#french binding

[zhalfirin-binds]

WIP Der Traum aller Träume; Utopien von Platon bis Morris (The dream of all dreams; Utopian dreams from Plato to Morris

Part I survey or ‘all things wrong (and the few things right) with this book’

Now this one I started over two years ago and didn’t finish because of time and, to be honest, because the quality of the leather and overall sorry execution of the french binding had made me too sad to keep looking at it. It started out nice. The colour is wonderful, sadly the leather is a coated split leather (which was not clear from the description, I didn’t ask either and thus made a hasty decision because it was cheap). To work with it it was soaked with paste glue which caused the coating to detach and rub off in different areas. Most of the very prominent on the cover. I’m still thinking about how I could cover those up and at the moment I’m considering to hot stamp them. I considered dying the area, but I’m not sure I’ll like the look any better than what I have at the moment. The book as some other issues. For example was my hinge gap too small and now the cover doesn’t open to a 180° angle to the inner book but stands up. Also, when you look at it from the outside the covers are clearly not level with the spine. The pinched and tense look of the spine area in the inner book is quite normal for a French binding (it’s also the reason why it is not my favourite binding style), what is not normal, is how the signatures look kind of crumpled though. I was not careful enough when wacking it with a hammer for backing so this is what I got in return.

However the corners turned out fine, I guess mostly because I used way less paste glue there. Since the start of this bind was years ago I naturally forgot most of what I had planned. Apparently I was going for hidden/ covered leather corners. The telltale detail for those is how the edges of the leather come together on the outside of the case. A paper or other material will cover it up so only the very tip is peeking out. A larger part than usual will be visible on the inside so it makes sense to put the ‘nice’ side of the leather there. Another small detail, is the cardboard covering the standing edges of the case, which tells me I had prepared for gilding them too. What turned out really nice too is levelling the covers. Where the leather is applied there is a small step that can be made leve with the cover by adding another piece of card board the thickness of the leather. In this binding I managed to get that completly even, no ridge to find.

So this is where I am now with this book. I had some cover decoration for gold tooling prepared, but it includes tools I don’t have access to anymore. So I’ll see if I can adapt with or come up with something else.

[zhalfirin-binds]

WIP Der Traum der Träume

Part II

Since there’s so much going to be ‘experimental’ with this book anyway I decided to add some more ot it. At the last binders fair I bought a sheet of papyrus paper (it’s really more of beaten papyrus fibres, one going short grain the other long grain) that I used for the cover. I have no idea how well it will hold up to wear and there were were some issues when applying it.

For one there are tiny holes here and there in the sheet. With the pale paper I used to even out the leather I could see it clearly shining through in some spots. To prevent that from being too obvious I gave the paper a light colouring so the bright cream wouldn’t glare through those holes too much. The papyrus is also very stiff and woodlike when dry. I moistened it to get it more supple to work with without breaking, that worked well enough. I also decided to work with wheat paste glue to not get any shiny spots from where the glue would press through the tiny holes that I already knew where there. Problem was, the glue takes some time to dry and it was hard getting the edges worked around and stick (when my patience dissolved I just gave the turn ins a coat of PVA and was done with them). The edges do not look great, but what concerns me more is the fact that the papyrus  fibers start to come apart where the paper has to go sharply around a corner. I let it dry and will check how much of an issue that is once it is dry. On the upside, my hidden corners are really well hidden and almost equally so.

[serendipitouscrafts]

Because my mother said so

Every time I make a quilt, I am tempted to just do straight grain binding.

But then I can hear my mother in my head telling me that quilts are meant to be used until they are in tatters and the binding gets the hardest wear, and so bias cut, double fold french binding is the way to go.

So, here I am making stupid continuous bias binding, which is super annoying to make, but it is the only way to go if I don’t want my mother’s ghost to haunt my craft supplies. 

For those who are curious about the techniques I am talking about:

How to cut continuous bias binding.

How to sew double fold french binding.

[dddots]

On my recent trip to Japan, we passed a shop that tailors kimonos. And on the outside was a nice little basket of cloth scraps. This blue silk is one of those I bought *couldn't resist*. A slip-case box for a french fine bound book with match headband. The headbands are made using a mix of cotton and silk threads.

[fuckyeahbookarts]

DIY French Link Binding (by Pastiche Knitwear)

A simple and very useful binding that can be left exposed or covered up as a hardback. It's essentially a basic pamphlet stitch binding, only the signatures are linked/criss-crossed together for extra strength. (Note: unlike this tutorial which links together all of the signatures, I personally only link every set of 2 signatures together, in order to avoid any bunching/pulling on the spine- but to each their own!)

[dddots]

A combination of lessons from both teachers in Japan. French fine binding from 山崎せんせい and 彩せんせい. A matching book and drop back box. Cobalt blue book cloth and upcycled Topshop festive paper bag. Love the patterns so much.