3. Sewing the Book

We now need to mark up the book block for sewing.

In the previous post I mentioned Guarding. This is the placing of a piece of folded paper over the fold of the first and last sections. These are sewn into the book and then the endpapers are pasted on to them. Pieces from the spare gilt sections can be used for this.

This is mainly done to stop the first section being dragged open when you open the book.

I personally don’t have a problem with this and find the excess material on these sections can cause resistance when rounding and backing. The book I am making here will not be using them but if you are interested in doing so I can discuss them in another post.

Place some waste board cut to the same size as the book either side and secure it all in a press. Using a carpenters or engineers square mark across the sections between a 5/10mm from the head, and 15mm from the tail. We are going to use three tapes on this book so measure the distance between these two marks and divide it by 4. Mark the waste board at these points.

There are different types of tape. For most case bound books I tend to use a 13mm starched cotton tape. For a Fine Binding, however, I use a 7mm Pliester linen tape. These are easy fray to out for the lacing-in process later.

Place a piece of tape for reference on the three positions marked on the waste board and mark either side. Using the square again mark across the sections at these points. I've also marked a diagonal line near the head. This is just in case the sections were to be mixed up, I can keep track of them during the sewing process.

Take the book from the press and remove the endpapers. Square up the book by knocking down to the head and spine and pop it back in the press along with the waste board.  

Using a fine toothed saw, such as a dovetail saw or a gentleman’s saw, saw across these marks at a depth of roughly 2mm. Just enough to nick the inner folio of each section. 

Make a template matching these saw marks and with a needle punch the holes through the double white folio of each endpaper. We do these separate from the rest of the book, as we don’t want to saw through the coloured folio of the endpaper.

We now need to set up the sewing frame.  If you don’t have a sewing frame, don’t worry. I’ve managed without one for the past twenty odd years simply sticking the tapes to the edge of a bench with masking tape.  The use of a frame though does give a stronger structure to the sewing and in the case of Pliester tapes not being starched; it just makes life that little bit easier.

Cut three tapes at least three times the thickness of the book. Wrap one end around the centre of an ‘H’ key and place it through the slot in the frame base.

 

Pull the other end of the tape taught over the crossbeam and pin it on. To save on tape I have loops already attached to my beam that I can pin the tape to.

Place the book on the frame base and line up the tapes with the sawn marks and then tighten the crossbeam. 

For this binding I’m using a slightly heavier thread than I would normally use. I tend to use a 25/3 Linen thread, which is a good all rounder. The heavier thread is purely so it shows up a little better on the photographs for you. The weight of thread used is important as it aids the swell at the spine when rounding and backing.

Take a piece of thread that’s not overly long. Try and cut enough for three to four sections. Any more than this will just make sewing awkward and just start to get a little worn and dirty. Thread your needle and tie a not at the other end but leave a tail of thread roughly 7cm or so.

Place one or two pressing boards onto the frame base. It will make sewing a lot easier.

Sewing starts on the last section, in this case the back endpaper. Start at the tail hole and enter from the spine. Pull through and exit from the next hole. Sew around the tape and re-enter through the next hole. Sewing continues in this fashion, through the holes and around the tape. Always pull taught but not too tight in the direction of the sewing. 

When you exit from the last hole in that section pull taught and place the next section on top. Sew up to the corresponding hole and continue to sew in the opposite direction until the last hole. When exiting the last hole pull taught in that direction and tie this thread to 7cm tail beneath it. These two sections are now sealed at both ends.

Place the third section on top. Sew up to the corresponding hole; sew along until the last hole is reached. This time there won’t be a tail to tie off onto. From now on we need to tie off with a Kettle Stitch.

To perform a kettle stitch place your needle underneath the section directly beneath the one you have exited from.  

Push the needle behind the last stitch and out of the head/tail. Pull until you are left with a loop and push the needle up through this loop. 

 

Finally pull up, and then you are ready to proceed to the next section. 

When the thread is about to run out you need to lay in a new thread using a Weavers Knot. It’s best to do this near a tape and not at the ends as it might interfere with backing later.  

Cut a new piece of thread and tie a slipknot in one end. A slipknot is made by performing the beginning of a standard knot, but instead of pulling the end of a thread through the loop, you need to grab the beginning of another loop and pull that through. Hopefully the photos make it a little clearer for you. 

 

Once the slipknot is made, slip it over the remaining thread in the book and tighten the loop. Finally pull the two ends of the slipknot until you hear a slight click and you will have achieved a Weavers Knot.

 

Sewing now continues in this fashion, remembering to kettle stitch at each end. When the final section (the front endpaper) is stitched, finish with a double kettle stitch. Sew a kettle stitch as normal, then do another, but this time go down through the loop created. This will give you a strong knot. 

The sewing is now complete.

Unpin the tapes from the crossbeam and remove the boards from beneath the book. This allows the H keys to drop and makes them easier to remove.

Our final stage is to ‘tip’ on the endpaper to the first and last sections. Place the book on the workbench fore edge facing you. Lift the endpaper off the book. Place some waste paper over the main body of the first section leaving 3-4mm of the spine edge exposed and paste. Remove the waste and bring the endpaper back over and position carefully. Do the same for the remaining endpaper. I like to use a starch paste for this so you have time to reposition your endpapers precisely. 

Place the whole lot between weighted boards. 

The book is now ready for our next stage, Rounding and Backing.  

 

2. Rough Edge Gilding

Before we go ahead and sew the book there is time to decide if we want to treat the edge to some form of decoration. There are many types of edge treatment and they can be applied at different stages of the binding process.

The process I am going to show you here is a form of gilding known as Rough Edge Gilding. I found this technique in Jen Lindsay’s Fine Bookbinding a Technical Guide, which I highly recommend. This is the only gilding technique I have tried, as the others quite frankly scare me, and although it’s a little tricky it’s not overly complicated.

The overall look of a Rough Edged Gilt book is a lot more natural in appearance to a Solid Gilt Edge, and a lot more forgiving to the binder.

I’m only going to gild the head of this book but you could gild all three edges if you wished. 

  

Firstly we need to give each section a liberal dusting of French Chalk along the edge to be gilded. This stops the pages from sticking together during the gilding process. If your endpapers incorporate a coloured paper then don’t chalk these as the chalk may become ingrained when under pressure in the press. 

Next alternate each section tail to fore edge. This evens out the pressure along the edge. It also means once the gilding is complete, and we put the sections back in their order, any discrepancy in the gold will be minimised. 

If you remember, when making the sections earlier, we also made some extra. These two extra sections come in to play now. They’ll be placed either side of the main book block to act as a buffer between the book and the gilding boards. Sometimes the gold might not adhere cleanly at this join, so if it does happen, it may as well happen to scrap rather than your book. It’s also good to have gilt edged paper handy if you intend to ‘guard’ some sections before sewing.

I’ll explain guarding in the next post.

We now put the book, plus extra sections between gilding boards and then into the press. My gilding boards are exactly the same as backing boards, but the angled edge has been planed off to a right angle.  Take your time to make sure everything lays in the press perfectly flat; it may take some time but persevere.  

Before we start to sand the edge make sure you wear a mask, this is very dusty work and you really don’t want to breathe it in. Also wear an apron or some other form clothing that you’re not too bothered about.

To sand the edge I use three grades of sand paper 120, 150 and 240 grit. Don’t be alarmed when you see how rough the 120 grit sandpaper is. It seems counterintuitive to attack the edge of your book with something so rough but bear with me.

Using a sanding block, wrap the paper around it and sand the edge in one direction only. This stops the build up of heat on the edge and minimises excessive marking. Sand until the surface is smooth and shiny. Avoid touching the edge with bare fingers, as you want the edge grease free. Use a soft brush to dust and vacuum regularly.

Repeat this process through all three grades of sandpaper until the edge has a high shine. When the sanding is done, dust and vacuum thoroughly in preparation for the next stage. 

For the next stages we are going to need to mix up the glare. This will be the ‘glue’ that sticks the gold to the surface, but will also be part of a mix that will seal the edge prior to gilding.

For the glare we will need 2fl oz of boiling water and a ¼ teaspoon of powdered gelatine (standard gelatine from any supermarket). Add the gelatine to the boiling water and mix until thoroughly dissolved. Leave to cool slightly before use. To make it last a little longer I stand the glass in warm water.

We are now going to apply a ground for the gold to sit on.  I’m going to use Armenian Bole, a rich terracotta coloured mineral, which will give the gold a warm glow. The bole seals the edge and can be buffed to a smooth finish, which is what we need for the gold to adhere to.

To prepare the bole, add a little powdered bole and some of the diluted gelatine solution and mix thoroughly. 

  

To apply to the edge, use a natural sponge.  Wet the sponge and squeeze all the excess water from it. Dab the sponge into the bole mixture and try a test swipe on some scrap white paper. What we are looking for is a smooth translucent wash. If its ok stroke the edge of the book with the sponge until you have a smooth covering of bole. 

 

Leave to dry thoroughly, and then using a stiff brush (a clean shoe brush will do) buff the edge till shiny. 

Our next job is to prepare the gold. In all the texts I have read on this subject, not once does it state how difficult it is to cut or handle gold leaf. Trust me, it’s tricky. They all seem to assume anyone can pick up a gilders knife and start cutting. I have never managed it, but I’m not going to let it get to me. So I tend to guild books that use as much of the piece of leaf as possible. You can always save the gilt sections for other books if you don’t want to bind a large volume.

To move the gold around easily I’m going to use ‘paper tips’. These are pieces of a 300gsm paper, cut slightly longer than the gold but shorter top and bottom so you can see the gold for ease of placement. Rub a paper tip on the side of your head/hair to grease it slightly and then gently press onto the gold while still in its booklet. The gold will stick to the tip ready for gilding.  Work out how many pieces you need for the job and have them prepared. 

 You’re now ready to gild the edge. Apply just enough glare to the edge for one piece of gold. Take one of the loaded tips and gently lower the gold side towards the edge. As you get close the surface tension of the gelatine will suck the gold off the tip. As long as you have held the tip as horizontal as possible, the gold should come off cleanly.  If there are cracks you can patch up later, but I have found it easier just to wipe the offending gold off with a glare dampened sponge and try again. 

Once the first piece is down, apply more glare painting over the first piece of gold by about ½ cm. Apply the next piece of gold as before, and continue in this manor until the edge is covered. 

 

We now have to leave the glare to dry. This takes as long as it takes, between three quarters of an hour to an hour, but if you breathe on the surface and the condensation vanishes immediately then it should be dry. Also if you try and scrape the gold on the gilding board, that’s a good indicator, as it tends to take a little longer to dry on the wood.

When dry, lightly brush any excess gold off with a soft brush. 

To make sure the gold is stuck well take some greaseproof paper, lay it over the edge and burnish through this. If the gold sticks to the paper or wrinkles start to appear, it’s not dry, weight a little longer. 

If all is well, take a Dogtooth Burnisher and burnish the edge along the sections and then across. 

When it’s done, take it out of the press, lay the whole lot on your bench and gently twist the boards of the book. Then take the book and give it a tap onto the bench, which will loosen the sections allowing you to separate them. Slightly twist or flex the book and this will further loosen the individual pages. You can now put the sections back in order; you will notice that any colour change or slight flaws in the gold will have miraculously vanished.  

  

The gilt edge is now complete. From now on we have to be very careful not to mark the edge, as it is very susceptible to knocks.

In the next instalment we will be sewing the sections together.