Re: The Nine Gates - In Progress
I am thankful for all the positive comments. It's been very enjoyable.
@Lint: I first started binding on my own when my personal journals would fill up and I couldn't find suitable replacements. I researched and poured over every bit of instructional material I could find and produced some good pieces, but nothing like what I'm doing now. I became more an more interested in historical binding, and quickly that obsession took hold, and it took years for me to even come close to the level of accuracy I saw in historical pieces.
To more directly answer, no one had really taught me. Most binders would scoff at the words "self taught," but in all seriousness, it's not THAT hard. These days, however, my mentor checks my work and gives me advice, and I'm getting ready to undergo an intensive years-long period of advanced conservation and historical binding with him. So, I'm mostly self-taught, but I've had a lot of help.
@Rogue: A great comment, thank you. What you're referring to is known within the binding world as tapes. These are usually linen or cotton, and are used for when very flexible binding is needed, such as for a ledger -- something that is meant to be open for a long time but won't stiffen into that shape.
As for which would be better, I think they're about the same in terms of sewing technique and level of effort. I am leaning towards tapes, though, because covering a book with raised bands can be a real pain if you haven't done it and you don't have some key tools, like band nippers.
The tapes, though would be concealed by adhering a strip of paper or muslin to the spine, and would cover up the slight bump made by it.
Also, another good bet is recessed cords. This is where one would saw into the spine about a 16th of an inch and while sewing the cord gets sucked into the gap, resulting in a smooth spine (though not very flexible). Usually cords come in something like 6-ply. You can strip one or two out and use them, just recessed. So, tapes would be good for learning, but recessed cords are good too if you want to give that a test drive.
Cheers!
