NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders: Level 3
TUTORS: Avril Makula & Monica Oppen
DATES: Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th June 2023
TIME: 9.30am – 4.00pm
COST: Members $290; Non-members $320
Limited to 6 students
If you are interested in this course contact us on info@nswbookbinders.org We will put your name of the pre-booking class list and contact you when bookings open.
Suitability: Basic bookbinding experience is highly recommended.
Course information: The adventure continues. This course builds on the flat back case binding course, taking your binding skills to the next level. We will be sewing one thicker bookblock. The sewn bookblock will be rounded and backed giving it the form of the classic codex. As with the flat back case binding a case i.e. cover, is made separately from the bookblock. You will learn to put a hollow on the spine to which the case will be attached prior to pasting down the endpapers. You will able to choose your covering materials; full cloth, cloth and decorated paper, leather and decorated paper, leather and cloth.
The tutor will demonstrate various techniques, including:
- rounding and backing the sewn bookblock
- case making
- revise the use of the board cutter
- revise the use of the guillotine
- using a leather paring knife
- using the Brockman leather paring machine
Materials: All materials will be provided. The Guild stocks a variety of unbound sheets ready for binding. Students may choose to purchase one of these unbound bookblocks to bind, instead of blank sheets.
Tools will be provided. The bindery is full equipped. However students can bring their own tools. A metal rule, a pencil, an awl, a sharp knife will be useful.
IMPORTANT: Good eye/hand coordination and good dexterity are necessary for this course as sharp knives are used in the cutting of board and paper. You will be shown correct procedure in the use of these tools but good co-ordination will assure accurate cutting and prevention of injury. Please wear closed in shoes.
OTHER INFORMATION The bindery will be open by 9am. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be supplied. There will be a lunch break of 30 minutes. It is recommended that you bring your lunch. There is a fully equipped kitchen adjacent to the bindery. Shops and cafes are not close.
About the tutor: Monica Oppen has been binding books since the 1980s. For three years she worked and trained with Daphne Lera at DS Murray Bookbinders a hand bindery in Sydney. Her entry into bookbinding was through wanting to bind books of prints she was creating. From here her passion for the alchemical nature of bookbinding has engaged her in continuing to learn and improve her skills and knowledge of bookbinding styles and techniques. She continues to work as a printmaker and bookbinder. She regularly collaborates with artists on book projects bringing to the projects the bookbinding skills that her colleagues lack. Over the years she has come to understand that bookbinding, like other hand craft skills, is an embodied skill that requires dedication and endless practice to master. She welcomes students to start on this rewarding journey. She has been a member of the NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders for 15 years.
What did we do/make?
We made a case binding book in half-binding, using leather for the spine1), with a rounded and backed spine and assembelled using the Bradel binding construction. A hollow was also attached to the spine2). The course introduced me to working with leather, including pairing, swell, making endpapers from multi-colours and attach around the first and last signatures, and rounding and backing the spine. While building on techniques learnt the previous week in bookbinding_course_level_2 of using a guillotine, Bradel binding, and overall techniques of using paper lining to counteract pull.
How did we make it?
Loosly following Kathy Abbott's 'Bookbinding: a step-by-step guide' chapter on 'Project 3: Full Cloth Case-Binding':
Day 1: Build the bookblock
- Folded paper, prepare two single sheets of paper for end papers (these were slight wider than the book block and were tapered to be able to be folded over the first and last signature), and sew up bookblock on two tapes using french link stitch. When creating a template for sewing holes we had to be mindful of how much of the bookblock we wanted to guillotine off the head and tail of the book (particularly given that the paper we were using in this course wasn't square). Glued up the spine and allowed to dry.
- Guillotine the bookblock, using scrap paper tampered away from the spine to keep the book block flat from the spine's swell.
- Rounded the book on the bench with a hammer, then moved to a backing press and backed the spine: first with assistance with fingers and bonefolder, before using hammer.
- Made headbands from bookcloth wrapped around a glued piece of string. Attached ribbon and headbands to bookblock, attached J- and built up the spine (as per bookbinding_course_level_2) and lined with paper.
Day 2: Prepare leather, build the case and case in
- Paired Leather
- Made hollow and attached to spine
- Cut down boards, created case using Bradel binding technique and glued the leather along the case spine using Paste. Cut the turn-ins of the leather to the gap left between hollow and endband. Left to dry, then built up the remainder of the boards with thin card on the front and craft paper inside to ensure covering paper matches height of leather. Cut down covering paper and attached to boards.
- Glued hollow to spine of book with PVA and allowed to dry. Cased-in the front and back cover before pressing and leaving to dry under weight.
What went wrong? How would I change it in the future?
- When pairing my leather I went too thin on my last attempt and ended up cutting through. This left me with a very narrow strip of leather. When I checked the remaining leather with Monica she bent it over in hear hands and said that it was already thin enough given the flexibility. Hence, touch and feel is often more powerful then measurements: I was trying to pair my leather down to the recommended 4mm thickness.
- On looking at the finished book, one of the paste downs has gone on crooked with a bit of overhand, causing the bookblock to not sit straight.
I was under the impression that with the spine glued into place already (with the edges lined up) that I would need to..After some thought it occurred to me that the cause of the bookblock slipping would have been due to the book not having had the time to dry flat. Instead, after finishing the book I wrapped it up and placed it vertically in my backpack to head back home (to Melbourne).
What did I learn?
- Spine comes from a bygone era when the spine of an animal leather was lined up with the back of a book. This makes perfect sense.
