Hello Everybody, and
welcome to my blog! I am rather new to this experience, so please
bear with me. I am starting this blog so I've got a place to post information on my bookbinding experiences.
I started "binding" a few years ago. I analyzed books around the house, both thick and thin. (I've always been an avid reader, so this wasn't troublesome) I experimented with paper-covered case bindings, making many as gifts. A couple of years ago, as I was looking for books to read on my Nook, I came across Paul N. Hasluck's Bookbinding: with Numerous Engravings and Diagrams. Intrigued, I began to read. In that book I was introduced to the wonderful world of full leather binding. I began my first shortly thereafter. It was simple, with no extravagances or flourishes excepting five artificial raised bands. I bought the leather at Hobby Lobby -- the "farmer's pack", it was called (basically a big bag of super-thick, random scraps of leather); the problem was that it was too thick. It curved around the back, which is all it could be glued to, in a really bad looking way (I hadn't guillotined the pages or rounded/backed it). I was pleased, however, for I had completed my first leather binding. A few months later, I visited my grandparents. While I was there, my uncle had a big blue tub full of leather. (He had gotten it from a friend who worked at an airplane upholstery company. Apparently, when they are done making their seats, they throw away huge leather scraps.) He gave me a piece. I came home. I re-covered that book. It was an astounding difference -- you could actually notice the raised bands! However, I had threaded the cords through the wrong side of the boards, so the book was shaped funny and the bands looked like microscopic bumps. I began a second book which I recently completed. It looked much better -- I had asked the custom binding people at Staples to guillotine it, I rounded and backed it, and I threaded the cords properly. All this contributed to a much finer look.
I started "binding" a few years ago. I analyzed books around the house, both thick and thin. (I've always been an avid reader, so this wasn't troublesome) I experimented with paper-covered case bindings, making many as gifts. A couple of years ago, as I was looking for books to read on my Nook, I came across Paul N. Hasluck's Bookbinding: with Numerous Engravings and Diagrams. Intrigued, I began to read. In that book I was introduced to the wonderful world of full leather binding. I began my first shortly thereafter. It was simple, with no extravagances or flourishes excepting five artificial raised bands. I bought the leather at Hobby Lobby -- the "farmer's pack", it was called (basically a big bag of super-thick, random scraps of leather); the problem was that it was too thick. It curved around the back, which is all it could be glued to, in a really bad looking way (I hadn't guillotined the pages or rounded/backed it). I was pleased, however, for I had completed my first leather binding. A few months later, I visited my grandparents. While I was there, my uncle had a big blue tub full of leather. (He had gotten it from a friend who worked at an airplane upholstery company. Apparently, when they are done making their seats, they throw away huge leather scraps.) He gave me a piece. I came home. I re-covered that book. It was an astounding difference -- you could actually notice the raised bands! However, I had threaded the cords through the wrong side of the boards, so the book was shaped funny and the bands looked like microscopic bumps. I began a second book which I recently completed. It looked much better -- I had asked the custom binding people at Staples to guillotine it, I rounded and backed it, and I threaded the cords properly. All this contributed to a much finer look.
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