Friday 11 April 2008

lobster!

A lobster book for a friend's birthday. She likes octopus and gulper eels, I hope she won't mind a lobster!


It's a Secret Belgium binding, the cover is made of three separate pieces which are then laced together...


And the pages are then attached by sewing through the cover threads...


It's my second try at this style of binding, and it took me all day! The sewing of the covers went fine, it's not really a complicated method, but as soon as I removed the tape holding the three separate parts in place it all went a bit floppy and the spine kept shifting.  

I managed to wiggle the boards a bit and line it all back up. I taped the book block (which I had previously sewn as I thought it would make it easier to assemble...) inside to keep the whole lot in shape, but this was no help as all the pages have to be laced into the spine individually with the cover open and tightened at the end... 


But I got there eventually, and I'm pretty pleased with the results... Rhonda writes here that she sews this binding in a different way to the tutorial I've linked to above, and that one day she may write her own tutorial... I can't wait!

4 comments:

Riverlark said...

Sarah, I love that binding, but those directions are crazy!
It's so much easier to sew your text block first! I use scraps of tyvek as temporary "straps." After the text block is sewn you sew the cover to the block using the straps to guide you. That way you can pull those threads (waxed linen is the best) as tight as you want at each station. Sometimes my book is so tight now I have to work it to loosen it up! When you're done, pull the tyvek straps out and toss.
http://riverlark.blogspot.com/2007/11/many-things.html

Sarah said...

Of course!! Why didn't I think of that?!! Yes, that would be a much easier way to do it :) Thanks Mary, you're a star xxx

MyHandboundBooks said...

ah yes! definitely sew your sections first. i also use tyvek for temporary sewing supports. Then you can get accurate measurements for the spine piece too and the result is a much more solid book overall.

But I do love the lobster! He looks so majestic on there :)

Amy Kerr-Menz said...

I'm just so in awe of the whole process...the book is amazing!! What a lucky friend. I'm sure she won't mind a lobster :) x.