Back to the Books

At the end of August, I headed to the Cities to spend some time with family and take in new things at the State Fair. But, now that I’m back home, it’s “Back to the Books!” Literally.

I am on the final stage of sewing the pages into the covers and spines. I’d like to say the process is a dance with the string and for a moment it was until I was doing the Tangled Tango! The string I intended to use was something I had on hand. A commercial sized spool of what I believe was a polyester thread that was very strong, but also thin. It seemed perfect. Despite waxing to prevent tangles, I spent more time unknotting the thread than actual sewing. So after one book, I ditched it and ordered some fancy French linen thread from Talas.

What a difference! There’s a stiffness and almost wood-like feel to the thread, while still being plenty thin enough for the job. Just as a side note, this particular thread comes in 9 sizes. And much like wire, the bigger the number the thinner the thread. I ordered a size 30. Unlike the slippery tangled thread I was using, the natural fiber sort of sits in place when gently tugged. It’s hard to describe but immediately I knew I was going to be much happier. And it already has wax embedded into it, so no need for running the thread across a hunk of beeswax. So it was off to the races!

Unfortunately, I was the turtle in this Aesop’s fable, as it took 6 hours to bind the first one. Hoping to cut down the time, I began a search the web and came across a video I had watched years back about some tips for bookbinding but apparently didn’t retain any of the important things. After watching that I was able to save nearly 3 hours just because of the way I threaded my needle. This method eliminates the extra tail of loose thread that will ultimately wind its way around the main thread all too often. Also, I found I could thread the needle through a page hole and a spine loop at the same time, effectively letting me pull an eighteen foot piece of thread through 182 holes per book more efficiently. It’s actually more than that as I have to double back through some, but I am not doing the math for that. 3822 holes for 21 books though in case your interested and want to support my gofund me for massage therapy I’ll need later.

And then there’s the matter of binding the second one, which went beautifully, until it did not. The tension of the threads was pretty good, so the pages could easily lay flat. While I was admiring that, I closed the book and well, watch the video below.

At this writing, I have two books completed. If a can manage two a day, I should be done before the end of the month.

This project was made possible by a grant provided by the Five Wings Art Council with funds from the McKnight Foundation.