Elderberry's Handmade Notebooks

[elderberry]

Thanks Kkay

 

I've always had some trouble choosing a "favorite" color and now more than ever because I see so many amazing color combinations. Blue-yellow is an all time classic though.

 

 

This is an A5 sized coptic book with about 70 pages of chamois 135 gsm paper. The bookcloth is a two tone orange-yellow. The paper reminds me of tiles I've seen in fountains or old swimming pools. I really love it.

 

 

The grey-black bookcloth combined with embossed lizard paper could become an all time favorite. This one is filled with 200 sheets of Tomoe River paper. I like the subdued design but I also believe it just needs the red in endbands and bookmark.

 

 

 

Also more "Leipziger Vorsatz" because it's awesome.

 

 

The 135 gsm paper I used for this one is quite stiff. It would make for a suitable sketchbook as well as a notebook. It's a bit of a struggle to bind though, I think I'll only use it for coptic books in the future.

 

 

 

[elderberry]

May was short on bookbinding activities, lots of long weekends spent with friends, vacation... now I've had some time for new projects. Also I made a few custom journals, opportunities I'm super grateful for!

 

I liked the yellow and blue design so much I used it for a hardcover book as well as the coptic binding from the last post.

 

 

It's A5 sized. Paper is Tomoe River.

 

 

For the endpapers I used some Ingres Buetten. It has an amazing vergé texture, especially the darker colors.

 

 

Endbands are starting to become fairly smooth and regular by now.

 

The magic of a blank page, an empty notebook. It could become anything.

 

 

Also more of the faux leather reptile paper. I'm starting to have fun with coptic bindings.

 

 

As I have TR in abundance, at least for now, I also tried a coptic binding. It went pretty well though I think I could use more sheets per signature (9 for this book).

 

 

I used a sheet of thin but stiff cardboard whenever I had to open the signatures, sew between them or press down on them as even a bit of hand sweat might leave a mark on the paper.

 

The yellow and brick red book cloths are two tone, they change color depending on the angle. In these colors the effect is subtle but it can be more spectacular, like in this purple and indigo cloth:

 

 

The effect is hard to capture with a mere picture though, a video might be necessary. I guess as I'm also a fan of shimmering ink it's no surprise I like those.

[fountainpagan]

:wub: :wub:

 

And how fast you progress!!!! Your notebooks are perfect!

 

Congratulations.

[TMLee]

I like your bookbands very much . 👍

 

Wish I knew how to make them 😊

They do make a significant impact on the overall aesthetics.

 

I like the Tan reptile one 👍 ,

Looks good 😊

[TMLee]

How do you align the flyleaves to the hardcovers when gluing at that stage ?

 

I always struggle at this part, never satisfied.

One reason why I gave up doing hardbacks a Long time ago.

 

Seeing your books ( and Gatzbn's ) makes me want to try again but it's just wishful thinking, I suppose 😏

[KKay]

Outstanding work!

[Noihvo]

[elderberry]

:wub: :wub:

 

And how fast you progress!!!! Your notebooks are perfect!

 

Congratulations.

 

Thank you so much!

 

I like your bookbands very much .

 

Wish I knew how to make them

They do make a significant impact on the overall aesthetics.

 

I like the Tan reptile one ,

Looks good

 

Thanks, I think that's one of my favorite papers ever. It comes in huge sheets (70x100 cms I guess) but when I run out I'm eager to try the other colors.

 

Making endbands isn't hard at all, a little practice is all it takes. I found this tutorial to be the most helpful:

http://www.ibookbinding.com/videos/video-tutorials-on-making-sewing-headbands-endbands-bookbinding/

 

How do you align the flyleaves to the hardcovers when gluing at that stage ?

 

I always struggle at this part, never satisfied.

One reason why I gave up doing hardbacks a Long time ago.

 

Seeing your books ( and Gatzbn's ) makes me want to try again but it's just wishful thinking, I suppose

 

Seeing your work I really can't imagine you'd have any difficulties with this step! It's all so neat and perfect.

 

It helps to trim the endpapers and cut away about 1 mm of the width to make up for the stretching of the fibers once they are moistened. I have to admit I forget about that sometimes but it looks neater that way.

 

I have two different methods of finishing the book, depending on whether it's a cloth case binding or a (half) leather binding where the cover boards are attached directly to the book block using a layer of shirting cloth. In the latter case all the aligning is done when I glue the book boards to the shirting (which also goes around the spine), there's not much room for surprises later.

 

With a cloth binding it's a little more exciting, cover and book block being separate entities until the last moment. Before glueing I put the book block into the cover (back pre-rounded), align everything and put them under a weighted board so they can get accustomed to one another. That works best if the cover is still a little moist so it's good to put in some barrier sheets to protect the book block from the moisture.

After some hours or on the next day I remove the weighted board, open the cover, glue the endpaper and the inside of the cover, close the book, turn the book around, carefully smoothen the end paper and mold it into the joint (carefully indeed, or you might make a hole - ask me how I know this) then do the same with the other side.

 

However! The results aren't always perfect. If the book block is out of square by the fraction of a millimeter, this is the point where it will show mercilessly and for me getting the book block square is one of the hardest things of all. I've decided not to care all too much about that though.

 

Outstanding work!

 

Thank you!

 

 

Thank you! I started off at a similar point, and that with the front edge being the easiest to cut with a knife - it's head and tail where it gets really annoying. I gave in rather quickly and bought a cutting machine - blade length 30 cms for about 400 80 gsm sheets. It wasn't even very expensive, around € 120,- I think and those were some of the most wisely spent Euros ever. I still needed some practice and messed up a few times but I'm getting there. I cut the front edge before rounding and backing the spine and the head and tail edges afterwards.

Head and tail edges are mainly a cosmetic issue but cutting the fore edge also makes leafing through the book that much easier.

Edited July 11, 2016 by elderberry

[elderberry]

Black goatskin and Bomo Art paper.

 

 

 

Inside there's 120 sheets of pure cotton paper made by Gmund here in Germany. When bookbinding you gain a profound knowledge of the paper you're working with. Each one is different, this one especially so. It's 110 gsm but very thick so for the next ones I'm going to use only 100 or 110 sheets.

 

 

 

Gave this one to my Mom as a gift, she loves flowers and she likes my books though she doesn't write at all.

[TMLee]

Beautiful .... !

[elderberry]

Thank you TMLee!

 

I made some new books and also managed to take some shots of the process. I usually have a bunch of unfinished books lying around, that works best because of the drying and pressing time required. They are usually at varying stages of incompletion but this time all of them were roughly at the same point which was pretty funny.

 

 

Book blocks are finished, boards glued onto it, endbands and bookmarks also finished. The hollow spine is still missing and the boards' width needs to be cut to size before I can start with the covers. All of them are to be half leather bindings.

 

 

Half a day later the spines are covered. Some of them have fake nerves under the leather which always makes for a nice effect but I also like the smooth spine.

 

I made some more pictures but they're still on the camera, I'll post them later these days.

 

Here's some books I've finished last weekend. They're all made of Tomoe River paper with goatskin spines and corners.

 

 

 

 

 

The cover is handmade marbled paper in the turkish Ebru tradition. I really like the mix of comb and droplet patterns. These papers are definitely nicer than the printed marble ones, they're a little rough to the touch, you can feel the layers of color.

 

 

Royal blue goatskin with blue Ebru:

 

 

 

The only downside is that once a sheet is used up, there's no telling if something similar will be available again. Each is one of a kind.

[elderberry]

Good morning!

 

Managed to take some more pictures of the bookbinding process as far as I could manage without a remote or a helper.

 

After the boards are trimmed and spine and corners are in place the rest of the boards is lined with heavy paper on the in- and outside to even out the added thickness of the leather. This is to avoid visible steps and ugly creases in the cover paper.

 

 

The wraparounds on the inside of the boards are trimmed.

 

 

Rectangles of paper are cut to size to line the inside of the boards as I don't want any visible steps or creases there either.

 

 

 

It doesn't always fit that snugly but mostly it does. For me this step is quite the chore but it does a lot for the overall neatness of the book.

 

 

Cover paper is cut to size. This takes a while but everything seems to go with lightning speed from here on out. These are the final steps.

 

 

The cover paper is being glued onto the boards and boned down thoroughly. Pencil marks on the inside are helpful to make sure the cover papers are sitting on the boards in a straight and symmetrical fashion. Also if the motif on the cover paper needs to face in a specific direction this is the last chance to mess the book up thoroughly.

 

After one final step of glueing the end papers to the inside of the boards the books are finished. They now need to dry under a weighted board for several more days until they are ready for use.

 

[drv1913]

Your books are just lovely!

[Noihvo]

As I have said before, I love your work, and inspired by you, I am stepping up my bookbinding game. I am quite comfortable with case binding with straight spines by now, and I want to move onto rounded spines (though not backed ones quite yet).

 

 

My problem is that I have a hard time finding tutorials or instructions on how you make the covers with the soft spine, especially the half-leathers you are such an expert on. These last pictures have been a great help, but I still wonder about the major differences in the making of the covers of case-bound full-cloth covers, which you just glue onto the text block, and soft spines. Or am I just over-thinking it, and they are made in exactly the same way?

 

Could you maybe point me in the right direction of an online tutorial for the making of half-leather covers, or maybe show a few more of those lovely photos of yours? They would probably be the steps just before the photos you last published.

 

Huge thanks!

[elderberry]

Your books are just lovely!

 

Thank you for your kind words!

 

As I have said before, I love your work, and inspired by you, I am stepping up my bookbinding game. I am quite comfortable with case binding with straight spines by now, and I want to move onto rounded spines (though not backed ones quite yet).

 

My problem is that I have a hard time finding tutorials or instructions on how you make the covers with the soft spine, especially the half-leathers you are such an expert on. These last pictures have been a great help, but I still wonder about the major differences in the making of the covers of case-bound full-cloth covers, which you just glue onto the text block, and soft spines. Or am I just over-thinking it, and they are made in exactly the same way?

 

Could you maybe point me in the right direction of an online tutorial for the making of half-leather covers, or maybe show a few more of those lovely photos of yours? They would probably be the steps just before the photos you last published.

 

Huge thanks!

 

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by soft spine. What are you using right now for the straight spines, do you use they same greyboard as for the boards? If so, for a rounded back you simply need to use a more pliable type of cardboard. Here in Germany it is called "Schrenz". It's the same type of card often found on the backside of wall calendars or pads, it just should bend reasonably well.

 

The only tutorial I can think of right now is one in German, it's this one: http://lost-im-papierladen.blogspot.de/2013/03/anleitung-fur-die-weiterverarbeitung.html

 

You can actually make a case binding with half leather, it's not hard, the tricky bits are the paring of the turn ins and hinges and making the head and tail caps should you decide to do so but if you use a really thin skive much of the paring can also be avoided. A really great blog on the topic is Papercut Bindery http://papercutbindery.blogspot.de, the owner really knows his stuff and a lot of the process is explained there, also a rather advanced method of making a quart binding with a hollow spine.

 

I really like your books, where do you get the printed book cloth or did you use some other fabric?

[Noihvo]

 

[da vinci]

Amazing work Elderberry, you must be very pleased with the results of your continuous improvement.

[elderberry]

Noihvo, that's an interesting option, what do you use for layering the cloth with paper so it can be used as book cloth?

 

I got some undyed natural linen bookcloth lately, I think my next endeavour will be dying/painting it, not sure what dye to use though, acrylic would probably be best but don't have any. I've tried watercolors but other than on paper they still stain once dried through so that's no option. I fear applying a finisher will diminish the unique feel of the linen. Maybe I'll get some pre-owned acrylic paints and just explore.

 

That's what the finished books from the last post looked like:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're all covered in oasis goatskin. The first one also features some Ebru paper - another awesome sheet, I really like them -, the second one is a Bomo Art design and the third some Italian marbled paper. Inside it's 100% cotton paper and some colored laid paper end sheets.

 

They're all gone to new homes already which is great and also a little sad but taking my current journaling speed it would take me months to even finish my current journal and get started in one of those - so no sense in hoarding them, more sense in hoarding raw materials. I have quite a few suitable leather skins lying around but I continously have to stop myself from buying new ones.

 

 

 

Amazing work Elderberry, you must be very pleased with the results of your continuous improvement.

 

da vinci, thanks for your kind words! Well I am pleased with the results. Sometimes. For 5 minutes or so.

[KKay]

Excellent work. You just keep getting better.

[Noihvo]

Noihvo, that's an interesting option, what do you use for layering the cloth with paper so it can be used as book cloth?