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April 9-10, 2010

Continuing ones education is a must. Getting to study under one of the well know master book binders was a real treat to me.

Don Etherington is to the back and he is lecturing on how we are going to sew the text block for this project.

Here I am sewing the text block together on alum-tawed thongs.

Here Don Etherington is showing how to round the spine once the text block is sewn.

Don is preparing to sew the head band. He has put the text block between two scraps of binders board and placed it in the backing press. The scrap binders board is to keep the text block clean and unmarked by the backing press.

Don is Showing us how to start the sewing of the head band.

Here Don is starting a stitch and preparing to show us the flip of the wrist you have to make in order to get the stitch right.

Here you can see how Don flipped his wrist over in order to put the proper twist into the stitch.

Here is a close up of the head band about half sewn.

This shows how the needle goes down through the signatures for the next stitch.

This close up shows how the head band sewing looks from the spine side of the text block. What you don't see when the book is bound. This was my first attempt at sewing a head band.

This close up shows the part you do see at the head (top) of the book.

This close up shows anchoring the tail band (bottom of the book) also showing how the thread is twisted.

Shows the first three stitches and the loop you make with the thread for packing before you go down through the text block again.

This close up shows the needle going down the middle of the signature and out the back side to loop around the kettle stitches.

This shows the needle coming out under the kettle stitches on the spine side of the text block.

June 4-6, 2010. Here is another book class. Daniel Kulm is going to teach us how to do this interesting structure. He calls it, "Where the double raised cords meet the gutter wire". Yes there are wires in each signature and the cover boards. This example has ultrasuede covers.

This example shows leaving the strings from the cords dangling. Here Daniel has painted the ultrasuede a solid color and then splattered it for a nice affect.

This sample shows the text block all sewn and the covers made and ready to attach. This is the book we came to make and learn all the tricks to make it work. It was a fun book to construct. It was designed for very large sized books with soft paper that will not take the normal sewing methods and hold up. The wires prevent the sewing from tearing out.

Daniel showed us some very interesting book structures. Yes books can be any shape or size that you want to make them.

This is an ordinary fountain pen that Daniel has made into a book.

Here shows it opened up so that you can read the text.

This boxed book was my favorite structure of all of them that Daniel showed us.

Here it is out of the box, can you guess what it is going to be?

Here it is with Daniel starting to open it so we can read it. Each page has printing on both sides.

Daniel is still opening it up. Have you figured out yet what this book is?

All laid out flat so you can read it. The answer to the question is this is a mobius strip.