A bit of a bind

As an antidote to all of the writing underway at the moment I have recently participated in a couple of Guy Begbie's bookbinding workshops to hone my skills, practice creating hardback books  - which I don't often attempt -  and learn some new stitches.  Here is a sample:

Multi-section hardback book

Snowshoe stitch through hard-cover

Lightning stitch through hard-cover

Japanese stab binding - Hemp leaf stitch

This Japanese binding is my favourite so far, though it did lead to sore fingers the next day.  I used a red buckram bookcloth which I haven't tried before, and although it seemed heavier and shinier than the more paper-like cloths I usually go for, once it was on the book I loved it, and it seemed a tiny bit more protective.  So far this is the most perfect book I have managed to make - until I spill something on it!

I think the stab binding techniques are the ones I will use most in my books as I often work with loose leaves of paper, I also like the visual effect they create of wrapping around the book, explicitly showing how the pages are held.  I will aim to try out some more of these and perhaps experiment with different papers to get a feel of which bindings are suited to each.