It seems in any story involving witches, magical formulae, ancient legend, mystical spells or all the above, there's alllways a special book. In real life, sadly, these don't often turn up. Which is why I make mine!
Since before moving in September, I've been working on completing a couple of new leatherbound books for recipes and log entries on Potistry, herbs, medicine and magic. I wanted these designed to withstand decades if not centuries of use, which means solid construction, not merely the fanciful trinkets of so many neo-Wiccans, dabblers or teen fans! While still nifty-looking, these books are built like bricks and mean business. Both their high page count and intended longevity (barring mildew or some fanatic who burns books) have led me to call them "Century Tomes".
Right now I'm just making two more, almost finished with what will be Potus II, or my logbook's 2nd volume, and a handwrit version of the Compendium of Traditional Potions (seriously. Because what happens if the Internet goes down?! I mean). Potus II will be the one with the brown cover, the Compendium bound in black. I was aiming for Christmas as a by-date, but am still pleased with progress.
Potus II, freshly tie-bound but still naked! I used my quirky thick-signature method of drilling, gluing and binding the pages. Spine glue is archival PVA, the twine is kite string where I can't find linen; the one pink cover link is because I ran out of the other color cord! I can't emboss, but I can create a raised design using wood, hide glue and filler compound.
Close-up, Potus II's tie-offs
Fixing the cover "strut" cords in place with modern hide glue
Trying cloth strips this time for extra strength. The flowers just happened to be what I had, but I'll take the cheerful colors (a shame, they'll be hidden!). Cloth wraps around under the covers and grips the end pages
Close-up of happy flower strips; the loose tie-off ends are tucked in as much as possible
Time for the leather! Binding this one took a lot of teeth-gritting and tugging and swearing, but I eventually got the multiple bits of binding string tight enough. First, though, I pushed leather into the recesses of the front cover design. The gluing and binding happen in stages.
Close-up of leather-binding stage. Anyone who thinks crafts are for sissies ought to try binding a book of this size. This also was not the thinnest leather for the job, and thus not the easiest to work with.
Spine of Potus II in binding, waiting a couple days to make sure glue is fully dried
Bondage straps off! What a nice looking book!
A bit hard to get leather to stick in those cracks.
Out of folds of leather and chaos, a book materializes.
I painted a green wash in the cover recesses for extra finesse, and the covers have been finished, the panels and ends of the spine wrapped and glued. Second unfinished tome at lower right
Potus II's inflaps and cover pages are made of pretty plant-fiber papers and an Italian wildflower poster.
The Compendium and its Gothic recessed cover after tie-off, but before leather is added
Leather-binding time for the Compenium's spine! As before, I pressed leather into its front cover design first, and separately. This book-gluing business is tedious, done in multiple stages.
Gluing leather across the spine, waiting until it dries
Compendium, back cover. Using several directions of tied string, I made sure the leather was neatly pressed around all sides of the strut-cords' anchor points where they pass through the cover boards, for both a neat appearance and solid construction.
Strings come off! Seriously tight.
A successful binding job, I'd say. The texture of this black leather, slightly thinner than the brown, is marvelously soft.
No comments:
Post a Comment