Binding of: 1984

I always feel guilty when I get new followers when I haven’t posted anything in weeks (or months)..

So I’ll post some very horrible pictures of one of my books. I can’t make better ones, because my teacher has them for grading.

I basically made these pictures to justify my choice of endband colours. They’re still so christmassy, but the only two bright colours in the book-illustrations..

And these are my endpapers on the front side. I posted about them in November originally. I’m happy I finally got to use these.

It’s crazy how much time these books take.

New tools!

It was the annual bookbinding fair in Belgium yesterday! I didn’t need much, just really wanted to get a teflon bone folder as I’ve been jealous of my colleagues in class.. But there was another little thing that I was hoping to find; a polishing iron. They’re quite expensive  to buy new but hard to find second hand..

Then suddenly at a some French stall, I saw this one lying around (and some others). I asked one of the teachers who were there aswel if they wanted to check them out with me so I wouldn’t buy a horrible on. Eventually a teacher specialised in French bindings settled on this one:

It apparently as the same shape as the ones they use in the bookbinding school La Cambre in Brussels, just the shape of the handle is different. She suggested I replace the handle with something that comes closer to the polishing part so I can hold it better (which is a nice job for my dad). And the iron needs to be polished, which I somehow find a bit ironic; a polishing iron that needs polishing.

There was a bit of confusion when agreeing on the price. At first they said it was 20€ (vingt in French). But when I came back to buy it, the price changed to quinze (15). My French isn’t that good so I kept arguing that before it was 20, much to the confusion of the seller and the people around me. Eventually we all laughed it off, or at least I did.

Headbands: 1984

Last of the headbanding posts, I promise!

I saved the best one for now.. This book is 1984 by George Orwell. And it has amazing pictures in it, some of which I have posted already when I blogged about the endpapers. All of the pictures are in hues of brown/grey/black.. But they also have an occasional green or red accents. So to make them stand out, I decided on red and green headbands.

Yes, this does make it a bit christmassy. But I added a small twist for my top graphite edge..   (also, if you look closely, there is another small bloodstain in the bottom of this book, not sure how I keep on puncturing my fingers while sewing)

 

See! The colours aren’t that christmassy anymore. And it has this very cool disruption by the invasion of the grey/brown/black colours (just like in the pictures!). You can already guess that I’m quite proud of this. Sorry for that.

Headbands: Handbook of a bookbinder

Second series of headbands.

This is the book where I’ve tried not to do anything fancy.

It’s very light and fresh, with a yellowy leather back and blue endpapers. I eventually decided (after much inner debate – so much debating went on in my head), for a creme and dark blue alternating headband, nothing fancy.

I do think they came out alright. On to the next one! I have something special planned for it..

Headband: Dante pt. 2

I found some time to do the other golden side of my Dante book. I didn’t damage it too much. Just a few bumbs near the head of the book. I’m relatively pleased about it all. Just made a small mistake with one of the pearls of the dark grey thread.

Headbands: Dante

I’ve finished one headband of my Dante book. The colours are black, gold, dark grey and lighter grey. Now I’m left to decide wether or not I will make the top one matching or if I will make it in a completely different order of colours..

Headbanding: cores

Just look at that, two posts in one day!

Nothing fancy. Just making the cores of my headbands. Not sure if I use the same method everyone else uses.

I use cigarette paper, sewing thread, some paste and two pieces of cardboard. I made 4 sizes today, with different widths of the cigarette paper.

They’re now drying on my radiator while I’m debating colour choices.