Coptic Binding Tutorial for Travel Books
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ScribdTranslationsCoptic Binding Tutorial for Travel Books
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ScribdTranslationsTravel book, Coptic style and decorated
with marbled paper
Following the idea I published on this blog in September 2011 of binding without using the
loom, we arrive at the Coptic binding.
Coptic binding was one of the first ways to preserve some booklets written with
some covers, made of wood, and the whole set, booklet and covers, joined together by stitching,
normally with chain stitch.
This system requires few tools to carry it out, and along with that, it lends itself to being decorated with
all kinds of materials have not lost their relevance, proof of this is that even today it continues to be done and
crafted by a large number of artisans and bookbinding enthusiasts.
The materials needed to carry it out are: A4 size white paper; 2 mm cardboard.
thickness; a decorated or marbled paper; thread for sewing, in the color we like the most and
finally glue to stick the paper to the cardboard
The tools we need for this job are: scissors, ruler, cutter, folding tool, brush.
punch and curved needle.
In this tutorial we are going to make a travel book using this coptic system and for that we will take
30 sheets of A4 white paper and we will cut them in half to get 60 this way.
sheets, A5 size.
We fold every five pages in half, in this way we get 12 booklets ...
We fold well with the folder, or if we have a press, we place every three signatures.
between boards...
and we left it in print for a day, ...
At the end of the day, the thickness of the twelve booklets under the press has noticeably decreased.
There is no press available, don't worry, it does not affect the binding process.
we intend, it will just be a little thicker the book.
We took the measurements of the booklets and logically they will turn out to be 15 by 10.5 cm.
With this measurement, we take a 2 mm cardboard and prepare two lids of identical dimensions.
The next step is to decorate these covers with the wrapping paper or element that we like the most or
that we have at hand... in my case I chose a marbled paper with the font design of the ones
I had made things thanks to the teachings of Antonio Vélez.
I opted for red tones ...
I trimmed two marbled papers measuring 18 by 13.5 cm to have 1.5 cm extra to be able to
make the turns. You can see on the back of the paper, in pencil, the area where it will be overlapped
cardboard. We apply white glue to the paper with the brush and fold the edges.
With the rounds finished, we have to decorate these faces with another paper or decorative element that
we like...
From the materials available in the workshop, I preferred to use red fabric, cutting out two pieces for them.
1.5 cm less than the size of the covers, 13.5 x 9 cm. Likewise, we indicate before sticking the
With some pencil or punch, mark its position and using white glue, we stick the pieces in place.
place...
We make a template with cardboard that will serve as a guide for making the holes and the
ferrules of the booklets.
This guide has the same length as the height of notebooks, 15 cm, and the marks are spread out.
according to the scheme: 1 // 3 // 3.5 // 3.5 // 3 // 1
With a punch, we make the holes in the two decorated covers, be careful to check that the decoration.
the exterior of the covers matches, in my case with the arches in the same direction!
We now take the block of booklets and align them well before putting them in the press...
-Excuse me, I don’t have a press! Do you happen to have any 'cats', sergeants, clamps?
big ones, or a child to hold him... yes! Well, solved.
With the guide we have prepared and that helped us to make the holes in the lids, it will be useful.
to mark the locks on the notebooks, we mark with a pencil
With a ruler or square, extend the marks so they serve as a reference when
to saw
This process is repeated in all the tutorials that require sewing the booklets...
Well, we have the elements to assemble the travel book, in the Coptic style...
Since there are twelve booklets plus two covers, we will take a length of thread equivalent to 14+1 = 15.
lengths (that is, 15 x 15 = 225 cm) we will thread the curved needle with the desired thread, in this case
red.
We start by passing the needle through a hole at the end of the first booklet from INSIDE to
Outside and with a cap taken, we pass the thread from the outside of it to the inside.
We leave the tail loose with a length between 5 and 8 cm and insert the needle back through the same one.
hole of the booklet that already has the thread passed, but now from the outside to the inside...
And we tightened so that the spines of the booklet and the cover are together, and now we take advantage.
to make a double knot and secure the loose end...
We trim the excess end... and pass through the second hole from the inside out...
We repeat the process ... the thread that comes out of the booklet through the second hole enters the cover through the
exterior face and comes out through the interior...
Next, we would tension the thread and insert it into the booklet through this second hole.
inside the booklet we would make a knot to secure it and we would continue to the third hole ...
At the end of the first booklet, we would have the complete stitching inside...
And on the outside of the cover the corresponding links . . .
From this point we continue with the chain stitch...
This process is explained in the May 2012 tutorial, Travel Book Binding with Flap.
and closing....
When we have sewn all the booklets except one, we must change the method of stitching...
We pass the needle through the second flap from the outside to the inside, taking care to leave
put in the last unstitched booklet ...
We tension the thread and make the normal chain stitch knot (follow the last loose notebook below
from the lid)
And we tighten the knot of the chain again ...
Next, we introduce the thread from the outside to the inside of the last booklet that remains.
loose....
Through the inside of this booklet we pass to the next hole and pull the thread to the outside...
We thread the string from the outside...
We make a chain stitch knot with the bottom booklet ...
After finishing this knot, we pass the thread through the lid from the outside to the inside of it...
And we made the chain stitch with the booklet ...
Having finished this chain stitch, we insert the needle through the same hole 2 of the last booklet.
from the outside to the inside ...
Next, the thread will exit through the following hole of the booklet ...
And we repeat the process… the thread goes through the lid from the outside to the inside, then chain stitch and
we reintroduce the thread into the last booklet through the same hole 3
Through the inside of the booklet, thread would pass from hole 3 to 4 to exit to the outside...
Just like before... chain stitch ...
We tie a chain knot ...
And for the last hole in the same way...
chain
Introduction from the outside to the inside ...
And on the inside, we make a double knot to secure the end of the thread.
We cut ...
And we already have the travel book sewn together.
We hit the book's spine against the table to set the binding and align the signatures...
And we have the book with the straight spine and the booklets perfectly squared.
The decoration has turned out well oriented ...
The stitching of the first cover is identical on the inside and the outside...
This binding allows the book to be opened completely without any problem...
And the second cover also has the same stitching on both the inside and the outside.
In other Coptic bindings, the stitching of the covers varies from the outside to the inside.
And this is the result of our simple binding.
I hope you liked it.
Courtesy of Manuel Valero
Published byartisan kingdomen 8:04