#bookbinding paper

[3584-tropical-fish]

Season two bookbinding finally complete!! If you haven’t seen my season one copy, it’s here :D

Progress photos under the cut

[zhalfirin]

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - R. L. Stevenson

(EDIT: have a look at the clamshell box I made for this book here)

A few weeks back I had the chance to take a leather book binding class held by the wonderful Greek bookbinder Dimitris Koutsipetsidis at his bindery in Athens. He helped us patiently to improve our skills and even took us leather shopping in the end.

It was a really great week and I've had the pleasure to spend it with fellow Renegades while making tools and binding books together and doing some occasional sightseeing on the side.

My book was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A book that I greatly enjoy every read and for which I had a lot of different plans before finally settling on this design only the night before case decoration was up in class (many thanks to my fellow Renegades at this point for having opinions on my ideas, I greatly appreciated all your input <3)

The whole trip left me with lots of good memories and plenty of bookbinding things to work on (gold tooling and leather paring included. Although I might end up cheating more often than not with the paring >.<)

Photos were taken by @runawaymarbles, one of the other bookbinders on the trip.

[mcromwell]

Art supply haul from the thrift (that always has the dankest craft section): metallic gold decorative tape, metallic silver and bronze paper ribbon coils, two new pattern scissors, calligraphy pen nibs (cheap, good for practice), butter knives, a spatula, other misc. steel, and a paper shredder.

The paper shredder is for paper making! I tried it on my own once with nothing but a food processor and towels to little success, but with the shredder and a proper screen I'll be unstoppable. That paired with my current rekindling of book arts is like... oh yeah. Great combo, hyperfixations, high five

[renato-crepaldi]

Another gorgeous tiger eye marbled paper that will be available at the shop this next Sunday, September 1st. Sales start at 12UTC.

Home | Renato Crepaldi Hand Marbled Papers (bigcartel.com)

[likes-words-and-shrimp]

For my gf @taco-night-frenzy's birthday, I had one of her fantastic Detective Luigi's fanfics bookbinded! This is truly one of my most favorite stories with its blend of characters from Mario RPG, Paper Mario and more. I loved the idea of getting it in physical form, along with wonderful cover art for it by @frayed-symphony! The bookbinding itself was done by Cattle Abduction Bookbinding.

There's only one printed copy of this book, but the story is available to read on AO3! I highly recommend it if you want an amazing noir-style fanfic with Luigi as the main character. Check it out! ✨

[null-moon-art]

I've made a sketchbook out of trash and drew some kitties on it

[simply-sithel]

and when you move, I'm moved by Catja [link]

A wee 60 pages- true mini, bound for the @renegadepublishing Tiny Book Bang. Typeset by Indoor Cat Press.

.

...this book was so tiny, I lost it in my Drafts! Sharing now, almost a year later, as the 2024 Tiny Books Bang nears it's 2nd typeset reveal

[nighttimepatrons]

I did it! It's done, my very first fanbinding :D

Thee illustrious @tethysresort allowed me to bind their fic Paper Lanterns which is a lovely Glorfindel/Erestor fic and I adore it and was overcome with the desire to hold it in my hands, and here it is! At long last!

I am extremely please with how this book came out, it fits well in my hand, is a lovely weight, and the cereal box I used for the overs isn't nearly as floppy as I feared it would be. I was planning to use blue floss for the stitching (because blue is lovely) but I am so glad I looked around until I round a red that almost perfectly matches the red on the cover ahhhh I am just so pleased!

I started this back in January but the type setting and printing was just so awful and convoluted that I gave up for months, until April when I able to finally format my pages properly thanks to my dad (below the cut you can see all my printing attempts vs how the final fic, it's ridiculous). And then I only started making the covers a few days ago so it really just came together all at once.

With my leftover floss I made a little loop which can be twisted around the corners of the book to keep it closed, which is a great use for the leftovers that I otherwise would have thrown away.

All in all I am sooo happy with this binding! There were a lot of bumps on the way, but I'll just have to make sure to take what I've learned here and apply it to my next project!

trying to get my signatures to print in the right order was hell

[zhalfirin-binds]

Details of my bind of A princess of Mars

Since I kept making small mistakes. Starting with the wrong printing format, then forgetting to adjust the sewing so I could trim (I did not plan for margins quite as large as they are... ). The backing turned a bit wonky too. So I decided I'd try some new things on this book.

I wanted to use the interference colours I have with a different base coat. They come out best with a black or dark ground colouring. Before I used oak gall ink, because that was what I had (and I love to watch the magic happen when it turns from translucent blue to black), but iron, in whatever form, is the last thing you want in a book because it will rust and damage the paper over time.

So I did some testing with a few different inks to check for effect and smudging and eventually switched to a china ink.

The one I got has a really nice black with a slight gloss to it. That should have tipped me off, but I kept going and just painted the edge with the interference colour acrylic ink just to watch how it gathered in the lowest part (I did the front edge with the curve first) and took forever to dry. Trying to help that with a hair dryer only needed me up with a pattern of tiny ripples. When I opened the book I could see the paint had been too thick in some parts and flaked off a bit. I diluted and kept painting, with way better results, eventually, but it's still not completely even on the front edge (the picture here is the 3. or 4. result... I was just tired to keep going at that point). The top and bottom edge look fine though.

Covering the case was a bit of an adventure too for a few reasons. I wanted to avoid and gaps... but first I failed to accurately estimate the stretch of my different papers then I forgot to consider the overlap and figuring out which part should overlap which was a challenge. I went of the green layer that wraps all around the case as top layer so it could cover all pointy edge I had not covered yet. The pointy bits are always the most likely to take damage or get loose. So I had that taken care off. I still have a small spot on the backside that's not the layer it's supposed to be, but it blends in well enough with the other colours.

Another thing that I did not think of was, when I cut the onlays was how overlapping would impact the shape. the yellow was supposed to be a nice slanting hill in the foreground... well, I would have had to keep that in mind for the overlapping toplayer.

I also thought about titling the cover and even got as far as test titling with copper, gold, creme, red and brown (the line between creme and brown, that's red, I know it's turned invisible, bu it is there). None of the results made me overly happy though so I skipped it.

Last thing, but I'm not sure whether it's a mark of the construction or the hinge is too small, the backing not sufficient, is the opening angle of the covers. It opens alright, but when I push the cover a bit down it drags the text block along and it looks like there's too much tension on it to me. I'll have to see for my next binds if I can optimise that.

I liked the spread out design enough to make it a picture for my wall ^^

[izzi-illustrates]

Green A6 sketchbooks on Dusted Sunshine Sketchbooks on etsy ~

[jaybinds]

So I was trying to source that kinda thin bible paper ( Scritta paper). For my bible bind of Manacled And since I think you have to be a publisher to get any decent amount of paper. I found Tomoe River paper makes a decent substitute for that thin paper. It’s just see through enough that it’s not distracting. I found mine on Amazon but I’m sure any paper specialty website will have them.

[plor-bindery]

Bound: Music Staff Blank Book

I won't go on about this one too much because it's fairly basic: a blank book with music staves instead of lines to write, for a pal who is a music person. (I am also a music person.)

Highlights are the Beetlejuice sandworm sewn endbands and the elastic closure, which I've never tried before. I contemplated decorating the spine with a monogram but every design I tried ending up looking a little, um. Black and white on red. Not the vibe I wanted.

Typeset (such as it is) by me. Next time I'll make the staves not run to the page edge so the trimmed fore edge is white. But otherwise, it's done! Quarto legal. Nice lil hasty bind.

[zhalfirin]

Clamshell box for my binding of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Materials used

boxes - grey board (1,5mm and 1mm) case - grey board (1,5mm, cardboard, 2,4mm) covering material - iris bookcloth (commercial) decorative paper - handmade paste paper

[mister-a-z-fell]

You might already have seen this videograph elsewhere, but I was rather excited to add this particular book to my collection! One of only twenty-four copies, I feel deeply privileged to be able to share it with you all.

Not only is the story itself very special to me (and worryingly accurate in many respects), it is most gloriously and skilfully bound, and contained in a burr oak box with brass fittings, lined with hand-marbled paper of celestial blue, and illustrated by that marvel of portraiture, Mister Paul Kidby.

Within the box are an assortment of ephemera, some of which are pictured below.

(And yes, I can read the alien ‘penalty notice’.)

[renato-crepaldi]

This gorgeous purple and violet Waved Gelgit will also be available at the shop next Monday, July 24th. Release time is 12 UTC. Don't miss!

Home | Renato Crepaldi Hand Marbled Papers (bigcartel.com)

[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

JOHN LAWRENCE

Once again we turn to the fanciful engravings of English illustrator and wood engraver John Lawrence (b. 1933), this time from a small (4.25" x 3") 1992 Folio Society edition of Robert Browning's version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, printed at The Bath Press in Bath, England on Fabriano Ingres laid paper. The engravings themselves are only 3" x 2", but they are vivid and richly detailed.

John Lawrence, whose career spans nearly 70 years, is one of England's most-respected living wood engravers. He has illustrated well over 200 books and has taught his craft at the Brighton School of Art, Camberwell School of Art, and Cambridge School of Art from the 1960s to 2010. He has influenced generations of noted contemporary wood engravers, and was himself a student of Gertrude Hermes (view some wood engravings by Hermes we have posted).

Our copy of the Folio Society's Pied Piper is yet another donation from the estate of our late friend and colleague Dennis Bayuzick. The book was originally bound in full moire silk by Hunter and Foulis, but our copy was specially rebound in 2001 by English bookbinder Stephen Conway (see below).

View more posts with wood engravings by John Lawrence.

View other illustrations for the Pied Piper by Kate Greenaway and Sarah Chamberlain.

View other books from the collection of Dennis Bayuzick.

View more posts with wood engravings!