding his books. Perhaps one day, I might learn to paint like him.

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A Childhood Bible

2020 is a new beginning for everyone, especially a couple of very good friends of ours. To wish them all the best on their new journey, I was very happy that I was able to rebind our friend’s childhood bible, as a gift and blessing for their new adventure. 

She allowed me to decide for her how her bible should turn out. It was almost a no-brainer for me because I knew what she liked, her favourite styles and colour, and therefore chose this beautiful mustard cloth with cat embroidery for her. I used it once before for another book but I kept this cloth because I like it a lot and wanted to only use it for very special books. 

Here’s to the first book post of 2020, wishing our friends, M & A, a fun-filled, exciting, fulfilling journey into the beautiful future. 

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Endpaper Challenge #6

This week’s endpaper challenge raised a lot of questions. The thing that I find about Arthur Johnson sometimes is that the description of a method can be rather ambiguous. It is a double edged sword as it could either give room for the bookbinder to interpret and create something based on their knowledge, or it could totally confuse a new bookbinder who is looking at this manual for guidance. In Method 6, it is described as:

“In 6, the waste is torn away, the linen is stuck to the board to cover the joint and strengthen the hinge, and the board paper is a separate single sheet put down as a doublure.”

So firstly, in the diagram, there was a dot, that represent sewing, missing in the section. This led to questions about whether there is sewing in the sections. It is pretty obvious to an experienced bookbinder that it is a mistake in the diagram, but it still confusing. 

This is called “a simple and efficient linen-jointed endpaper”, which means that the linen is exposed along the hinge. I thought about how thin linen like Fray-not might make the book look a little unfinished, or raw, or even materials like Jaconette, might look a little strange, almost as if the book was incomplete. 

I decided to consult Mark about this endpaper method and seek his advice. He has kindly done a video on Facebook describing how the cloth-jointed endpaper is made. It is a modified and improved version where the folded endpaper is sewn to the textblock and the folded sheet is put down as the board paper. It is a good technique and I think it reduces the number of steps involved, including adding a waste sheet. 

I decided that perhaps I should follow as closely to what the manual says. But instead of a thin linen or Jaconette, I decided to use an unlined book cloth. It is book cloth that has been treated but not backed by any paper, so it is thin, but a bit tricky as the front side does not take adhesives too well. I also put in the waste sheet just to see what it really does, and in fact, I guess it was just included to prevent the flyleaf from getting dirty during the binding process. If you are a neat bookbinder, then the waste sheet is not very necessary. 

The benefits of this endpaper method is that the single sheet fly leaf between the section and the folded endpaper allows for printing to be done. For instance, if a customer wishes for a title page, or a dedication page to be added to the textblock, this is where a single sheet could fit into a home or professional printer. It can be then cut to size tipped between the folded endpaper and the textblock. This method also can be really beautiful because the cloth used for the joints, can be of a different colour from the covering cloth to give contrast and variety. The doublure also allows special printed sheets to be used.

Overall, I find this endpaper rather useful, and perhaps, I might use this method more in restoration and tricky books. This book here measures 14.5 x 20.3cm, has beautiful hand made flotage papers as doublures. It is for sale at SGD35 (excluding shipping).

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Design Binding Commission - Week 4 & 5: The Failure of The Hinged Structure and the Eureka! Moment

In the wake of the disappointment of the failure of the first structure, I missed posting about the building of the Design Binding Commission last week. The hinged structure that I thought would work for this binding had its limitations and many problems arose even before I could completely attach the textblock to the boards. 

This is the thing that many people do not see, that behind all the beautiful works of an artist, many hours of failed attempts, misdirected ideas and even wasted materials go into the creation of an amazing piece. People often equate art as an object, which also translates to the price they are willing to pay, but what they do not see, is the artist’s efforts and experiments before it becomes successful, very much like a scientist. 

On Sunday night, insomnia kicked in, and I was unable to sleep. My mind was racing and at 2am, I had a Eureka! Moment. This happens a lot for me, and I usually get brilliant ideas when I am kept awake all night by my busy mind. With that, I woke up Monday morning and took apart the entire maquette.

I decided to try out the endpapers by using a natural sponge with pearl and silver acrylic paints. The inspiration for the endpapers come from the technique of how the photographs in this book were made: albumen printing process, also known as the albumen silver print. 

As I needed the front board to be almost completely independent but yet very securely hinged to the textblock, I decided to sew the book on stubs. This binding is similar to a pillar binding, but instead of using metal screw pillars, the textblock stubs and the hinge for the boards will be sewn on. 

The whole binding process has to be done in reverse, now that it includes a lot of structure building outside, which does not allow for the book to be pressed. 

I am happy for that Eureka! Moment. For now, my hands need to be busy, since my brain has already done  most of the thinking work. 

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Islamic Bookbinding Workshop 

I have just returned to Singapore after a week in the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur for a workshop in Islamic Bookbinding with Dr Karin Scheper. Dr Karin is the leading conservator specialising in Islamic books and completed her PhD research in the structures and techniques in manuscripts that were made in the Islamic world.

It was an amazing week, meeting book conservators from Australia, Japan, Malaysia and the Netherlands, as well as my home country, Singapore. Needless to say, I am the only bookbinder there. I am happy that I was able to go for this workshop, made possible by the generous sponsorship of my life partner, Louis. He felt that I was losing my “fire” and drive and needed to be learning again. I travelled up with a good friend and paper conservator, Mariko and even shared a very lovely apartment just 15 minutes walk away from the museum. 

We tried our hand at making a model of one of the most typical Islamic bindings, making endbands, paring leather (very slowly with a scalpel, I did not want to risk losing my leather paring knives at the customs) and finally putting our book together using beautiful Ebru marbled papers by Dr Karin’s friend or using our own made during a Ebru marbling workshop held on Wednesday by The Craft Crowd. 

I would not dare say I am good at Islamic binding but I now know how the structure is built the most basic way, the misconceptions of what the Western bookbinders see of it and the large possibilities and inspiration for my work in design binding in the future. I have already amazing ideas for a book that is waiting for a design binding and I see myself doing some amazing exploration. 

Photo Credit: Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia for the group photo on Instagram 

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Currently on my work bench: Men And Books

Happy 2017! This is the first post of the year. The first month of the year has been a lovely start, meeting new customers, completing some recasing from last year and finally now, I can lay my hands on this book. This came in together with Three Men In A Boat, having suffered the same fate of being chewed by the family dog. It has taken me some time to start on this because I had to do some studies and observations about the condition of the book and decide whether I am able to partake this restoration, as well as getting the go-ahead from the customer with what I have proposed to do. 

This is a very beautiful book covered in tree calf marbling and lovely tooling. The front board has been chewed up by the dog, leaving teeth gash marks on the lower left with a piece of the leather presumably eaten. I will be doing a modern touch to this book by celebrating the history of what this book has been through, by using a technique similar to the Japanese technique of Kintsugi in pottery, using gold to mend cracks. Therefore, I will be using a contrasting leather that matches either the spine label or the marbling to build up the missing leather as a loving reminder to keep the books out of reach from the family dog.