ODIN BOOKS

I have made a first attempt at a hemp leaf japanese stab bind today, below I will put the video tutorial I followed for the stitching- the rest I kind of made up as I went along!

Step 1: Cut your paper to size- it can be any size you want because you’ll make the cover to fit it afterwards. I guillotined mine for a smooth edge but if you don’t have access to one, rough pages look nice too. I used 30 pieces of individual bits of paper to make my text block, and held them together with clips to stop them sliding around.

Step 2: Cut the boards to size- I use 2mm thick board from my local craft shop. My text block pages after cutting down measured L20.5cm x H14cm, therefore I made my boards slightly longer and wider to allow for a bit of overhang to protect the pages. As the text block is flush with the spine on the left, you only need to allow for overhang on the right hand end of the book, and the top and bottom.

My measurements for the back cover of the book are: L21cm x H15cm, this allows for a 0.5cm overhang on the right edge of the book, and a 0.5cm overhang at the top and bottom of the book.

The measurements for the front cover of the book consist of two pieces, in order to allow a gap to make a hinge. The measurement for the spine part on the left was: L4cm x H15cm and the main part of the front cover measured L16.5cm x H15cm. You may notice the combined length for both these pieces is 20.5cm, which is the exact length of our text block, however when you glue the boards to the paper, you will leave a 0.5cm gap between the spine and the front cover, which will make the length up to 21cm, which will leave a 0.5cm overhang like the back cover. 

Step 3: Glue your boards to your chosen decorative paper with a thin layer of PVA glue. Cut out the paper leaving a 1.5cm excess so you can fold the edges in to cover the front and back covers of your book. To remove bubbles and creases, smooth out with your bone folder or a ruler.

Step 4: Cut the corners as shown, but make sure you leave some paper at the corners to ensure you can fold them and cover the book board.Leave the boards to dry under some heavy books.

Step 5: When the boards are dry, you can glue the flaps by folding them over and gluing with a thin layer of PVA. Use your bone folder or nails to create a little fold at the corners before gluing the flaps to the board (see picture)- this ensures all the board is encased. Leave to dry under heavy books.

Step 6: Cut your inner pages to cover the inside of your book covers. I did this by eye, aiming to leave a 3mm gap around the edges. Stick on with a thin layer of PVA glue. Smooth out with bone folder or ruler and leave to dry.

Step 7: Punch holes in both covers and in the pages of your text block- I used a japanese screw punch and an awl, but anything pointy will do. Make sure you make generous holes as I found out things get pretty tight when you start sewing! (See picture for measurements) Punch holes in your covers first and use these as a template to mark onto your text block where the holes need to be punched- make sure the edge of the text block is right up to the edge of the spine. As the text block is pretty thick, it makes sense to do it in sections. Just release one end of the block from the clips and work through, bit by bit. 

Step 8: Sew sew sew! Click here for the video I used as a guide to doing a hemp leaf pattern. To avoid running out of thread mid sew (like I did!) , I advise measuring about 10 of the height of your book worth of thread. I used plain embroidery thread to do this. 

To tie the ends of the thread after sewing, the lady in the video pushed the needle back through the spine, but as we have a hard cover book, there is no flexibility to do this. Instead I pushed the needle to the inner back cover and tied a knot (this was tricky!), and for the end you leave hanging out the spine at the beginning, I just tied a neat little knot and pushed the end in between the pages of the spine. 

Click here for an illustrated guide to the sewing pattern if you prefer that to video. 

Photos taken today at Stoneywell, a cottage in Leicestershire which has recently come into the hands of the National Trust and has opened to the public by appointment.

I went to my first training session today as conservation assistant, where I will be part of the team responsible for the ongoing conservation of the collection within the house. I will be specialising in the conservation of the book collection, so here are a few snaps of the items in question!

It is such a beautiful and quaint little place, it really is worth a visit :)

(Click link above, on the word Stoneywell in the first sentence, to be directed to the website)