The Rose Family Seder - 2004 to 2014

Well.....what can I say, but if you read the first part....here....I thought this would take a couple of weeks - I was wrong.

However, the book I was dreading is finally done. I say dreading because of the state of the pages i was given.

The previous temporary Rose Seder binding had been stuffed with pages, all glued in in-properly cockled, boards glued to pages, all of the margins ignored!, and just a bit of mess really.

First it had to be broken up, and those folds that could were sewn on stubbs. Pages that were not folds were gaurded, the boards were removed and some beautiful caligraphy was reframed using more appropriate paper and japanese tissue. Pages were joined into folds, and sewn onto stubbs, and some artwork that had been very poorly glued in were removed, carefully seperated and remounted on the appropriate paper.

All of this was rather nerve racking because all the artwork inside is completely original and irreplaceable, so...slowly slowly.

The signatures had to be individually gilded as there were many parts that needed gaurding compensation , were of different sizes, thickness, and as I mentioned before, some leaves were laminated to museum board , so doing it all at once was not an option....bad news for me, and for my gold.

We haven't even got to the binding yet.....a stubb binding, so all stubbs are sewn using an unsupported french link. Because of the size of the book(15x12x2) I knew I was probably going to have to split the binding up into 3 parts, as I wanted to use goat, and there aren't many skins about in a 1st quality large enough to do the whole thing in one go. Besides, I think it worked better that way.

Its backed in the normal way, lined,  it got a 3/4 hollow, a cartonnage spine, finished with a paper cape which runs along the spine and over each edge about 2 inches which I will use along with the leather to attach the boards.




 The spine was covered and head caps made in the normal manner, the boards made up, lined and covered , and only turned-in along the spine edge.

I made several designs on paper, all were variations on circular straight line tooled patterns, chose the simplest( and best i think!). Have it on hand and ready to go before you cover, that way your blind tooled lines will go a lot better.

The gold work took 2 days, 1 board a day, then they were attached and turned-in.

As you can see a leather joint was put in, in the french manner, and doublure of white calfskin could be inlaid.

Further tooling around the edges of the doublure was completed, and finally a goatskin suede laid down on the fly and trimmed.

After some simple tooling on the spine, a box was constructed with one my favorite additions of an outer wall along the trays.

The Rose Seder books will be on display at the NYPL from April 3rd to the 22nd for Passover, although possibly not this one, but they are worth a look - this is the forth.

All said and done....I like it....it was very hard to make ....took way too long, and came at a bad time .


But I'm back.......and badder than ever!

gold tooling demo (warning :explicit material)

ok people, so this one's supposed to be just a bit of fun.Abby, if you're out there, boxes are getting cranked out,I promise.
We took video of this tooling to highlight this particular method in use.
However guys, just because it's bookbinding, doesn't mean its all bach and tweed.
If you can get past the soundtrack, its a good demo(apart from the unnecessary headshots).The video is on youtube, the links are at the bottom, and you'll have to cut and paste it in the finder box, you can also adjust the video quality.
Remember, you can't take yourself seriously all the time-keep it real....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9YCAuxEk_M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeSWgD7Dh3I

On another note, I've added the ability to subscribe to the blog via e-mail.
Sorry for the bad pic, it's all I had left.

Berenger - Finishing

Finally its here, covered, the books are ready for the really fun part(!?!)...Finishing.
Before I get to the prep.work, the best way to proceed is to work out what tools I'm going to use.
I don`t have an ink pad, so I make mock spines and boards, and use foil to mark-up for tooling.
Now I`m not one to blame my shortcomings on my tools, but succesfull period binding depends on having the correct tools for the job.
My fledgling collection certainly is far from complete(3 sets of corner tools , and 3 center tools!!)but a trip downstairs to the ever accomodating Aaron at Talas, soon puts that right.I love now that if I need anything I can pop downstairs and see the neighbours, and I`m sure they don`t mind either.....the jury is out on what Denise might have to say!
On the upside, I think I've been shrewd in choosing the wheels(the wall is almost there!).A lot of Bindings in the 18thcentury are characterised by fat rolls of gold decoration along the edges of the boards,fillets, with centre designs such as harlequins,ovals,varios seals , with some designs covering the expanse of the binding.I know what I`m not doing, that is, any tree-marbling, or onlay work, and there will no pattern made-up of individual hand tools.On the front and back boards I'm going to do a panelled pattern, minus the corner and side tools.I don't have a really fat wheel, but what i do have are wheels, that I can double-up and reverse tool(Doubling the size of the pattern).
When I've worked all that out, it's time to make the parchment size , to be used instead of the paste wash for goat.You can get the parchment scraps by weight from talas, cut them up into bits of approx. 20x20mm , boil them gradually reducing the liquid to a viscous gelatine size, usefull for some edge decoration too.
The books get two coats of the size and two coats of glaire(shellac based).
*nb only prep.what you can handle completing in a day.I split the work in 2 days between boards and spines.When its done, the turn-ins get a Dentelle of the outside wheel doubled again in blind.The ends put down, the books pressed, and finally the boards polished with a wax emulsion.
*nb, you don't need to polish the spines...... you don't......unless you want all that finishing to crack off !
Just in time for the show........

bibliog:"bookbinding"(arthur w johnson)
"the history of decorated bookbinding in england" (nixon and foot)
"james scott and william scott bookbinders"(j h loudon)

How do you get to Carnegie hall ???

....so every now and then Carnegie Hall wants to honour someone , usually a donor with very deep pockets , or commemorate a season , lifetime ......whatever the reason I`m glad of it as it means I get to make some nice bindings , stamp their great plates in leaf , and use my first ever and favourite wheel.
The binding is pretty starightforward....a case with inlaid panels , usually red , but this weekend green ... but then comes the finishing...
It did admitadly take me some time (good tip coming)to figure out that the best way stamp difficult plates in leaf was to not use anything to hold the leaf in place.This may be pretty obvious to some , but I always have to learn the hard way.The red book is a lot larger , and the plates more difficult . The image of the hall is problematic , due to its size(approx6x9) , its very detailed , and it`s top-heavy , meaning its position underneath the blocker is key to getting a good impression.
The text plate has a large wide band of gold , which is not impossible to clean out with butane , if you are sticking down with vaseline , but it takes nerves of steel.......as does removing , cleaning , and replacing underneath the press , and stamping again.....trust me , it does.
No , the key , is to position under the press , lay the leaf ontop , stamp , and brush out easily using a soft-haired brush - quicker , easier , and just an all round better result.Obvious to everyone but me right?
After stamping , the back of the book is put in , headcaps made , tied-up , and left over night to dry . Then next , a hand rolled wheel across the front and back boards , but first as in the photo , gold is laid down .The tool is then rolled across the gold , and butane is used to clean of the excess , hopefully leaving behind the pattern!!
I chose the wheel as the pattern was simple , open , and the raised petals were just about the right size to ensure a good finish pretty easily .
On the more recent green book , I did try a different gold . For the past several years I have been mostly using a French pale 22 carat , on new work . This was originally because i found the shade more appealing , but later it became clear that it is actually easier to use , than the fine stuff.I did try some years ago , the 24carat fine gold that Talas has , but found it incredibly delicate and prone to cracking , and flying around , etc! But , guess what , another 4 day turnaround , and i`m out of pale , ...I`ve got plenty of fine though , so I gave it a shot , and it came out.
Yes , the 24 carat is more delicate(seems lighter , poss.due to not being mixed with alloy) , and it did require some repair work , but it came out just as good.
In the little I have learnt and understand about working with gold in the past five years , it`s all about confidence(positive action) , and confidence can only be gained by experience , and experience is only gained by failure....lots of failure...
But its just like the cliche
How do you get to Carnegie Hall
practise , practise , practise (sorry !!!it was just too easy)

tooling demo

......so, i got some response to my first items, one of them asked for a deeper explanation of the tooling process .

At work today I had to finish a book for a friend, and I took pics along the way.........

Veterans amoung you will know that an attempt to explain tooling in 1 blog post would be pure folly, but what i can offer is an explanation of what I did today, in one instance, on one book....

Its a cute little red book, palm size, so I`m going to use my 8pt edinburgh to letter, and do some simple single pallets above and below the raised bands......

First, i gotta burnish the book, its small so i can do it using hot plates in the kensol......very quick, very effective.

I paste wash the skin, and tool the lettering and lines in blind .

After glairing up the blind impressions, it is decided that i will use 2 methods for completing the gold work.......

First I will tool the lines, by picking up the gold on the brass pallet.Rub my nose, run the nose grease along the pallet, pick up a chopped line of gold, and drop it in.

I have found that this is best so far, as it avoids filling-in over the bands, and any unnecessary cleaning.

Second, applying the leaf directly to the surface for the lettering using a layer of grease.

The tooling is completed, and grease removed, leaving a simple but rich finish...

One note, you may have noticed the rather cumbersome glove I`m wearing on my left hand.

This is of course enables me to position the tool without burning my fingers(Michael Wilcox uses a thumb cover made of leather , vis , his video on gold finishing)...........but i gotta tell you about these gloves ......My mother in-law gets them for me (thank you juliet)maybe they are store-bought or available everywhere .....but she uses them for sewing thermal blankets for satellites such as cassini (orbiting saturn at the moment) , and the mars rover for Space Systems Loral .

Maybe I`m wrong about this, but as far I`m concerned i can pick up leaf like paper with these things...further experimentation could prove fruitful, but maybe any kind of cotton glove can do the same !!!!!

Either way, I love them, and I hope she keeps sending them!

design on the fly day 4 last day

The last day, is left for the tooling to be completed . The box is removed from the press, and pressed between hotplates, burnished and pastewashed before tooling .

The first task is the title and author, handtooled in gold as per the brief in a 16pt centaur . The gold laid on, lettering tooled and cleaned off .

Next is the bit im not looking forward to, tooling the lines again in black .

This helps seal the onlays, and finish the design.

This takes the rest of the day, and my right arm is glad when its over.....perhaps i could have done fewer lines! Maybe used some gold or palladium , maybe not the used the orange!!???

In the end, it's a good effort for the short timeline...