I needed a new journal, so I thought I’d try doing a four-needle Coptic binding. I’m not sure that was a good idea. I used hemp twine, which might have been my first mistake. The stitching pattern isn’t very clear, and the knotting is kind of out of control where the back cover is attached. It was also a pain in the ass to keep track of four needles. Aaack! And time consuming, too. It took about twice as long as doing a single-needle Coptic binding. I guess that’s to be expected, but I am short on patience, so it’s no wonder I was frustrated.
The worst part, though, is that I could not get the spine edge of the first signature even with the spine edge of the front cover. I tried and tried and tried, and even loosened and re-tightened the stitches holding the front cover to the first signature. No dice. It keeps playing peekaboo behind the second signature.
Something else that bugs me is that the back cover wants to drop down from the front, basically fanning the book out vertically. Weird.
So, what I’m planning on doing is covering everything with a piece of burlap (from a basmati rice bag), including the spine. I’m going to attach the burlap to the cover with Heat-n-Bond. Then, I’m going to wind hemp twine between each of the signatures and over the outside of the spine. That should stop the fanning problem as well as hide the ugly spine and the peekaboo signature.
That may sound confusing. I’ll take photos when I’m done. Not that that’s guaranteed to clarify anything.
red paper boat 