Where To Start?

That has been my question to myself ever since I graduated with an MFA. A bit of a 'now what?' type feeling. I got myself a photography degree but I find more often then not that I rather just bind books, by hand. Thus my thesis ended up looking like this: 







I have always loved photography for being a voice when I had none, then I made a container for my photographs. 

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Why I Love the K-118 Binding Structure

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The K-118 binding structure is a hand bookbinding technique that I started experimenting with about a year ago. It promises reliable, easily opened books without 'Backing' the mechanical folding of sections of pages onto themselves at the spine. It uses oversized parchment spine liners that are glued, worked into the spine and subsequently interlaced with beveled cover boards. I find that at this point in the process (as shown) the book is very stable, the last picture above is an early example of this binding style I attempted, put aside, then promptly forgot about only to rediscover it last weekend - a year later. This is due in part to the fact that all of the structural components of the book are already in place. To say it a different way, the covering material is not counted on to be structural, though I have found that particularly thick leathers (4 oz+) will undoubtedly impede the opening slightly. Is it an exaggeration to love the K-118 style? For me, I don...
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Working The K-118 Binding Structure

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Mid way through working on a commissioned set of books for a carpenter friend of mine I came across a binding style referred to as the K-118 by Bruce Levy who wrote about and bench tested the structure. The K-118 structure piqued my interest immediately due to its remarkable flexibility and full access to the gutter. I originally tested the structure on a collection of books, articles and transcribed lectures on bookbinding that I digitally compiled into a single document and printed in signatures. The basics of the structure are a text block sewn on velum strips, tapes or cords in a manor to keep swelling to a minimum. The block is rounded but not backed and covers are shaped on the spine edge to continue the arch of the round of the block. Covers are attached and the spine is lined with velum cut to fit in between the supports and three times longer than the width of the spine. The excess velum on ether side of the book is cut into thirds and the outer two sections are attached to ...
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The K-118 Style

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Recently I came across what is referred to as the K 118 binding style, named so for the bindery in which it is believed to have come from. Bound in approximately 1493 in the city of Nuremberg and from all I can tell seem to be the only historical examples that exist to have been photographed. Its structure intrigued me because it seems to allow for an incredible amount of flexibility in the spine allowing for the creation of books that opened flat, had no wasted space in the gutter and did not sacrifice quality construction to achieve these ends (as is the usual case these days). Its principle elements seem relatively simple to deal with. Sewing is on supports, but cords or tapes can be chosen. Rounding is pronounced or excessive by some standards. The combination of thread thickness, gathering size and amount of round should be so, as to eliminate swell once finished. Boards are rounded on the outside of the spine edge to extend the round on the spine and the sewing supports are at...
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