Deadlands Savage Worlds Custom Binding Part 3

So now for the cover. For this treatment I am going to do a single piece raw vegetable tanned leather cover. This is a bit of an experiment for me so you get to come along for the ride. Most of the embossing I have done to date has been very detailed work that did not involve stamping the leather. For this cover I am also using a plug which is a mold put under the leather to give it greater depth.

By raising the cow skull up it allows me to add an embossed layer for the gun and hatchet detail.

I next added a basket weave boarder to frame it in.I will repeat this pattern on the back of the book as well. It still needs some corner details to balance it all out but I have not decided on a final design yet.

Next I will finish out the embossing and fit the leather to the book and form the spine.

Deadlands Savage Worlds Custom Binding Part 2

So I printed out all signatures and folded everything. Now it needs to be punched and sewn together. I recently got a punch cradle and it does make things faster and easier but it is not a required piece of hardware.

You need to ensure that each booklet is punched in the same exact location so I built a template from a scrap of card stock. There is no hard and fast rule for how many holes you will want but I prefer to have three support straps sewn in so that means eight holes. Two for each strap and two more for anchor points to connect the booklets together. 

Next it is just a rinse and repeat process of using an awl to punch holes through each of the signatures.

Once the signatures are punched they need to be stitched together. To help hold everything together and add support to the binding you need to sew in binding strips. You can buy specific strips of cloth for this from a book binding supply house but I just cut strips of muslin. Any natural fiber will do but I would suggest a light weight white cotton. 

Next you need to sew the binding strips and signatures together. there are a lot of videos on you tube that will show you this Binding process  so I will skip it here. While it it is not strictly necessary to have a sewing rig I would highly recommend one since it is extremely difficult to keep thing tight and even without one. They typically cost about $150-$200 to buy but with a little effort you can easily make one yourself. 

Once it is all sewn together. I added a thin mesh backing material and applied a liberal coating of glue and pressed the book and let it dry. 

Next time we start working the leather cover...