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applegirl5 — Deco Book
Published: 2008-05-16 16:03:38 +0000 UTC; Views: 1235; Favourites: 15; Downloads: 11
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Another book bound using medieval techniques, but this time I used wooden decorations under the leather (these pieces were supposed to be used as build-your-own-clock decorations!). Unfortunately the leather had to be so thin to show the detail that the book is rather fragile.Leather-bound book in the Gothic style of binding (with raised endbands).
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Comments: 11
beautiful book, I love the design.
I`ve done five different kinds of book binding and I can`t figure out how to do this one. I`ve done hard bound with a flat spine, do you have a tutorial or somewhere you know of to learn this style. I love the rounded edge look.
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You don't need to pair the leather too thin to get detail through: Use a heated brandishing tool, and you can get the details to pop-out.
Excellent work, looks beautiful.
If you have a source, kangaroo leathers work well for this type of binding.
1o57
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I am not sure what you mean by paring but I am thinking about thinning the leather. That is to have a reasonably thick leather and making it thinner where needed.
There is a machine to do that but if you are careful you could use a knife or sanding paper to thin the leather.
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Paring is a technique I read about in which you thin the leather by slicing off small bits of the wrong side using a very sharp blade (I use an exacto knife, but I think there is an actual tool for it). I'm not very good, and it is very time consuming. I've done it when the leather was thicker, and I wanted to thin the areas where the leather gets tucked behind the spine etc (so that it lays more smoothly). I've never thought of using sanding paper - I'll have to try that!
The thinning machine sounds awesome. I definitely found that thinning the leather was very helpful, but also took f-o-r-e-v-e-r...Please let me know how it goes for you!
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I have not done much thinning, other then the edge of the leather where it meats paper on the covers.
Did you try it on a flat surface or did you use some kind of sphere or pipe, it requires a little more attention to the thickness at the top of the curve but works better.
Using a knife without a sharp point will work better, lesser chance of poking a hole in the leather. That is kind of obvious but I have had trouble finding blades, that do not have a sharp point, for my knife.
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That is really good to know! Yes, every time I'd tried it, I was doing it on a flat surface, so I'll have to try using something curved! Thank you. And yes, finding a knife without a sharp point is difficult to find. I just found a good blade that sits at a comfortable angle where I am less likely to hit the leather with the point. Maybe someday when I have a zillion dollars I will actually invest in a leather paring knife - the ones I've seen are kind of upturned at the end, so there isn't really a point.
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I quite like this one.
And now some questions:
What do you use as base for the covers [paper, wood or some thing else]?
Is the leather all the same thickness, or is it thinner over the decorations?
I am not sure how the decorations are shaped.
It it looks like the leather on the edges is at an incline. is that the wooden decorations or air/glue?
The question grew more numerous as I was writing this but I am stopping here.
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I use 1/8" oak plywood for the covers for my books (using plywood makes it easier to carve out notches for attaching the bookblock to the cover).
Usually the leather for each piece is the same thickness (I have tried paring the leather, but I am not very good at it. And on this particular piece, the leather I used was almost paper thin - sheep skiver? I think it was called.). Unfortunately, because the leather was so thin, it started wearing thin right away along the spine.
The decorations are somewhat angled, but some of the incline is also air/glue. After I put the leather on the cover, I put waxed paper inside the covers (to protect the pages from the gluey leather), and then pile felt squares on both sides of the book, and put it in the press. The felt compacts down and squishes the leather into the design nicely, but there are still small parts where it can't get into the tiny crevices.
I am happy to answer any questions you have - and hopefully I haven't bored you too much! I 
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Ooooh, I just want one of those books to write special things in them XD
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Thanks! They are really fun to make, and I love it when people actually USE them. I've given several away where people only wrote in the first 5 pages or so...
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I'd write in all the ideas I got for stories or just parts of my stories that I need to remember
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