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Dimitri's Bookbinding corner

~ BookBinding and Brass handtools – Βιβλιοδεσίες και εργαλεία για τη βιβλιοδεσία

Dimitri's Bookbinding corner

Tag Archives: Handmade binding

The Hobbit

10 Monday Oct 2022

Posted by koutsipetsidis in -Posts about my bindings - Οι αναρτήσεις για τις βιβλιοδεσίες μου

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

artistic bookbinding, Bilbo, Bilbo Baggins, Design binding, encuadernacion artesanal, fine binding, Handmade binding, Βιβλιοδεσία, δερματόδετη βιβλιοδεσία, καλλιτεχνική βιβλιοδεσία, J.R.R. Tolkien, Leatherbound book, Reliure D'Art, The Hobbit, Tolkien

Binding J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit

I present you one of the most beautiful books ever made in my bindery, created in collaboration with Mia Heath (The Book Minder).

Reading the Hobbit

Before talking about how the The Hobbit was bound, I believe it’s important to share with you why this book is very important and deeply personal to me…

When I was 11 years old an uncle and aunt came to visit. Not knowing what to bring as a gift they had visited a bookshop and asked the bookseller to recommend something for a child of said age. “You know… I have just the thing, he’ll love it!” said he – and gave them the Hobbit.
A lifetime later I still feel grateful to that person…

Upon reading the Hobbit something clicked in me. What was a vague fondness for a number of things began to acquire form, to move in a certain direction. It acted as a spark for my imagination and creativity.
I honestly don’t know if I’d be the same person had I not read Tolkien’s books, or if I did so many years later. That’s how great an impact his work had on me.

Designing The Hobbit

I had been waiting for ages for someone to commission a very special leather binding of the Hobbit and Miss K. became that person.
She intended it as a gift for her husband on whom, like me, Tolkien’s works have had a significant impact, but also for her newborn girl. She wanted “to provide him with something special to share between them”. Isn’t that a deeply sweet thought? Truly, I cannot think of a better reason behind a gift…

With that mind, and knowing how this book has shaped me, I wanted to go the extra mile and create something really special, in the hopes that it will become one of her daughter’s most cherished books and, perhaps, a defining one as well.

The binding was to revolve around 3 elements: the round door, the autumn colors and the leaves carried by the wind, which has become a recurring theme -not always with leaves- across some of my bindings.

A lot of it is also structured around vegetation, whether that is the leaves, or the edge coloring with its many shades of green, or the marbled papers in “thistle” pattern. Hobbits, as every decent and well-informed person knows, love things that grow. They are fond of gardening and enjoy long walks in the countryside and Bilbo Baggins, the story’s protagonist, is no exception. Nature however is not without its perilous side and Bilbo will find himself in dark spider-infested forests during his journey too.

Mia, who is also a big Tolkien fan, came up with the beautiful design based on the concepts described earlier, and patiently painted it, a process that involved many days of work from initial sketches to finished decoration.

Binding The Hobbit

Painting and Edge Coloring

Although the decoration could be painted directly on the leather it would eventually wear off through use and friction. I created a tool set with leaves and acorns in different sizes, even made a custom tool just for the dragon’s eye, and then tooled the entire design. This way even the smallest painted detail sits well protected in an impression below the binding’s surface.

The edge coloring proved to be quite a challenge, as it was a new skill for the both of us. We did a great many tests until we managed to get it right: I would prepare the edges by sanding them to a very smooth finish and then Mia would do the painting. For quite a while the results had a number of flaws, such as spots flaking off, colors not showing properly or pages stuck together. After dozens of tests on books I keep around for this purpose we were able to nail it.
The result is an edge with patches in various shades of green that is looking at a forest canopy – the photos really don’t do it justice.

It couldn’t have been achieved without the help of Glenn Malkin who has made an excellent video illustrating this technique and also kindly answered some extra questions we had. Make sure to check his channel as he has some quite a few instructional videos I’m sure binders of any level will find interesting.

Tactility of the Binding

One of the things I try to take into consideration, when the project allows for it, is the tactility of a binding. Bindings are 3d objects we hold in our hands but often a lot of thought goes into how they look instead and not in how they “feel”.

This is a book that will be read and thus handled countless times, as opposed to a decorative piece that will be taken from it’s shelf/case 2-3 times in a lifetime, so I wanted it to feel special and have a tactile quality to it.

With that in mind I chose a leather with rather rough grain from Harmatan, even though they offer it in fine grain as well. Apart from beautiful to the touch it also underlines that this is a tale of old that speaks of wizards and dragons and magic rings. Another such element are the thick boards, smoothly rounded at the edges, which create the impressions of a hefty volume, as you’d expect from one that tells of such tales and is expected to be a heirloom piece, lasting many lifetimes. Last but not least, my overspending for weird papers has proven useful, as proven by the heavily textured paper used for the door that looks remarkably like wood, especially once colored and lacquered.

The Bag End’s Door

The door (painted by Olga Kotsirea) and is in many ways the centerpiece of the binding. Apart from being iconic, it represents Bilbo’s safe and cozy home, in stark contrast with all the unpleasantries he faces during his journey.

To enhance its display I created a recess on the front cover for the door to sit in, creating the illusion of depth.
Another additional detail that hardcore fans might have already observed are the runes, inscribed by Gandalf: instead of the most commonly depicted single rune we chose to go for the ones seen in a drawing by Tolkien himself: B, D and R, which stand for Burglar, Danger and Reward (in the form of a diamond).

The Hobbit’s Maps

A lot of attention has gone into every little detail of this binding, and one such important detail is the maps.
They were printed as the endpapers of the original edition I used for this binding which prohibited their re-use for various reasons and so I had to make new ones. I went in expecting it to be fairly simple to find ultra hi-resolution of Thror’s and Wilderland maps, especially given how easy it was when I was making the Silmarillion some years ago. Alas it was rather difficult and then had to spent a fair amount of time editing them, to make them clearer and sharper and for the colors to pop more, sometimes going over tiny letters one by one. For what’s more they are printed on an expensive cotton paper that can be found only in one place in Athens, which happens to be very far away from the bindery. But it was worth the trouble as I wanted the maps to feel as real as possible, to have texture and be exciting to look at.

The binding comes in a custom handmade slipcase that will keep it well protected. I really like how the exposed spine teases the viewer who is then offered a treat when pulling the binding and revealing the covers. As an additional touch, the slipcase’s spine features a snake-skin patterned leather in autumn red.

The lovely marbled papers used for the binding and the slipcase were custom made for this project by Papiers Prina. I wanted a paper that would resemble thick vegetation with copper/autumn accents to fit in with the rest of the binding, and Daniela was -once more- able to deliver!

Photos of the binding were taken by Maria Siorba, with whom I’ve happily collaborated on numerous occasions.

Bookbinding Tools used in binding The Hobbit

If you’re a bookbinder, novice or professional, you might be interested to know I’ve used my Stylus Set, Dot Set and Versatile Typeholder for the decoration of this binding, all of which you can acquire by sending me a message at koutsipetsidis@gmail.com or by visiting my Etsy shop.
You can also see all of my available tools here.

Brunelleschi’s Cupola & The Role of Mathematics (in the rise of Science)

12 Saturday Dec 2020

Posted by koutsipetsidis in -Articles about bookbinding-'Αρθρα σε σχέση με την βιβλιοδεσία

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bookbinding, Brunelleschi, buchbinden, encuadernacion, fine binding, Handmade binding, χειροποίητη βιβλιοδεσία, leather binding, leatherbound, reliure, rilegatura

Some years ago I watched a documentary on the construction of the Florence Cathedral, highlighting of course its magnificent dome and the life of its maker, Fillipo Brunelleshi. I encourage anyone with an interest in history, architecture and engineering, or good documentaries in general, to watch it!

The story behind the massive dome and its brilliant maker were most interesting and stayed with me for years so it was not without some excitement when V.G. tasked me to make a binding for a book on the architecture and physics of the dome.

One of the notable features of the dome is its octagonal shape, upon which I based the decoration.

I wanted the design to hint at red chalk, which was often used historically to draw/plan all sorts of things. In order to achieve that I used ink tooling, a technique I came up with inspired by Hannah Brown’s carbon tooling. The resulting effect is quite interesting: a dual-color impression, randomly shifting from one color to another.

Last but not least I tried to match the leather with the color of the roof tiles.

The second binding is more straightforward with a mix of blind and foil tooling on a lovely teal leather.

Both bindings feature hand-sewn silk endbands.

I used my Brass Stylus set, Dot set, Versatile typeholder and tools from Bookbindesigns (Kevin Noakes) for the decoration of these bindings.

This is my last post for 2020, which has been a very strange and difficult year. May 2021 be kinder to us all!
Best wishes for the holiday season and see you folks next year!

THE AETHRA CODEX – A FANTASY PUZZLE BINDING

28 Wednesday Oct 2020

Posted by koutsipetsidis in -Posts about my bindings - Οι αναρτήσεις για τις βιβλιοδεσίες μου, -Uncategorized

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

bookbinding, d&d, Design binding, fantasy, Fantasy journal, fantasy riddle, Handmade binding, χειροποίητη βιβλιοδεσία, δερματόδετη βιβλιοδεσία, καλλιτεχνική βιβλιοδεσία, leatherbound journal, modern codex, puzzle book, role playing game, rpg, tabletop game

The Dwarves of the Dark Mountains never cared much for gold or precious stones, although they had plenty of both. Instead, they had a mind for wandering. Their gaze was always turned towards the horizon, and what lies beyond, and so they roamed the land and sailed the great sea and discovered wonders the likes of which have inspired bards for centuries.

However they were always distrustful and secretive and so to this day no one knows where their eight kingdoms lie.

To be able to travel from one to another they created eight magnificent books, one for each of their kings: the Aethra Codices. Their covers were richly adorned and upon them the Dark Mountain Dwarves inscribed runes that would allow those who possess the correct gemstones to find their way to one of their kingdoms.

This is one of those books, an Aethra Codex. I leave it, and its mysteries, upon your hands…

Proudly presenting the Aethra Codex: a Fantasy Puzzle Binding.

I’m a passionate fan of tabletop role playing games and the basic idea behind this journal was people could use it as an in-game artifact. It could inspire a story and/or be part of it. Players would no longer have to imagine such a volume; it would be real, something taken out of a fantasy world, the mysteries of which they could now discover and hold in their hands.

I’ve wanted to do such a project for a very long time as it combines many of the things I love and enjoy: RPGs, bookbinding, coming up with puzzles and riddles, mechanical challenges and problem solving in crafting, metalworking and, most of all, stories…

I truly hope I’ll be making more like this in the future. This was only proof of concept, the ideas are there…

Click on the above images for a HQ close view of the covers

The Puzzle

The Aethra Codex (“Aethra” meaning bright star, splendor, or clear sky in Latin) has 3 different challenges/puzzles and each has to be solved in order to progress to the next one.

The players have to find a way to translate the runes, which are Futhark with a few minor changes I made to accommodate tooling of the design.

However after the runes are translated to English the resulting text is gibberish. The players have to decrypt it using a Caesar Cipher, a form of substitution encryption based on a specific number.

Once the text is decrypted they are left with two poems. The first one (back cover) says:

You who seek wisdom of old
Follow the light of many a star
To reach the realms and lands afar
Where hidden perils lie untold
.

The second one (spine) says:

White is the coldness of the North
Green the East with forests vast
Blue the West where ships sail forth
Red the rays by the South sun cast
And black the night between them all
.

When those are interpreted through a more symbolic lens the first one reveals where the gemstones are hidden: within the corner pieces.

The second one gives the proper placement of the gemstones on the 8 sockets of the front cover’s star in the same manner. Watch the gif above to see a gemstone revealed and placed on the star!

This set-up is not meant to be binding for the DMs. Instead of being placed in the corner pieces the gemstones may be found at different in-game locations, in which case the poems have mostly literal meaning.

The challenge can also be extended in various ways f.e. the runes can be an ancient or forgotten Dwarven alphabet, in which case the players can’t translate them from the get go. The phrase “Follow the light of many a star” might refer to a constellation or something beyond the codex. A new challenge, conceived by the storyteller, may be revealed when the gemstones are placed on the star. The possibilities are endless.

In conclusion the puzzles/challenges I incorporated in the binding are mostly meant as an inspiration for the DMs. The texts do not mention specific names and are written in an abstract/generic enough manner that encourages creativity and can easily be adapted and utilized in any story!

The crafting

Making the Aethra Codex has been an undertaking of epic proportions. Everything about it had to be conceived, designed and made by myself. I had to do a lot of tests and experiments, create new tools and tackle various structural challenges.

The biggest of those was making the corner pieces which had to be sturdy, small, securely attached to the binding and with the necessary space inside them to hide the gemstones. Ticking all those boxes was far from easy.

Each corner piece is made of 4 different parts and solidly riveted on the binding. They were, as was the star, hand carved out of wax and then bronze cast.

The design was mostly inspired by Astrolabes, those most mystical-looking and yet historical instruments, that sailors used to navigate the seas!

It’s also easy to overlook how beneath all the runes, brass details and gemstones, the Aethra Codex is a high quality binding. It has been given all the attention I devote to any of my fine bindings and has many of their characteristics such as sewn-in boards, handsewn silk headbands,  leather joints and composite boards to name a few.

As a bonus touch I polished the entire surface with a polishing iron to make it look used and worn, resulting in a wonderful sheen that’s not visible in the photos.

Last but but not least, for my fellow bookbinders: I’ve mostly used these tools to make the Codex, which you can see/buy at my tool page:
– Brass Band nippers
– Bookbinding Stylus set
– Dot set

Hope you enjoyed reading about the Aethra Codex!

Strange Tales and El Tarot

09 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by koutsipetsidis in -Posts about my bindings - Οι αναρτήσεις για τις βιβλιοδεσίες μου

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bookbinding, bookbinding tool, brass finishing tool, El Tarot, Handmade binding, χειροποίητη βιβλιοδεσία, Βιβλιοδεσία, Εργαλεία βιβλιοδεσίας, δερματόδετο, leather binding, marbled paper, Strange Tales

After 10 years or so I’ve been working as a bookbinder I realized at some point my work is almost exclusively comprised of design bindings. Equal parts chance and choice have led to this: I just happened to have more clients asking for simple design bindings initially, I focused more on them since I liked it and in turn they attracted more work of the same kind.

So, what’s wrong with that? Nothing really, I love doing design work! However constantly trying to come up with creative ideas and ways to implement those can be draining…
Classic decorations require a fraction of the inspiration and there’s endless reference material at hand to rely on concerning the design. As such they involve a lot less stress and it’s easier to be satisfied by the end-result, at least from the creator’s point of view.

It’s actually funny because most of my colleagues here in Greece are burdened with non-design work and often yearn for more artistic commissions! Nonetheless it seems there can be too much of a good thing and I found myself on the opposite side, longing for the day a client with a taste for more classic work would appear.

Enter V.G., a bibliophile with a wide range of interests, who got in touch and delivered salvation to my bookbinding soul! V.G. wants a series of books bound in classic manner and these two are the first I’ve completed.

Strange Tales features one of my old time favorite marbled papers, by Arzanart in Venice. What really sets it apart though is its decoration, which was achieved with two stamping inks of different color. I first saw a similar technique used by Hannah Brown (have you read her interviews?), who was most helpful in sharing some information and advice, though she uses carbon leaf instead.

Here’s what I did:
1) Cold press the handtool for the first impression.
2) Blind tool (hot).
3) Then cover the tool’s face with ink from the inkpad and stamp the tooled impressions (cold). I did this 2-3 times (with the first color) depending on how well the ink was transferred and the tone I wanted to achieve.
4) Blind tool again – this helps the ink set.
5) Repeat step 3 with a different ink.
6) Blind tool a final time.

As you can see this requires a great deal more time compared to foil. The result is interesting though as the decoration has a gradient look, shifting from blue to purple.

If you want to try this make sure to do tests first, as some ink colors end up looking quite dark depending on the leather you’re using, or don’t mix well together.

El Tarot is a peculiar book, filled with strange artwork.
Its oddness is reflected by its unusual shape which is – you guessed it – that of a Tarot card. I’ve never bound a book as tall and narrow and I assumed it would bug me but I actually found it very enjoyable to work with! There’s something oddly satisfying handling a door-shaped book, can’t put my finger on it.

Given that I went for a simple decoration I thought to add some spark and luxury through genuine gold leaf. I’m very happy with how it turned out, it reminds me of some old volumes I’ve seen in libraries and I believe it’s my first binding to achieve this look-feel so well.

Since the binding is so classic but the book is quite quirky I wanted to include a quirky element in the binding as well. The endbands were the perfect candidate, being too narrow for a traditional handsewn style. I played around a bit and the result is this curiosity, both covered in leather and handsewn with silk thread. Fitting!

To make those bindings I used:
1) My brass band nippers
2) My stylus set

3) My dot set
4) Tools from Kevin Noakes

Bindings for You – Cloth bindings

22 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by koutsipetsidis in -Articles about bookbinding-'Αρθρα σε σχέση με την βιβλιοδεσία

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bookbinding, cloth binding, Frankenstein, Handmade binding, πανόδετη βιβλιοδεσία, ραφτή βιβλιοδεσία, χειροποίητη βιβλιοδεσία, Βιβλιοδεσία, Jane austen, Mary Shelley, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility

It’s been a while but Bindings for You are back, this time in cloth!
Three classic works of literature available for you to acquire.

Key features:
– Covered in bookbinding cloth

– Handmarbled paper
– Handmade cloth endbands
– Handtooled titles on leather labels
– Line tooling in foil on both covers and spine.

Title tooled on irregular pieces of leather, hinting at the frozen landscape included in the story but also at the fragmented nature of Frankenstein’s creation.

The books are Everyman’s Library editions of:
– Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (available)
– Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility (available)
– Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (available)

Cost – 100 euros for each volume (excluding shipping)

If you’d like to own of them you can:
1) Order through email – koutsipetsidis@gmail.com
2) Visit my Etsy shop The Bookbinder’s Bench

Upcoming: leatherbound copy of Orwell’s 1984

You can browse other available bindings by visiting Bindings for You subpage!

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CONTACT INFORMATION – ΕΠΙΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑ

You can find me at koutsipetsidis@gmail.com or leave a comment here and I'll get back to you!

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