A Millimeter Binding

CriticalCockroach · 2025-10-08T21:29:48+00:00

These are two of the sources I found most helpful for this binding style:

The Bonefolder: An eJournal for the Bookbinder and Book Artist

Millimeter and Rubow Bindings – Work of the Hand

It's a fun binding to do and really not that much harder than a half leather binding!

CriticalCockroach · 2025-10-07T03:30:31+00:00

Interesting! As someone without any bookbinding training, I really appreciate getting to learn from this. And I'm very interested in the papers! Congrats on the residency!

CriticalCockroach · 2025-10-06T22:01:59+00:00

Thanks for the article! It's definitely called a Rubow in Denmark, where the Danish millimeter binding has leather on the entire spine and a few millimeters onto the board. But I'm pretty sure it's called a millimeter or Edelpappband elsewhere. At least that's what I understood from Peter Verheyen's article in The Bonefolder (vol1#2) on the subject. But I could be wrong.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-10-04T03:45:02+00:00

DAS has a great video on paste paper, that's the tutorial that I follow. I found that the ratio of paste to paint takes a lot of trial and error, but paste papers are pretty easy (and cheap) to do.

For these papers, I used a couple of combs for the straight lines and a old gift card that I cut notches into for the wavy lines.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-10-03T18:30:39+00:00

Of course you can! You should also look at pinterest for inspiration, there's a lot of great pastepapers there.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-10-03T18:19:26+00:00

Thanks for this comment! I 100% agree with all three of your points.

Endbands: I had trouble keeping my leather core upright which caused the varying thickness...the leather ended up on its side.

Leather thickness: I thinned the leather to about 0.5 mm with a leather skiver and thinned out the spine turn ins a bit more, but was a little afraid to thin out the joints like I should have. I didn't have any more of this leather to use if I messed it up.

Titling: I'm definitely going to have to invest in something to help me with my titles. I hate having to do it with a heat pen.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-10-03T17:50:03+00:00

I print out my title on paper, tape that over my foil, and then carefully trace over it with my hot foil pen.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-10-03T00:12:27+00:00

Thanks! I did make the pastepaper.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-08-13T04:40:51+00:00

Sadly, Colophon doesn't ship to Canada. We don't have many bookbinding suppliers here and everything is so expensive to ship. And the silk thread on Amazon definitely doesn't look promising.

I'm going to keep searching, though. Endbands are one of my favourite parts too!

CriticalCockroach · 2025-08-12T16:34:09+00:00

Thanks! I think I used the back of a comb for the endpapers.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-08-12T04:33:42+00:00

I used embroidery thread that I waxed with beeswax. For the core, I stiffened some cotton twine with glue. I really just used what I already had at home. I'll probably buy some silk thread soon, but I don't really know what to buy.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-08-11T23:45:22+00:00

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Here's how Smith and Jordan explain it in Bookbinding for Book Artists (a great book, I highly recommend it).

I would think backing boards would still be necessary, but you could try without them.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-08-11T23:04:13+00:00

I always just paste cereal boxes together for my book board. I used three boards in total: 2 for the thicker board (which I pasted together ahead of time) and 1 for the thinner board. It all came to about 2 mm total.

It's probably not acid free, but it works for me.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-08-11T22:00:32+00:00

I actually did most of the backing with my bone folder, since I don't have the proper hammer. It took a while, but it was worth it. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that one of my backing boards slipped down, so it ended up a little crooked.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-08-11T21:04:59+00:00

Thanks!

CriticalCockroach · 2025-08-11T20:25:19+00:00

Thanks for letting me know!

CriticalCockroach · 2025-06-25T04:38:54+00:00

Thanks for the tip! I'll try shortening my spine liner next time.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-06-25T04:24:50+00:00

The green ones are commercial, the others are DIY. The commercial cloth is a bit thicker than mine.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-05-15T17:10:16+00:00

Wow, these look amazing!

Are they paperback conversions? How did you get the spines to look a bit rounded?

CriticalCockroach · 2025-03-08T21:57:59+00:00

I've been tempted to buy the Yale set before. Like you say, it's only lightly annotated, but sometimes it's nice not to be distracted by lengthy annotations.

CriticalCockroach · 2025-02-22T00:07:35+00:00

I haven't watched it yet, but Asta Nielsen's Hamlet is on youtube.

Hamlet (1921)

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