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In 1924 The Courier Mail ran a story about the Arts and Crafts and a lady from Melbourne, recently arrived, who bound books.  Mrs. R. L. Reid was from then on mentioned regularly in Brisbane newspapers for her expertise in book binding, musical talents, her presentations about crafts, and presentations on very early radio broadcasts. … Continue reading Mrs. R. L. Reid: The Craft Bookbinder →

When first learning about the effects of grain the focus is on the negatives of not having the grain run head to tail in a book. But there are times when paper grain can be used to advantage. The issues come about because when paste (moisture) is applied to paper the fibre in the paper… Continue reading Grain to Advantage →

Before 1803 all paper was made by hand.  Paper is made of cellulose fibre and during the long period when paper was made by hand the source of the fibre was cotton, flax and hemp and the source of the cotton, flax and hemp was rags and old rope.  During the Industrial Revolution the demand… Continue reading Paper Grain →

Laurence Town (1) states that one of the reasons for introducing endpapers was to prevent the first and last sections of a book from being “dragged away” from the text block by the boards.  While Arthur Johnson (2) emphasises two purposes, the pull of the board paper countering the pull of the external covering material and the… Continue reading Basic Endpapers →

I avoided the zigzag endpaper for a long time because it looks complicated.  This was a mistake, as once I studied it, I found it simple to construct and the expanding gusset is an ingenious way to reduce the drag on the sections by the boards.  Middleton states it’s unclear who invented the zigzag endpaper,… Continue reading Zigzag Endpaper →

When using decorative paper, one must use a made endpaper either because the reverse side of the decorative paper is messy, such as a hand marbled paper, or it is thin and potentially weak.  For instance, the handmade Nepalese paper I used in The Barbers’ Book of Recipes was very strong, being made of a… Continue reading Common Made Endpaper →

I really enjoy old book related newsletters and journals.  They are full of useful tips and provide historical context for the current state of bookbinding, and many are available in electronic form.  To this end I’ve started binding up sets of these, and because I intend to consult them regularly have decided to focus on… Continue reading Hidden Cloth Jointed Endpaper →

This is a surprisingly complex subject.  Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising because this material has evolved over millennia as adhesive technology has advanced.  So, there is always something new for the bookbinder to learn about while you still have to remember what was used in the past, and sometimes even replicate that.  There is no… Continue reading Bookbinding Adhesive Basics →

This is the classic 4 to 1 ratio for starch paste. Add 3 level tablespoons of starch (Silver Star Starch in my case).  The weight is too low to measure accurately on the Thermomix scales. Add 240ml of water.  If you tare the Thermomix this can be measured by adding 240g of water. This is… Continue reading Paste in a Thermomix →

Suminagashi is Japanese marbling and it is 100% fun with some frustration when starting out.  Very little preparation is required and in 1 hour you can set up, decorate a dozen sheets of paper, and clean up.  The basic techniques are simple, and the materials are easily obtained and not expensive.  It is a great… Continue reading Suminagashi →