My last post I talked about my Dydra Plough and Finishing Press. I was trying to learn how to work it better than I have been. Well these are the three A6 book blocks I was practicing on as well as another A6 notebook with a rounded spine.
The book block above is the first time I've sewn a book without tapes or cords. This one becomes the laminated hardcover as it didn't have much swell compared to the other books. I was using up my linen thin 35/2 "bookbinding" thread I got in a "Beginners Bookbinding Kit" I bought almost a year ago. For those that don't know what 35/2 means the first number is the thickness of the thread. The larger the number the thinner the thread is. The second number is the ply or how many strands there are in the thread. I coat mine in bees wax before using.
I should have made a filler for the cover so the endpapers didn't have that unsightly crease on them.
The Legal Buckram I use is a bit thicker than the buckram I usually use. I wasn't thinking of the thickness of the cloth and that caused me some issues.
I searched how I could make my own laminated covers and found a video of a guy that used his laminator to make paper back covers. Well I wanted to take it a step further and make a laminated hardcover. So I went into Adobe Illustrator and made some measurements of the case and bookblock and printed out a template. I then tested it out as you can see in the photo directly below.
Getting the laminated cover on the case was a real pain. I had to use a hand held heat gun to soften the lamination as well as constantly pressing it with the bone folder to get it to stay in position. It wasn't easy and took about three times as long as a normal case. In the end it seems to have turned out but I'm unsure of how durable it is going to be.
Below is my first ever leather Half bound book. There are about 11 mistakes with it as the corners don't match on all four corners, the spine is about 1.5 mm too wide, and other issues. It was much more difficult than I thought it was going to be.The metal corners are to hide my ugly mistakes.
The book below was a total success. I first saw this type of bind on the Facebook page 'I am a Bookbinder!' and it was posted by Sussan Corrales. It is a gorgeous design with many possibilities for colour combinations.
I do love to experiment and despite the difficulties I'd say so far this book was a success. I may have to go with an 80 micron laminate folder instead of 125 microns. This was very fun and I couldn't think of a better test picture than one by artist Chris Foss. I used to pour over books with his artwork when I was in my early teens.
Only four books made in my two days off but as each one was new style of bind for me I count it as a pretty good turn out!
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