In today's video, I'd like to revisit the crisscross binding or the secret Belgian binding.
In the first video, I followed a technique I called the popular variation, because it's the one you're most likely
to come across on the Internet, and it's a good variation - I like it.
In this video. I'm going to demonstrate the process as described by Anne Goy in her book.
Everything up to about the four minute mark in this video is the same as in the original video.
So I'm going to go through it very quickly.
And if you need details, then I'll refer you back to the original video.
The steps are the same as the first video.
It's the details that are different, so we'll fold the paper, cut the cover boards, make the case, and then attach
the signatures - or sections - to the case.
In Anne's book, there's three significant variations that I'd like to cover.
I'm only going to cover the the main one - or the first one - in this video.
And that's mainly to do with how the sections - or signatures - are attached to the case - or the cover.
I've already said case a couple of times in this video.
That's incorrect.
This isn't a cased book.
In a cased book, you make the case, the cover, the text block, and then bring the two together.
We do make the cover separate.
The cover is the starting point of this binding, but then the sections - or signatures - are then attached to that
case. It's not like the text block is made separately and then the two brought together.
It's maybe a subtle difference, but I think it's incorrect to call this a cased binding.
So I'm making up enough material for three books.
And the three variations are: the way that Anne attaches the sections to the cover, which
is a slight, it's a different sewing approach.
The second variation is a concertina guard, so that it sort of hides the gap between sections.
And then the third variation is a different way to attach the cover boards.
The last two aren't in this video; they'll be in a future video.
Now we've finally come to some of Anne's recommendations that make this her variation.
She likes to glue - or recommends to glue - the threads down on the insides of the boards to stop them moving about.
Now, in the first video, I suggested putting down a paste down on the inside of the covers would do that.
And I still think that that's the case.
So this isn't necessarily that important.
But she does emphasize it in her book.
So I'm just putting some PVA on each of these threads, and I sort of force it underneath the threads and roll them
around a little bit. And then the other thing she recommends is inlaying the threads by pressing the cover
quite hard. I didn't want to include this in the first video because it requires a strong nipping press.
And the other thing is, it does flatten the thread on the outside.
So I'm putting some soft blotting paper on the outside of this cover, as well as the hard plastic sheet on the
inside. And the soft blotting paper stops the threads on the outside being flattened as much.
But on the inside, we want to force that thread into the cover.
Now I'll put paste downs on the insides of the boards.
And because the threads have been pressed into the boards, they won't be as noticeable under the paste downs as they
were in the first video.
Which is a nice thing.
Now, what's going to take up the most time in this video is showing how Anne attaches the sections to the cover.
Now, her approach to sewing is more like sewing on tapes.
She uses a piece of the same material that the cover is covered in and wraps pairs of threads that attach
the boards to each other.
And they sort of become tapes.
So we we're going to make a loop around each pair.
Though we're going to skip the center threads.
So we need to push this piece of bookcloth under the thread, so I sort of just point the ends a little bit to
help get them through, and then I'll trim them off so that there's a nice loop of bookcloth around the two threads.
And once I cut bookcloth for each of the pairs - so 4 pairs - then I'll glue those down.
Now it's time to punch the holes in sections.
So we need to work out where the holes are going to be and make a punching template to help us punch the holes.
So I've put the text, or the sections, in place with the correct squares, and then I'll put the hook of my template
on the end of the sections, and then I'll put a little mark either side of the
fake tapes - I guess we can call them, or the wrapped threads.
And then I'll go ahead and punch the holes in the usual manner at 45 degrees in the sections.
Now comes the fun part, sewing the sections to the cover.
So we'll thread a needle and then we'll tie a slipknot to the far end of that thread, and then we'll start from the
inside of a section at the second hole.
We'll go out, go around the threads - the protected threads.
Watching the video just now I've realized I've made a mistake.
I was supposed to go out through the second hole and then the needle would have went to the left behind the protected
threads, and then back in at the end hole and then through the slipknot.
The end result is fairly much the same.
And I wonder what I've done in the other books, I don't remember.
Once the end of the thread is secure, then it's a matter of sewing all along as though the protected threads were tapes.
Once we reach the other end, then we have to think about how we're joining the second section.
Anne's instructions on this part of the book are quite brief.
She says "Continue sewing in this way along the section.
Move on to the next section and continue sewing until all the sections are completed.
Secure with the knot inside the final section - finished." There is a diagram, and I guess they say that a picture is
worth a thousand words.
So I guess the idea is that makes up for the brief description, though it was still a little bit vague for me.
So I've tried to interpret as best I can.
And what I demonstrate here is what I believe she is meant to do.
I'm reading an essay by Peter Geraty at the moment that's in the excellent Suave Mechanical series.
The article's about parchment over stiff boards.
However, Peter goes into some detail about how to interpret bookbinding literature and manuals.
And this is a really good example of how it can be difficult to understand what an author has
meant, maybe because of context or other factors.
All right, so now we're reaching the end.
And we need to add on the second section.
Before I do anything else, I'm going to swap to a curved needle.
The spine board makes using a straight needle from this point on next to impossible.
I dislike using curved needles, so I always put it off as long as I can.
But now we're going to go back out through the second hole and go up to the next section.
Go back into the next section at the second hole.
Go to the end hole.
Go back outside the section.
Go behind the protected threads.
And then back in through the second hole.
And then continue the sewing all along as though you're on tapes.
Now, I probably could have, should have, added a diagram at this point to try and explain what I'm doing, but since I
couldn't follow Anne's diagram, maybe the best thing is to just follow what I'm doing in the video.
Now, sometimes when you sew on tapes, you do encircle the tapes.
Often when you're sewing on endpapers, you'll encircle the tapes.
In this case, what we're essentially doing is we're essentially encircling the tapes at the end and not the two
in the center. If that makes sense.
Once this section is attached, then it's just a matter of following the same process four more times until six
sections are attached.
You'll probably need to add some thread if you want to be fancy.
You can try and hide the knot behind the protected threads, which I think I do.
Finish by doing that encircling of the end protected threads and tying a knot on the inside.
Something nice about this book is that once you tie this final knot, the book is done - there's no paste downs to put
down. There's no other steps.
Once the sewing is done, the book is complete, which is quite satisfying.
So at this point, the book is complete.
So now the book's complete.
What do I think?
Well, this is not a structure I bind very often, so I don't have a strong opinion on it.
I do think the popular variation is easier to do, and thus why it is the one that's most common on the Internet.
However, this one also has something satisfying about it.
I feel like the sections feel slightly better attached to the covers.
So I would start with the popular variation, then try this variation.
In a future video. I will cover another two variations from Anne's book, one with a concertina guard and the other one
that has a different sewing approach to connecting the boards.
So that's it for this video.
I hope you've enjoyed it.
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And until next time, cheerio.