This week I had two days of workshops with Stage 2 students in the print room. On Monday we did a Swiss binding, i.e. a multi-section sewn bookblock with a wraparound card cover, and a slipcase to keep the book in. On Tuesday we made a Japanese multi-section book with a paper cover hinged onto the first and last section of the book. This style of book is unusual as the sections don’t have the usual holes pierced for sewing, but they have small slits cut into the fold which means the sewing thread is sunken into the section. It also has a rather confusing sewing style which gets easier with a bit of practice but is quite difficult when you do it for the first time. In the afternoon we made another slipcase .

For reference, I recommend the following books:

Japanese Bookbinding. Instructions from a Master Craftsman, by Kōjirō Ikegami. It describes step-by-step with lots of illustrations how to make the multisection book (retchōsō) which developed in the Heian period (794-1185). It also contains instructions for different stab bindings and a variety of beautiful book cases.

Bookbinding. A step-by-step guide, by Kathy Abbott. Detailed instructions for the slipcase, plus many more bookbinding and boxmaking projects.