Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Tools of the trade

In this video I take a quick look at some of the small tools I use when working on books. This is by no means all of the tools that I have, but a look at some of the more basic tools every bookbinder would need.

Introducing myself!

FINALLY I'm getting around to uploading some videos that might be of interest to aspiring bookbinders. This one is just a general introduction to myself and my bookbinding background.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Upcoming projects


Here are some of the projects that I have to work on in the coming weeks. Seems like each project I work on has something challenging about it. Among these books and Bibles I have the challenge of another bar snap binding, another "Yapp" binding, and restoring an important WWII book with full photos as endpapers, among other things. Taking on new things is how we learn so I guess I am in the midst of expanding my skills even further.

I am slowly trying to put together some videos to highlight my little shop and some of the procedures that I use in my work. I hope to make those available soon. If there is anything in particular you would like to see demonstrated, just let me know.

For Tyler


This Bible came to me through binder in Florida. The owner wanted to have this Bible rebound to give to his daughter. As you can see the leather cover was in a state of disrepair beyond any simple fixes. You can also see how the leather hangs over the edges of the book more than usual. This is called a "Yapp" binding. It was designed to help protect the edges of the book. They measured 1/2".


You can see in the finished job that we were able to create a nice black goatskin cover with the same 1/2" overhang all around. Two blue ribbons were also used. You can also see something unusual and special that we did at the owners request. He wanted us to preserve the original front cover of the old leather binding by gluing it to the inside of the new front cover. The Bible is being given to his daughter and he wanted her to always be reminded that it was once his.

For Hannah


This Bible had a hardback covered in a soft black paper and a black elastic band to hold it closed when not in use. The spine was gone. The book block itself was in good condition, requiring no special work before rebinding.


As you can see we have created a nice flexible leather binding, brown in color, with two ribbons, one cream colored and the other brown. I will also be supplying her with a strip of the same leather for her to create her own tie to keep it closed when being transported, should she feel it is needed.