Middleton says about edge sprinkling, the sprinkle can be applied manually in three different ways.
First, with a large brush beaten against a press pin.
Second, by rubbing a finger over a small brush which has stiff bristles.
And third, with a stiff bristle brush rubbed over a sieve.
The first method, I suspect, without evidence is the oldest and is still employed here and there, even though it is the
hardest way of doing the job.
I think some historical context from Burdett is useful.
With the exception of some library rebinding, sprinkled edges are seldom found on letterpress work, being generally
confined to cheaper stationery work.
The sprinkled edge has few pretensions to beauty, but does prevent fingermarks showing when books are carelessly used.
I don't think this historical context should constrain the use of sprinkling in modern binding.
I think it can be done very creatively and beautifully, and it's appropriate for artists, books and modern letterpress
printing. It is an important consideration in restoration work.
One should think carefully about sprinkling the edge of a 19th century novel, for instance.
Edge preparation is straightforward, often all that is required is a trip to the guillotine.
One of the features of sprinkling is that it does hide small imperfections in the edge.
However, if there are guillotine marks, you may like to do some sanding on the edge, but that's all that is required.
Remember, Burdett's point about sprinkling being used on stationary binding.
One of the features of stationary binding is often the use of thick sections.
After rounding a book like that, you often end up with steps in the fore edge, often called starts or sturts.
And one of the nice things about sprinkling is that it does hide these to some extent, especially when you look directly
on the broken pattern, reduces the appearance of these starts.
Now, if you want to get rid of the starts, just use thinner sections.
Some books also blame loose sewing, but I think that's seldom the case.
It's nearly always the thickness of the sections.
I'll start by demonstrating the second method mentioned by Middleton.
And that's the use of a small brush with stiff bristles.
Now, most people these days use a toothbrush for this.
However, in my experience, modern toothbrushes have all sorts of soft plastic bits in them, and they're not really
suitable. And the best toothbrush is the cheapest one you can find.
Often the one that you get for free after having your teeth cleaned at the dentist.
The sequence of operation is to start with the fore edge.
After trimming, round the book and then do the head and the tail.
When you trim the head and tail and whether you do it after backing the book, if it is a backed book, I'll leave up to
you. Sprinkling can be a messy job, so you want to protect your work area.
Mitchell says the particular method chosen to sprinkle a book edge will depend largely on the number of books to be
decorated and the workshop area available.
As the colour flies over a wide area, sufficient protection must be given to work ventures and equipment.
Large commercial binaries usually set aside a room or a cubicle for sprinkling.
Parry provides some useful information about the brush.
The brushes used for sprinkling the edges must be made of Russia hog's bristles of a good thickness, tied round with
corn.
Glued at the thick end and covered half over with a piece of leather.
When dry, tie the brush again with wax cord within half an inch of the soft part of it and cut it very smooth and even
. Experience teaches that brushes made after this manner are preferable to those with the handle, as they throw a
finer sprinkle and save much colour.
I'm sure everyone's going to rush out and make one of those.
The last thing I'll say about this method is that I normally always do it with the edge vertically, and recently, instead
of using my finger and getting my hands all covered in ink.
I've started using a piece of grey board to scrape across the brush, which seems to work just as well, maybe even a
little bit better.
The next method that I'll demonstrate is the last one mentioned by Middleton.
Zaehnsdorf has some useful information about this.
He says: but the best plan is to use a nail brush and a common wire cinder sifter.
Dip the brush in the colour and rub it in a circular direction over the cinder sifter.
This mode has a satisfactory result of doing the work quicker, finer and more uniformly.
The head, fore edge, and tail must be of exactly the same shade, and one end must not have more sprinkle on it than
the other. And a set of books should have their edges precisely alike in tone and colour.
The common cinder sifter is maybe not as common as it used to be, and in warmer climates like mine, it may never have
been common. Now, I always do this with the book horizontal or the edge, sorry, horizontal, and so
you're sprinkling from above.
So the biggest danger is to get a big blob of colour landing on the edge.
So after you load the brush with the colour, you should always tap off as much of the excess as possible and
do some sprinkling with the grid over some scrap paper first.
And then normally there's some drops built up on the grid as well.
So you should shake those off as well before you move that over the book.
I find I get the best results with this approach.
However, it is the highest risk of getting a big blob of colour on an edge.
The last method I'll demonstrate is the first one that Middleton mentioned and the one that he believed to be the
oldest technique.
Zaehnsdorf describes it as using a larger brush, which being dipped in the colour, is beaten on a stick or press
pin until the desired amount of sprinklers obtained.
When I first started to edge sprinkling, this is the technique I used.
However, it is extremely messy, and the colour just has a mind of its own and goes all over the place.
And I nearly always do it with the edge vertical.
But for some reason in this video, I decided that an angle would be better.
But having tried it, it's not.
I would go back to having the edge vertical.
I have a favorite brush that works well.
It's an old glue brush like this that's had the wire stay removed.
There's not much of a call for glue brushes like this in a modern bindery, but they are amazing beasts and everyone
should have one just for show and maybe have a smaller one with the wire removed for sprinkling.
Years ago, when I first read the instructions of beating a brush against a pres pin.
I wondered what a press pin was.
Maybe it was a weird thing that the binder borrowed from the printers.
But then I bought a lying process and I realized what a press pin was.
Every time I think I've got this technique worked out, it then behaves differently.
In general, I think it's best to make sure the bristles hit the pin rather than the ferrule of the brush.
Make sure there's not too much colour on the brush and test it over scrap.
But on this day, for some reason, it just seemed to work better when I was hitting the ferrule on the pin.
Go figure. Now, this is a good example of how in bookbinding, when you change something the results can be
quite unexpected.
I think the difference is that when I normally do it with the edge vertical, I'd swing the brush in a horizontal
fashion and I'd hold that pen vertically.
I think the difference is that the ink was running down into the brush, along the bristles.
And that's why it wasn't working the way it normally does for me.
So it's okay to experiment, but don't be surprised if your experiment doesn't work the way you expect.
I haven't said anything about the colour that I'm using.
I'm using a watered down acrylic ink.
But you can use many things.
Anything you would use for a solid coloured edge is fine.
The only thing I would caution against is alcohol based inks which soak in.
I'll mention one last technique for completeness, but I won't demonstrate it because I don't have the equipment and
that's using a spray brush.
Mason says in most large shops, an airbrush or spray is now used.
And interestingly, my copy of Mason has a very fine blue sprinkled edge, and I think it's been done that way.
So that's an overview of edge sprinkling.
I hope you've enjoyed it.
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