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Headbands and Spine Liner
The next stage was hand sewing the headbands. An excellent description
of this process can be found in Bookbinding: Its Background and Technique
by Edith Deihl. 9 Much of the following
description is my own interpretation of headbanding after reading Diehl's
description and performing it myself.
First, I made a paper jacket to clothe and protect the textblock. I cut four strips of leather, see photograph at left, and pasted two together with PVA, covering the tops and sides as well, to make a thick band. Then I chose beige and brown silk thread. Next, I threaded each color onto a separate needle tying a knot to keep the thread on the needle. I knotted the two colors together at the ends. From here I poked a separate needle through the leather and into the spine of the book so as to stabilize the leather that is to become the headband.
Then I began to sew by taking the needle with brown thread and poking it between
the first endsheet and through the kettle stitch allowing the beige/brown knot
to hide. I wrapped the thread around the end of the leather and went through the
endsheet again. I brought the brown-threaded needle over and neatly around the
leather 5 times and then brought the beige thread over the brown thread, into a
sort of bead, and wrapped the leather five times with the beige thread.
Through this whole process it is important to hold the threads tight so they don't slip as well as to make sure no leather peaks through. After every five gatherings I took the needle, with whichever color of thread I was presently wrapping the leather with, through the kettle stitch where as to secure the headbands to the actual book. When the headband was nearing the end of the spine, not at the end, I performed the same steps as I did in the beginning with the endsheets and tied a knot.
After the headbands were completed, I covered the spine, including between
the headbands and kettle stitch, with heavy weight Japanese Paper using Rice
Starch paste. The cords were not pasted.
Proceed to Preparing the Binding
