Normally when using a full thickness bookbinding leather you would use a quite complicated book structure, designed in part to cope with the way full thickness leather shrinks as it dries.
However for the purposes of illustration I am going to show a simple case binding, the corners would be treated in the same way whatever the style of binding.
First cut out your leather allowing 20mm for the turn in’s, then damp the hair side of the leather with a water soaked sponge, then do the same to the flesh side of the leather, and allow half an hour for the
water to soak into the leather, we want it moist not saturated.
Regarding what adhesive to use, I would use paste, using paste on it’s own will give you plenty of time to work with the leather as it contains water and will help keep your leather moist.
Apply a generous coating of paste to the flesh side of the leather, and then fold the leather in two so that the two pasted surfaces come together.
Place a damp cloth over the leather and allow 15 minutes for the paste to soak into the leather.
After this position the boards and spine strip as shown in the illustration below.
Rub down the spine strip and the central areas of the boards to make them stick, but do not rub down the corner areas as we will be lifting the leather in these parts later.
Lay down some newspaper and gently turn the cover over, I have shown the boards and spine strip as an aid to understanding.
Now get a piece of greyboard about 4 inches by seven inches, also have ready a scalpel or a sharp craft knife.
Press down in the pink area shown in the illustration.
In particular press down on the tip and edges.
Place your piece of board as shown in the illustration.
Now peal back the leather as shown below.
You will clearly see the outline of the board edges and tip in the leather.
Cut the leather at a 45 degree angle, one board thickness away from the tip, as shown here.
Now using your knife, starting at the tip, pare through the leather at a shallow angle.
Work your way around the cover dealing with each corner in the same way.
After doing all the corners turn the cover over and check the position of the cut corners are correct.
You should have plenty of time to work with the leather as it will still be soft and moist.
What we are aiming to do is to create a neat mitered joint where the two cut edges of the leather overlap.
This is a profile of the leather, after turning in the tail edge the leather will look like this.
The 45 degree cut has to be pressed down onto the board, use your bone folder.
Try to keep the angle of the leather at 45 degrees.
Now we come to turning in the foredge. What we are trying to do is marry up the 45 degree cut in the foredge with the 45 degree cut in the tail edge.
Turn in the foredge and bear in mind that we are trying to marry up the two cut edges of the leather.
The one should overlap the other and be flat.
This can be achieved with your fingers as you slide the two cut edges together, and also with your bone folder.
Here is a profile of the leather again, it shows what we are aiming for, which is for the two cut edges to marry up with one another and be flat.
Right at the tip of the leather where the two cut edges first meet a point will form, this point will be soft and damp.
You should mold the leather tip with your bone folder by gently pressing it down onto the board to get an invisible join. It may take some practice; it is
something that has to be done by experience.
Check the mitered joints as the leather dries, shrinkage may cause the joint to open, but their will be sufficient moisture in the leather for you to work with it for a considerable time.
When the leather is dry it would have linings applied to the inside of the board to bring the board up level with the leather.
Finish
Thank you for taking an interest in this Book Arts E-book.
Other e-books and manuals on the subject of the Book Arts and Gilding are available for free download from the Eden Workshops website.
http://www.edenworkshops.com
If you are interested in gilding in particular please do check out our website at:
http://www.gold-vault.com
Thank you for taking an interest in this Book Arts E-book published by myself, Richard Norman of the Eden Workshops here in our home in South West France.
Several other e-books and manuals on the subject of the Book Arts and Gilding in particular are available for free download from the Eden Workshops website.
http://www.edenworkshops.com
For nearly 20 years my wife Margaret & I ran a system of craft workshops devoted to the exploration of the Book Arts.
During that time we worked in almost total isolation and seclusion in the grounds of a very private monastery in rural England. As you may imagine we learnt a great deal about the Book Arts during
our tenure.
In 1997we were nominated National Living Treasure by Country life Magazine for our collective contributions to the Book Arts. At the comparatively young age of 43 I considered this an honor I
received on behalf of all those who had inspired me and taught me over the years.
A few years ago we closed our workshops and studios on a high note, and I took early retirement out here in rural South West France with my dear wife and beloved daughter Eden.
Make Your Own Imitation Vellum Or Parchment Paper.
Parchment paper and imitation vellum have been made by untold generations of inventive bookbinders by simply painting suitable papers with varnish or lacquer.
I was a professional binder for most of my adult life and I have used these methods myself on numerous occasions.
What paper you choose is important, I have used many papers, but over time I have come to stick with two, depending on if I want an imitation vellum or a parchment paper.
The type of paper you use is important and affects the finished result.
I use a paper made by a specialist paper maker called Hahnemühle; they make two papers in particular, a heavy version of 130gsm and a lightweight version of 90gsm. These papers are mould
made and of very high quality, they are acid free and will last for centuries. The papers have small flecks of neutral debris in the paper which further help to give the impression of age. The paper is called Medieval Laid; you can purchase it from any good art paper supply shop, or from here in A4
sheets.
This is a picture of the surface of the paper.
What is the difference between an imitation vellum and a parchment paper?
Essentially the difference is one of weight, a genuine vellum is heavier than a genuine parchment, and this fact is reflected in the papers.
Both oil and spirit based varnishes have been used to make these vellums & parchments, I use a spirit based shellac varnish, it dries very quickly and with a harder finish than an oil varnish, this
hard finish further imitates vellum.
The alcohol used in this recipe does give of fumes; if they bother you make sure the room you use is ventilated.
This is the recipe for the lacquer I use.
In a screw topped jar mix four parts of methylated spirits (denatured alcohol) with 1 part blonde de waxed shellac, it is important to get this particular type of shellac as each type of shellac has its own
colour.
Leave the mixture for 36 hours stirring occasionally, until the shellac flakes have dissolved.
When all the flakes have dissolved the lacquer is ready to use.
You will need some sheets of waste paper, newspaper is fine, and a 3 inch paint brush.
Simply lay your paper onto the waste paper and give it a good coat of varnish, immediately the paper will soak up the varnish and change colour, leave the paper to dry, and that’s it.
You can use the imitation vellum paper to cover books, or you can print onto it before you apply the varnish and you have something that looks like an authentic vellum manuscript.
This shows the colour change that takes place when the lacquer is applied to the heavy 130gsm paper.
On the left is an untreated sheet of paper.
Below is the result, what cannot be shown in a picture however is the feel of the paper. By applying the shellac lacquer we have changed the characteristics of the paper dramatically, It is stiff and
handles in the same way as a genuine vellum.
Shown below is the lightweight 90gsm paper after being given a coat of shellac.
The colour tone is different as the amount of shellac, which acts as a colourant, is less.
Less shellac in the paper also makes the paper handle differently, in this case the paper is not so hard to handle.
In the picture below is the finished sheet placed on top of some white paper with printing on it.
You can see that the paper is slightly opaque, just like genuine parchments and vellums which often have areas of the skin which are opaque. In some cases vellums and parchments are deliberately
made opaque, even transparent.
So that’s it, nothing could be simpler and the results you get from this simple method are very pleasing.
You can easily purchase the two ingredients you need over the counter in most countries; you can purchase small amounts of shellac from here.
Thank you for taking an interest in this Book Arts E-book.
Other e-books and manuals on the subject of the Book Arts and Gilding are available for free download from the Eden Workshops website.
http://www.edenworkshops.com
If you are interested in gilding in particular please do check out our website at:
http://www.gold-vault.com
For nearly 20 years my wife Margaret & I ran a system of craft workshops devoted to the exploration of the Book Arts.
During that time we worked in almost total isolation and seclusion in the grounds of a very private monastery in rural England. We developed four book related skills; hand book binding, paper marbling and book edge marbling, printing & box making and took those skills to high levels of
excellence.
In 1997 after nearly 20 years running the Eden Workshops we were voted a National Living Treasure by Country Life magazine for our contribution to the Book Arts.
In 2004 we decided to close our workshops and move out here to Southern France, I now concern myself with mentoring those with aspirations to become bookbinders and have the time to
concentrate on aspects of the book arts that interest me.
I can be contacted at home via email [email protected] and phone 0033 (0) 555 60 09 63