Bookbinding 101: Linen Tape

When a book structure calls for tape, linen tape was traditionally used, and today it is still used by most bookbinders and conservationists instead of cotton tape.

It's not sticky backed tape like duct or masking, rather, it is basically a narrowish woven fabric, which you sew, and maybe also glue, to the pages when constructing some styles of books. The ends of the tapes are then glued, and/or sewn, onto the covers. The last photo below shows one way tape is used in bookbinding (however ribbon was used rather than linen tape - the stitch is the Romanesque stitch).

Linen tape comes in different sizes. Just pick the width that fits your design and/or budget.

Cotton tape is not as strong but it is cheaper, so if you're making a book that doesn't need to last for a long, long time, then it can be a good alternative that costs less.

Cotton tape

A trick I learned from Lizzy House: use book cloth as the tapes. I've had a lot of fun experimenting with this.

Bookcloth can be a tape substitute

Here are three good reasons to try substituting linen book cloth for linen tapes:

Reason 1: you can cut the book cloth into strips as wide as you need to, which especially helps when creating larger books. 

Reason 2: The linen bookcloth, if backed with paper, adds extra strength to the binding, and adds a little thickness (which can help for reason 3).

Reason 3: You can make fun designs with the tapes on the inside or outside of the cover by cutting the ends into shapes. In a previous post we have a few examples of book-cloth-as-tapes showing through the the paste down (the paste down being the cover side of the endpaper). The pages are sewn onto those tapes just the same way as can be seen here. You may optionally place the decorative ends of the tapes on the face of your cover, and depending on the book structure it may either show as a raised design through the cover material, or you may leave it visible. The last photo below shows visible tape on a completed book (albeit with ribbon instead of book cloth).

Reason 3a: With book cloth, your color choices are much greater than when using "real" tape, giving you more options in your design.

Book cloth backed with paper

You may of course use traditional linen or cotton tape in similarly decorative ways, but book cloth gives more options in width, shape, and color.

You can also use ribbon instead of tape or book cloth, but durability may not approach that of linen.

Ribbon used as tape - works, but may or may not be as durable
- Romanesque stitch -

Anything to add to the discussion? Please leave a comment.

Cordbound Class at the Central Utah Art Center

Cordbound Bookbinding Class 

Central Utah Art Center 

86 North Main Street - Ephraim, UT 

June 16, 2012 

10 am - 4pm 

Class is for beginners but all levels welcome!

 The workshop goes from 10am to 4 pm with an hour break for lunch. You're welcome to bring a sack lunch. The cost is $55 per person which includes the materials and some tools you'll need for the class. Bring a friend and get a discount! $30 off when you and a friend sign up together.

To register and pay for the class, sign up here (Note that there are two options in the drop down menu):

A seat for me!$55.00 USD A seat for me and a friend!$80.00 USD

In the class you'll create a traditional quarter leather cordbound book using modern methods and tools. The cordbound book dates back to the 5th century and it was introduced when Byzantium monks established their first scriptorium, Byblos, in modern Lebanon. The Arabs were the ones to bring this style to life with all sorts of decorative work, gorgeous gold embossing and clasp closures. They still make the most wonderful cordbound books in the world. With your choice of leather and papers from around the world, you’ll create and keep your own raised cord bound book.

Students need to bring both a sack lunch and the basic tool kit. Everything else is provided!

Basic tool kit to bring: Scissors, Pencil, Metal edged Ruler, Bonefolder, 1" flat brush for glue, Bookbinding Awl, X-acto type craft knife with extra blades and a Cutting Mat or old magazine to cut on

If you can't locate any of these tools, please contact me as we do have bone folders and awls we can sell to you. Everything else should be attainable at Walmart or your local hardware store.

Purchase the class for $55 now through Paypal by adding it to your cart via the Buy Now button above or email KarleighJae@gmail.com to register and pay via mail/in-person. If you've taken the class before and just want a refresh or the good time of making a cord bound book with a fun group, please contact us for a discounted price and to reserve your spot.

Bookbinding 101: linen thread

A common question from beginning bookbinders is if silk embroidery thread or regular cotton sewing machine thread can be used to make books. I tell them "Yes, but don't expect the book to last very long." Linen thread is simply stronger, and will hold up better over time.

Traditionally, linen thread has been used in bookmaking because of it's strength and long life. It's also not as stretchy as other fibers which makes for a tighter binding. It does, however, stretch over time, so a tightly sewn coptic book, for example, will loosen up a bit with use.

We use Crawford waxed Irish linen thread for most of our books. We typically use 3 or 4 ply -- also referred to as 3 or 4 cord, rather than ply -- and would not recommend using anything thinner than that, except on miniature books. You can also use 6 ply, 7 ply or 12 ply. I like using the 6 ply or 7 ply for exposed sewing as it shows off the stitching much more than the 3 or 4 ply.

We use the 3 or 4 ply for book structures in which the sewing is hidden, as they allow the pages to be bound more closely together than if using, for example, 6 ply.

Our thread comes from Royalwoodltd.com which also ships internationally. If you want to purchase a smaller amount (say, 5-10 yards) of one color instead of an entire roll then you may oh so conveniently purchase smaller amounts from us through our shop at badgerandchirp.etsy.com. Alternately, Bookfindings also sells smaller amounts of linen thread.

Non-waxed vs Waxed Linen Thread

You may buy both waxed and unwaxed thread. If you buy unwaxed, you'll likely want to acquire a piece of beeswax with which to wax it with. The wax reduces friction to allow the thread to glide through much more easily as you sew and keeps the fibers from fraying. We prefer the convenience of waxed thread, but many others like the unwaxed, being able to control the amount of wax they apply as they run their thread over their piece of beeswax. And some binders simply like the process and tradition of waxing their own.

If you would like to wax your own thread, you can find a nice little tutorial to do so from SeaLemon.

L.A. Workshop - Recap

Our recent Book Art Workshops in L.A. was so much fun.



We taught Box Making, Cordbound Books, Raised and Inset Designs in Paper, Fabric and Leather, Exposed Spine Bindings such as the Ethiopian Double Needle Coptic Stitch, Secret Belgian Binding and an Accordion Spine Book, and our 10 Book Workshop.

Kelly Kilmer came with her amazing Expressions Journaling Class and Karleigh is now an enlightened journaler (more on this to come!)

We also had so much fun with Jeannine Stein's classes in which she taught us to make booklaces and create beautiful books using cabinet cards and the romanesque stitch.

Karleigh lost her voice which was down to just a whisper by Thursday morning so Daniel filled in for the last three days of classes. While we had several students come to individual classes, we had three amazing women come to the entire week. Congrats to Amy Spencer, Regina Franchi, and Jessica Meyers for surviving and entire week of intense book arts! They created gorgeous books and it was so fun for us to see everything that was designed and made during these classes. We also had great treats thanks to Regina, Amy and Jeannine! And we had a bit of fun eating out at a few places while we were there. The Pie Hole was amazing and highly recommended (Get the Chicken Pot Pie, skip the Salad).

Some of my favorite quotes from the week:

Jeannine Stein: "That's why we make books, so we can eat cupcakes." She brought some scrumptious cupcakes from Crumbs.

Kelly Kilmer: "Messy tables just mean we are having fun!"

Kelly Kilmer: "You can't mess it up. Just keep going." 

Amy Spencer: "I need to find something fancy to wear with this booklace." I love that an outfit was designed around a miniature book. She found something a bit dressy to wear with it during the week.

Jeannine Stein: "There are no mistakes, only design elements."

Daniel: "Karleigh, come drink this Cayenne." (Yes. I did. And No. It didn't help my voice come back.)

Amy and Jessica deciding on which dessert to get at the Pie Hole: "Let's just get all of them."

We tried the Blueberry Cheesecake Pie, Mexican Hot Chocolate Pie, Maple, Lemon Merengue and (a brownie-ish chocolate one that was extremely rich tasting). We all had different favorites. Thanks to Amy and Jessica for treating us!

Name Change

We've been blogging slackers the last few weeks, but we plan on changing this in the next few days with more Bookbinding 101 posts. For now, some biggish news. For us any way. While our shop and blog have been called Karleigh Jae after the instigator of all this bookbinding madness adventuring these last few years -- selling books online since 2008 -- we're making a name change. We're now Badger and Chirp, with the following being our working logo (bound to change, of course).

 

It really has been a team effort between both Karleigh and Daniel since the very beginning. In the beginning it was mostly Karleigh making the books, with Daniel doing some of the binding, while putting more time in on the business and marketing side of things. But it was Karleigh's show, and Dan's role grew until now (for some time now, really) we both do a good share of the bookbinding. All along we've both wanted to reflect the fact that we both run the shop, and write the blog, and finally (finally!) we've settled on a name. With etsy's recent-ish-ly allowing shop owners to change their shop names, this allows us to more easily implement the change we've wanted to make for a while now.

We will be changing the blog name to match, and expect to have the new name and look in place within the week.