Last summer I wanted to re-bind a bunch of old paperbacks. I finished Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, then started on A Little Princess and a compilation of Emerson's essays. I got to the point of needing to decorate the covers, felt stumped, and got distracted with other things.
A couple nights ago, riding on momentum from finishing up another project, I finally felt inspired and started working on the Princess binding.
I was really going for the Princess theme here.
I was careful to get photos of every step in the process on this book, so now I have a montage of my paperback re-binding process.
I start by stripping off the old cover and sanding the spine down to the glue. To reinforce the spine, I sink hemp cords about 1/8" in, through the glue and just a little into the paper. Endpapers are tipped in at this point, and then it's on with the super and lining. Hand-stitched headbands complete the text block.
Meanwhile, I assemble the case by fitting new cover boards onto a piece of manila folder. This gets covered and decorated before it is finally ready to attach to the text block. Everything goes together, sits overnight under pressure, and the process is complete!
By the way, this book is available for sale here.
No comments:
Post a Comment