Part three in this series of blog posts explains my thoughts surrounding the covering of the book, work done on the doublures and also the making of the drop-back box. A drop-back box, also known as a drop-spine or clamshell box, is a type of protective enclosure for storing and transporting items like books or prints. It consists of two interlocking trays with a hinged spine, and when closed, it fully encloses the contents, offering robust protection. No fine binding would be seen dead without a protective enclosure, so this stage at the end of the project is a crucial one!
Day 29 of 40: 22nd October 2025
Time for covering! An exciting yet a daunting day: have I done enough embroidery?; have I split the hollow?; have a back-cornered the boards?; have I pared the leather everywhere I had intended? All questions I have to ask myself.
The covering process:
– I need a clear space to work.
– Firstly, I take all of my rings off – I don’t want to risk marking the leather with the hard metal!
– I gather the tools I will need to complete the process so they are immediately to hand: Teflon folder; small piece of glass; small steel spatula; scissors; scalpel; paste; PVA; brushes; some thick linen thread and a water atomiser.
– I make sure that I have definitely split the hollow and back-cornered both the front and back boards.
– I spritz the front of the leather with water all over, a few times to ensure it is well dampened.
– I then turn the leather over and apply paste to the reverse of it (three applications leaving a bit of time for it to penetrate into the skin in between).
– I also apply some PVA glue to the joints areas on the forwarded text block to allow for better adhesion in this area.
– I am then ready to apply the leather to the binding!
– The leather is turned in at the head and tail of the spine, and around all the board edges ensuring the leather is tucked in neatly around the board corners too.
– The endcaps are then formed using a combination of a Teflon folder, the small piece of glass, the linen thread and the small metal spatula.
Once all of these steps are complete, must leave book in between boards under a weight, and regularly change blotting paper sheets to draw out the moisture over a period of 24 hours.
Day 30 of 40: 23rd October 2025
The book has dried for 24 hours, time to open it up! Scary part: wetting the leather joint with a water pen to soften the leather – always looks so dramatic and like it will stain, but it dries out and disappears.
Boards eased open, and the capping and waste can be removed revealing the patterned endpapers and leather joints again. The leather joint can now be stuck down – but must sand the positions of the tapes a bit first to make sure this is as flat as possible. Leather joints are thinner that the turn-ins around the boards so stick down a strip of Zerkall first to build up the level a bit before the joints go down.
Turn-ins trimmed square the whole way round and piece of watercolour paper cut to the same size and glued down as an infill. Corners also built up level where necessary with small torn pieces of watercolour paper (sometimes the bevelled corners of the leather don’t always meet completely level).
Extra two layers of Zerkall paper stuck down on board inners and sanded with Abranet. This will ensure surfance is entirely level before gluing down edge-to-edge paper doublure.
Day 33 of 40: 26th October 2025
Time to add the pattern to the paper doublures. Set court layout design onto front doublure so that one of the white onlays will sit and flow around onto the white onlay I applied to the cover. Positioning of white lines marked onto paper by lightly pricking reference holes through a template and using as a guide.
Basketball hoop and net, with basketball going through it embroidered onto paper with fine thread.
Extra length of white line kept uncut at the edge so it overhangs, so when doublure stuck down to front board it can glue around the board edge and make a seamless join.
Must also write my name onto the bookplate that needs to be stuck into the book. Add an embroidered “swoosh” underneath in green thread, just to sneak a bit more embroidery in!
Day 34 of 40: 27th October 2025
Time for tooling. I hadn’t planned any specific tooling to do on this binding from the beginning but as the design evolved I felt this necessary. Small “pebbles” blind-tooled onto basketball doublure using a hand-made tool. Tooled cold, no heat necessary. Used a metal right angle as a guide, this slipped a bit so the tooling was a bit random in places but generally masked by the overall look of this area (I hope!).
“Basketball pebbles” are the tiny bumps on a basketball’s surface, which are intentionally created to help players grip the ball and improve control. These small “pebbles” increase the ball’s friction with a player’s hands, making it easier to dribble, pass, and shoot without it slipping out of their hands.
Why not add some gold tooling onto the cover? I have time and it will give the cover a bit of extra sparkle! Used a series of finishing tools I made years before: very versatile tools as they are random shapes and just add a shot of gold.
Built up the positioning with blind tooling, BS Glaire applied using size 000 brush, and then 23½ medium gold leaf tooled into impressions and then cleaned with a soft cloth.
Day 36 of 40: 29th October 2025
It’s box time! I have some nice two-tone pale green cloth, this will work well tonally with the book for covering the box. Pair this with some bright orange marled felt to line the box: wonderful! Need the same title label as used on the book for this, decorate in the same way with embroidery. Also want to add a couple of cacti to the box spine, cut these from onlays and edge-pare the shapes before gluing to the bookcloth.
Embroidery a bit tricky to do on the cloth as it is a long piece, big enough to cover the case that will hold together they trays of the drop-back box. I will manage through, just need to be careful not to crease the bookcloth too much.
Two trays made: time to construct it all. Added a detail of part of the Rand McNally road atlas, mentioned in the book and one bought by the protagonist. Box glued and weighted and complete – ready to house the book.
PHOTOGRAPHY
I need to photograph the book now, necessary for: my own records; this binding listing on my website; social media posts (once I am allowed to share the book on there!); and content for future Designer Bookbinders content. Must use colour card and take from lot of angles!
Have also been asked to take a photo of me with my binding in my workspace for the Designer Bookbinders newsletter so I attempt this with the timer on my phone: mixed success (including this image to sign off my blog posts on this project – ha!).
You can also se completed images on this binding in the Fine Bindings section of my website here.