Bookbinding 101 Sewing Headbands Session 2

This is another tutorial demonstration on sewn headbands, which is "Two cores with beads in three colors". Some call double core headbands the "French Double". As I recorded this video at home, the lighting wasn't ideal, resulting the footage to be too dark sometimes, and my hands created shadows occasionally. I apologize for that. Anyway, enjoy designing your own headbands, and thanks for your interest in the trade. ~ MHR

NOTE: As my purpose of creating these tutorial videos is to encourage general population to start getting involved in the bookbinding trade, I always try to demonstrate things with ordinary items as much as possible, so that it doesn't discourage viewers from trying it just because they don't have the particular equipment to do the job. The methods featured on my tutorial videos are very basic and often I have to change a little in order to make it more feasible to the beginners. So it should not reflect the real trade of bookbinding. Yet my instructions are thought through so that the end result will be perfectly decent if you follow them.

[Midnightsnacker]

You must hear this a lot but I have to thank you for your videos which are the most detailed I’ve seen with so much thought going into your videos. Your a very good teacher. Thank you

I bump into your videos again and again, thank you so much MHR, you have the very best instructionals out there and if you would get this pestering modesty out of the way and reveal yourself, you ll be remembered as a great teachers for the future generations of bookbinders. We love you and we love how much you love bookbinding!

[jordansheppherd]

You have the best binding videos on the net.  Thank you for taking the time to shoot these and upload them.  It give us do-it-yourselfers a ray of hope :)

[RAIRAI]

３色の糸と２本の芯を使ったお手本がこの動画だけでした。
とても有難いです。


私の人生を変えてくれて感謝してます。

[skotadious]

I held my breath every second on watching... I have to remind myself I need to breathe... this is such a help for future references

[matriede]

your channels provides knowledge in extremely professional manner.
GREAT!

no questions left unanswered.
THX a lot !

[xVinceCx]

I love these videos, but I keep expecting to see Salvador Dali appear. It's the color-tone of the video. Also, I listen to the music of Argentinian lute player Eduardo Egüez while I watch these. Thank you so much for your work, it's really inspiring.

[francescagalleani]

your work is amazing! please keep your tutorials coming!!!! thank you so much for the time and energy you put in this tutorials for us to learn!

[GiteDuLion]

VEry fine and precious explainations for old and classical Bookbinding. Thanks for your help !

[philae]

Thank you very much for your reply, it has been a very useful explanation.
I did not expect that the book would shrink when it was pressed.
Thank you again ;)

[BookbindersChronicle]

@LexHiram Answer to Q1: I’d NOT recommend waxing the thread for headbanding because1) the texture of the thread gets dull & looses its sheen which is important for the headband to look as if it’s a crown jewel of the book.2)The thread must be smooth in order to slide the wrap cleanly w/o effort.3) Considering the initial purpose of the headbands are to prevent dust from getting inside the signature folds over time, they will get dirty in short time if they are sticky with wax. (Yuck!)

[mercelsi]

Gracias..hermoso arte..he disfrutado con sus videos y espero pronto ver el libro terminado..saludos desde Chile.

[xtetaung]

Awesome. I am looking for this video for very long. Keep it up. Thanks you very much

[BookbindersChronicle]

~~Continues from the previous reply~~ So, although the headband is sewn inside the first and last signatures and appears shorter than the spine, it will be tight and neat after the book is bound. Also, a second note is that the edge of the headbands will often interfere with a process of a more traditional binding method if the headbands are sewn from the edge to the edge on the spine. I hope this answered your question. :-) MHR

[BookbindersChronicle]

It's often safe to make the headbands slightly shorter than the width of the spine to take an account of a minor "shrinkage" that occurs when the book is pressed, meaning the spine width gets slightly shorter at the pressure, thus the headbands becomes "wobbled" if their length is exactly the same as the spine at the time of their placement. (because it turns out to be larger (longer) than the spine width.) ~~Continues to the following reply~~

[BookbindersChronicle]

@agentc0re First of all, "paperback"books are basically a collection of loose sheets simply blued on the spine, which is essentially like a note pad. You might want to check if your "soft cover" books are actually a paperback, or sewn with thread. A lot of thick books like Feynman's are machine sewn w/ thread w/o tapes (called Smyth sewing) even though they have soft paper covers on them. (Vise verse, many paperback books have hard covers these days.) ~Continue to the next comment~

[LexHiram]

Another great video, thank you. I'll definitely need to watch it a few more times to take it all in, though :)

A couple of quick questions before I do, though...

Question 1 : Would it be much help when sliding the threads over the core, to wax it first, or is it simple enough when pushing with the needle? I'm asking because I watched a video of someone trying to do it with their finger nails, and it looked pretty awkward.

[BookbindersChronicle]

@agentc0re Continued from the previous comment~Whether your books are paperback or sewn, you can definitely have hard covers put on them, no problem. Cloth tapes are only used for the sewing of a book, so if the original book is a paperback, or sewn without tapes, you don't just glue them on the spine. Instead, when replacing the soft paper cover with hard cover, bookbinders will glue mull (a piece of fabric) on the spine for the hinge & spine integrity. ~Continue to the next comment~

[philae]

In the video, the first booklet has no headbands. My question is if at the put the covers is seen that the first booklets do not have headbands or is hidden.
Thank you very much for the tutorials and congratulations on your work.

[BookbindersChronicle]

@LexHiram As for the use of a needle that I used to refine the alignment of the wraps, I use it because it's small and does what it's supposed to do precisely without any effort. As you might have noticed, I don't have long finger nails because of my profession. Even if I kept my nails long, personally, I wouldn't use them to correct the headband wraps because finger nails are bigger than a tip of a needle. ~Continues to the next comment~