Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Secret Belgian Binding

Between custom orders, latest project has been to learn a new binding technique. Someone on my Etsy Bookbinding team (BEST) mentioned Secret Belgian Binding and it peaked my interest. I'd never heard of it before--maybe because it was so secret! Ha ha!

This is my first book using the new technique I learned from Annette's tutorial on Secret Belgian Binding. It's an interesting pattern of weaving thread to attach the front and back covers to the spine.

It was challenging because I misread the instructions, so I had to improvise when I got to the stitching. The "1/2" and "3/4" showed up as a blank box in my browser, which I just ignored for some bizarre reason. After things weren't lining up as they should I realized my mistake.

The inside isn't as pretty and clean as Coptic stitch, but it's still pretty cool looking. Very unusual and handmade looking! No one would mistake this for a store-bought book!

If I can find the time to perfect my technique, maybe you'll see some of these books in my Etsy shop. In the meantime, practice, practice, practice!

2 comments:

PrairiePeasant said...

This is one I've always been curious about. Your book turned out quite lovely and I hope you do make more for your shop! Thanks for sharing the link for the tutorial. I believe it's also available in a kit from Quietfire Design.

Kiley said...

I love the SBB! I had a few for sale in my shop long ago but never made anymore. Maybe I should get back to work on them too!

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