Four Needle Coptic Book

 I made a few books this past few months and I am pretty proud of this one.  I was asked to make a book for a friend to give to her new student.  My friend knew I was pretty busy with other books (see below) and would have been happy with a quickly done modern Coptic.  But I had to make it nice for my friend.  So I decided to do a four needle Coptic in a more period style.  

This book is made with modern "parchment" paper, linen thread, 1/4 inch thick quarter saw oak boards, and blue modern binding leather.  I used PVA glue as the adhesive and Angelus leather paint to paint the cover motif.

 

Cover

Endband

Other endband

Spine. You can see the threads used to sew the spine leather to the endbands.

Back cover

 

Endbands before the leather cover

Spine before the leather cover

 

Carolingian Binding

It has been a while but I wanted to put up some pictures of the Carolingian binding I made in June.

This book was bound with 18 quires of 8.5in by 11in sheets of 59 lb/160 gsm Pergamenata folded in half to create 5.5in by 8.5in leaves; 3/32, 4-ply linen cord for the support cords and endband cores; 25/3, unwaxed white linen thread approximately 0.60 mm thick conditioned with bees’ wax for the sewing thread used to sew the text block, the endbands, and the spine tabs; 1/2 inch (12.7mm) thick quarter sawn white oak boards for the book boards; vegetable tanned goat leather (Native Tanned Native Dyed Sokoto Leather) approximately 1.0 mm thick for the spine tabs, cover, and closing strap; 14 gauge brass wire for clasp; brass nails (1.2x12mm) for the closing pin and to secure the closing strap to the cover board; wheat paste to attach leather, secure support cords onto book boards, and to attach the closing strap; and wooden toothpicks as wedges to help secure support cords onto book boards. 

I made this to enter into the Pennsic 52 Arts and Sciences War Point as a member of the East Kingdom team. I was honored to be named both the winner of my division and the overall winner (tied with another amazing East Kingdom artist). 

Folding quires

Text block and covers before sewing

Outside of cover board with drilled holes and carved channels

 

Inside of cover board with drilled holes and carved channels

Outside of cover board with support cords laced into board

Inside of cover board with support cords laced into board

Finished text block before lacing in upper cover board

Finished text block with upper cover board laced on

Endband tab seen from the spine side

Endband and endband tab

Endband with finished and sewn endband tab

Finished endband tab seen from spine side

Finished head of the book

Finished tail of the book

Finished fore edge of the book

Finished spine of the book

Back of finished book

Finished front of the book

Simple Gothic Book

 I was asked to make a book as a prize for an SCA event.  I considered doing a quick and easy Coptic but instead I went with a Gothic binding.  I kept it simple, using PVA instead of wheat paste, thought I did use a packed stitch instead of the simpler straight stitch. 

Materials are the usual: modern "velum" paper cut in half and folded to get correct grain, 1/8th inch thick craft plywood, unwaxed linen thread, linen cord, silk thread for the endbands, handmade decorative paper for the pastedowns, veg-tanned yellow leather, and PVA glue.

Here are some pictures:

Could I have just done a straight stitch instead of a packed stitch? Yes. Did I? No.

Spine rounded and backed and glued and in the finishing press.

Silk wrapped endband.

And another endband.

Bead on edge endband.

Covers ready to be attached.

Endband on finished book

Cover of finished book.

Back of finished book.

Laurel Vigil Book

I was asked to make Laurel vigil book for a lovely lady who was being elevated.  There is nothing new about this binding.  It is a Gothic Binding covered in blue veg-tan leather.  I did blind tooling on both the front and back.  

Here are the pictures:

Blind tooled cover.

Bottom of the book.  Endbands are blue and gold silk.

Head of the book.

Spine of the book.

Inside back cover.  You can see the Latin book curse.

Inside cover.

Back cover of the book.  Should have waited until the leather was dry to take the picture.

Another Girdle Book

There is an SCA event called Ducal Challenge where to get into the tournament you need to submit a homemade item.  These are often made by the fighter but sometimes fighters are sponsored by an artist.  Of course, I just make something as my entry pass and this year I decided to make girdle book. 

This girdle book is a mix of traditional and modern.  The leather is a chrome tanned deer skin split (so it has a soft suede feel to it).  I also used PVA glue instead of wheat paste because I am running a bit low on wheat paste and I want it for another project I am hoping to do in the near future (there is a worldwide shortage due to supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine).  I used 1/4 inch quarter sawn oak for the book boards.  The boards were hand sawn to size and I carved and shaped them by hand as well.

A quick list of materials: machine manufactured paper, linen thread waxed with beeswax, linen cord, ¼ inch quarter sawn oak boards, real parchment (for spine lining), PVA glue, wooden toothpicks (to peg the sewing cords in to the holes on the cover boards), 14 gauge brass wire (for the clasp), two small brass nails, and chrome tanned dear skin split leather. 

Anyway, here are the pictures of the process and the finished book. As a note, I forgot to take picture of text block on the frame but it looks like any old text block on a frame. 

Parchment spine linings dying on the spine.

Bead on spine endband #1

Bead on spine endband #2

More parchment spine lining to cover the endband tiedowns.

Front cover with sewing cords laced in.

Back cover with the sewing cords laced in (note the channel carved into the fore edge for the book clasp).

Front cover all glued and neatened up.

Back cover all glued and neatened up.

Leather cover and clasp on the book and read for a press.

Back cover read for press.  Note that I added a nail to the strap to help keep it attached.

Turk's head knot for the tail.

Front cover of the finished book.

Spine of the finished book.

Top edge of the finished book.

Back cover of the finished book.

Fore edge of the finished book.

Pastedown on the front inside cover of finished book.

Pastedown on the back inside cover of finished book.

Endband at the bottom of the book.