Daniel E. Kelm
Enrollment limited to twelve.

uppose you have a book to bind, and the text paper is so pulpy and soft that you are worried that any glued spine linings will delaminate. Or, maybe you are faced with a really different challenge: creating a flexible binding from pages that are thick and stiff. Or, maybe you want to do a non-adhesive spine but the book you are binding is so large and heavy that a regular non-adhesive structure won’t be sufficiently strong. Or, maybe you need precise control of swell.

It’s hard to imagine that one structure could successfully address all these troublesome scenarios, but just such challenges have prompted Daniel to create a double-raised cord binding that elegantly serves all these needs.

The structure that we’ll investigate has a non-adhesive spine system that combines exposed sewing on double-raised cords with an interior wire along the inside fold (gutter) of each signature of pages. A significant advantage of the gutter wire is that it allows you to eliminate the kettle stitch—an inherently weak feature when not supported by spine linings. This binding—even without spine linings—yields a very strong, flexible book. Another characteristic of this structure is that the use of raised cords helps us achieve a very successful connection from text block to covers (without the need for a material such as leather bridging spine to boards).

You will create your text block by folding paper and collating the folios into signatures. Then, you’ll punch the signatures; set up the text block on a sewing frame; and attach one signature to the next by sewing around the interior wire and the cords. You will apply ultrasuede to laminated board to create the covers of your book which are then painted and decorated with sponge patterns and paint spatters.

You can expect to learn a great deal about some of the challenges binders face, and in the process make a very versatile structure.

All levels of experience are welcome.

(This workshop is not currently on the schedule. You may to request that we offer it sometime in the future.)