DESIGN BINDING FOR
RUBÁIYÁT
OF OMAR KHAYYAM MAKING-OF
BY BEN ELBEL elbel libro BOOKBINDING
NOTE
This booklet takes you through the making of a binding executed in november 2013 as an entry in the competition organised by the british society Designer Bookbinders. My aim is to provide an insight into the process of designing and making a decorated binding, which is a one-of-a-kind, personal interpretation of a printed text. I would like to stress the fact that this is a much simplified version of the process, leaving aside a great deal of trials and sketches, necessary for each decision made. In other words, it wasn’t as straightforward as it appears to be ! Hope you enjoy. Ben Elbel
Contents THE BOOK
6
RESEARCH
8
STRUCTURE
10
MATERIAL
12
FINAL DESIGN
14
CASE
16
LETTERS/ ACCENTS
18
FINISHED BOOK
22
BONUS : GILDING
28
The book The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam Translated by Edward Fitzgerald Introduction by A.S. Byatt Illustrations by Niroot Puttapipat Published by the Folio Society, 2012
THE CONTENT The Rubáiyát holds a unique place in English literature. A sensation of the Victorian age, it remains, a century and a half after publication, one of the best-loved poems in the language. “It sings in the mind, controlled by its steady rapid rhythm and its strong, empathetic, reiterated rhyme...Fitzgerald’s Rubáiyát still has the power to become part of and change its readers.” A.S. Byatt
THE EDITION The 2012 Folio Society edition is a thin book in A4 portrait size. My personal impression is that of a rather classic layout and typography. The detailed figurative watercolours bring the text back to its medieval persian origins, or at least one’s fantasy of it
Research After reading the book and doing some research I started jotting down ideas on paper
‘mixture of grave and gay’, ‘gardens’, ‘epicurial’, ‘better a live sparrow than a stuffed eagle’, ‘sensuality’, ‘mystery’ KEY WORDS Those were the words that caught my attention. They made me wonder what materials to use and I thought that silk, a sensual textile but with a limited life span, would relate well to the idea of doomed beauty. For a while I toyed with the idea of using a material that would rapidly deteriorate, perhaps even while on display at the competition show
SKETCHES Instead I came back to much more formal considerations. I decided that the accents on the As of the word RUBĂ IYĂ T were responsible for its unique visual character and deserved to be emphasized. The above sketch was my starting point
Structure Before anything I had to decide which binding structure to use. This is crucial because it determines the endpaper construction, the sewing, etc... But above all, structure is what gives a binding its personality. This can’t be underestimated
DOS RAPPORTE At first I considered making a ‘dos rapporté’ binding. Several reasons for this; firstly it is my signature binding, and secondly because the book would be thin enough for the structure and I thought the design I had in mind (line going across the spine) would work well on such a construction
BRADEL However i feared that the structure would be too strict for the Rubáiyát. So instead I opted for a bradel binding in ‘three piece’ covering style, so I could round the spine, form headcaps, in other words a more nostalgic style that would suit the content better
Material I have developped a decoration technique that uses suede as a canvas and produces fabulous textures. Looking nothing like leather, the resulting material can still be pared to produce perfect corners
LAMINATING
PATTERN
The starting point is always to laminate thin paper onto suede. I used yellow/orange tissue and pale brown suede, to match the warm tones of the illustrations
I stumbled upon this zinc block that I had made years ago for a product (design Kieke Schaaper)
In recent years I have decided to avoid where ever I can, the use of off-the-shelf materials in design bindings
In the same way my art teachers would forbid the use of colour straight from the tube, I try to somehow alter the materials before I put them on a book
SANDING
SURFACE TREATMENT
By sanding the laminate with the block underneath, I achieved something which I knew was in the right direction because it was starting to look like a worn persian rug...
I did a number of additional treatments to the pieces, including paste washings, painting and the insertion of dark brown strips of tissue, until I was completely happy
Final design
With the covering material I produced I could now plan out the design very boards, in relation to the spine I laid out the various elements (cut out of gilt decided to draw the accents in a much softer way than I originally had in m
accurately. By cutting windows in paper showing the exact position of the paper). I found correspondances between the dark lines and the text. I also mind, making them a secondary feature of the overall design.
Case One advantage of the bradel binding is that the cover can be made almost entirely off the book, which simplifies the finishing. Only the spine has to be covered with the book to form headcaps
SPINE The spine was covered with brown calf
BOARDS Then the boards were covered
Letters The next step was to carry out the lettering. I had to make a few tests to work out the best way to achieve a blind deboss in a gilt rectangular surface
SURFACE GILDING
BLIND DEBOSSING
This was extremely easy; due to the presence of paste on the boards I only had to paint a rectangle with water, let it dry a bit and apply gold with cotton wool
The rectangles were then cold debossed with the letters of RUBĂ IYĂ T in 24 Pt. Diethelm
Accents Not having any wide palet at my disposal I decided to execute the accents by inlaying thin strips of gilt paper
RECESSING
INLAYING
The recess was done by pressing the edge of a thick brass line (used for blocking), along the edge of a cardboard template. The key was to keep greasing the tool in order for it to glide and press rather than catch and pucker the leather
After gilding a piece of yellow japanese paper, I cut it to the right width and glued it in the recess
Finished book
BONUS
Gilding
In my opinion very few books actually call for gold. Gold is used in bookbinding almost by default, but is it always justified ? For once I thought the answer was a definite yes
SANDING
COOLING DOWN
Sanding the edges down to a mirror finish makes them very hot. Not sure why, but I’ve been told be beware of ‘cooking’ the paper...
...so I used something cold from my freezer to cool them down (not orthodox but effective)
APPLYING GOLD
BURNISHING
After a layer of paste, I applied the gold leaves using home made egg glare:a mixture of egg white and water. The ability of egg to adhere gold will never cease to amaze me
And when the time was right (when the mist vanishes at the speed of an ant), the edges were burnished
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