Graphite Edge Decoration of a Book // Adventures in Bookbinding

[@nashvillain171]

*I've never in my life seen this edge decoration. This shot of the burnished edge at **12:35** is amazing!*

[@DASBookbinding]

I wish I could just leave it in the press! DAS

[@nashvillain171]

@@DASBookbinding 😂 😂 😂

[@wovenscrolls]

13:21 That graphite edge is amazing! I am really going to try do it on one of my books! Thank you for explaining so wonderfully how to do it!

[@69Buddha]

I agree -- we're going to need to see that edge decoration in its own video ;-). Thanks for another great tutorial!

[@shahinmonschizadehtehrany3902]

Fantastic video again! Thank you!

[@ripper3072]

Thank you for ur vids,sir. ❤❤❤

[@Admiral86Untidy]

Stunning

[@westboundpony]

Another technique I need to try. Thank you for sharing your skills!

[@DASBookbinding]

You are so welcome! DAS

[@csbbookbinding9769]

The gold tooling on top of the dark graphite on the book’s edge is very satisfying to look at. Nice work!

[@kardanadam2]

Thx master. I'm looking forward to new videos

[@londonhodnet4079]

Have just discovered your videos, this is fascinating, am an embroiderer and am going to try and learn bookbinding, thank you

[@mikouf9691]

I have a book with black page edges that are shiny, but not metallic. I always wondered how that effect was produced. This video gives me one possibility. I do wonder: if one has a book that already has stained edges, can the edges be burnished?

[@lisajarvis3820]

OMG ~ I HAVE SEEN SOME VERY OLD BOOKS WITH EDGING LIKE THIS AND WONDERED HOW IT WAS DONE ~ OMG ~ NOW THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME KNOW HOW ~ OMG ~ I HAVE TO TRY THIS 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾❤️ By the way I have now subscribed to your channel ~ I have been teaching myself for years how to make books from scratch but mine have always come out with imperfections I could never sort ~ UNTIL I FOUND YOU ~ 🤣 ~ now my books are starting to 👀 a lot more presentable ~ I APPRECIATE YOU SO MUCH FOR HELPING ME OUT ~ YOU NOW HAVE AN APPRENTICE 👍🏾😎

[@Kavukamari]

must you always round and back the book BEFORE gilding? or would it also work to coat/gild it before rounding and backing? my assumption is that the coverage would not be enough once the book is rounded, but my worry was that it would be especially difficult to gild/coat a rounded fore edge..

[@Kavukamari]

but I know that for one of my projects, i will NEED to round and back the book, because I'm going to add a lot of bulk with fusing split pages together into double wide pages

[@fpul]

Awesome video. Was very informative for me to watch.

[@marcos13vinicius11]

How beautiful! It looks like silver leaf or something way more precious then graphite. Is it really that simple as it looks? Just egg white, water and graphite? Are there anything that i could use to substitute the Agate burnsher?

[@DASBookbinding]

Anything hard and polished and the shape you want to can be used for a burnisher. I've seen polished decorative stones, marbles, and the side of coffee mugs used. Sounds simple but for some reason can be hard to execute. So many variables, such as the type of paper. Good luck! DAS

[@definitelynotskynet]

Man, that’s beautiful.

[@DASBookbinding]

Thanks! DAS

[@noyb154]

not archival, but neat. i wonder if there is an archival method. perhaps just using an archival paste with some water.

[@DASBookbinding]

Archival is a funny word. You're not likely to find a professional conservator use it. Anyway, the egg glair is a traditional approach to finishing used for centuries. You can use any of the standard sizes used in edge gilding - such as starch or parchment. I don't think the starch size will burnish up as well. But I also think it is wrong to think the egg glair will cause any damage to the book. All the best, DAS

[@victorcuevas5179]

Hi, I am wondering how do you make that paste? and is that the beeswax that you are resting the paste on?

[@DASBookbinding]

I've got videos on this. Check out the channel guide. It's a bit out of date. I'll update it this week. dasbookbinding.com/2019/12/14/youtube-channel/ I use paste and beeswax in the video but I didn't see them come together when I had a quick scan just now. So, maybe? All the best, DAS

[@victorcuevas5179]

Hi thank you for they reply. So the paste that you used is the starch adhesive past dipped in graphite powder? Is the hexagonal thing you are holding the beeswax?

[@elenakudriavceva2753]

It turned out very beautiful! And then the graphite doesn't get dirty?

[@DASBookbinding]

It seals the fibre at the edges of the book and helps stop moisture getting into the paper and is easier to clean off, and looks nice:) DAS

[@ryannixon1346]

I have a couple questions as I have tried to duplicate the results you achieved and I have not been successful, at least not as much as you achieve in this video. Which is excellent! When I have tried, I have not been able to get my edges to stop shedding graphite...ie when I run a finger along them afterward I am still picking up graphite. I have tried adding more layers, but I am feel I may be scraping the wax off when I burnish, is there maybe some reference point for the amount of pressure you use when burnishing? Also, how much wax am I looking to lay down in a layer. The video does not appear to lay much down in each layer, but I am struggling to acheive the same result with only a little wax in a layer. Thanks for your time and consideration.

[@DASBookbinding]

This sounds like the result I get when I try and use the approach Peter Verheyen describes. I do put a lot of graphite on compared to what I've seen other people do. But this is the way Fred P. showed me and I like the result. I try and not go over the graphite once it's down. I try my best to get it first shot and minimise reworking the layer of graphite. Maybe try a thinner graphite mix for a start, maybe even slightly transparent, and get the burnishing sorted and then darken the colour. For the burnishing it is very little wax. It's not like you can see a layer of wax, more you just know it's there. I gradually build up the pressure with the burnisher. I always make the mistake of starting too hard and putting lines on the edge which I can't then burnish out. This is where in person workshops are so much better:) Good luck! DAS

[@ryannixon1346]

@@DASBookbinding thanks for the feedback, I will try your suggestions and go from there. I agree on the value of in person workshops! Regards.

[@Hoffbright]

This is such a great video! I have a book ready to go because I have to try this myself haha, but I was wondering if you know if regular graphite powder and water soluble graphite powder are interchangeable for this process. Thank you!

[@DASBookbinding]

Sorry, don't know. I only use that one type of graphite. The jar will last me a lifetime. I do know the hardware store graphite is too coarse. DAS

[@Hoffbright]

@@DASBookbinding no worries, I really appreciate you responding! I’ll probably stick with the regular version, but That’s good to know about the hardware store stuff too, though. Thanks!

[@melaniesunstorm]

Can a little bit of painting be done over the graphite edge?

[@DASBookbinding]

Not sure. Not much sticks to graphite. You're just have to try. You don't need to do an edge to experiment. Just put some on some paper and burnish it. It's a first approximation anyway.

[@colinsmith5218]

Wow! Thank you. This will be great for my (still in planning) black hours.

[@DASBookbinding]

Good luck. Looking forward to seeing your book! DAS

[@Ryan-wu4ol]

I'm new at this. Who is Fred and where do I find the book? :)

[@DASBookbinding]

Check out the video description for details. DAS

[@sahafiandisheh1746]

you are unparalleled . thank you very much for all video . god bless you.

[@graciouscompetentdwarfrabbit]

I intended to ask for this one last week, but I ended up forgetting, and yet, here we are. Thank you very much sir, you're a gentleman and a scholar. Edit: Do you happen to know how to do gauffering? If so, could you add that to a future video? Edit 2: Nevermind that... LOL Edit 3: Did round and back the book before applying the graphite because you can't do that after the graphite is there or did you just want to show that it was possible to do that? I ask because I think that gauffering (or gold tooling on the edge) would look pretty darn cool on the fore-edge, and I would think it's (at least) a bit harder to do that if the book is already rounded.

[@vonantero9458]

I don't think you can really do it before as the rounding makes the fore edge uneven. That's fixed with the sanding before applying the graphite.

[@DASBookbinding]

See my reply regards gauffering in next comment. All the best, DAS

[@DASBookbinding]

Most of the gauffering I've seen is on gold and I've seen examples that were done before and after rounding. Very early gauffering was done with a sharp pointy tool and the pattern was pricked out. This could be done after rounding. I saw a great example of this on a book help at the Library of NSW and it was done in the 1920s. If you are going to use wide tools, such as a wide decorative roll, it has to be done before rounding and I have seen examples of this too. I'm yet to decide if I'm a fan of gauffering. Certainly looks great on period bindings. DAS

[@inuichiban6394]

Wow, was not expecting such results - very impressive!

[@aaa_1727]

15:51 The gold foiling decoration is sooooooooooo pretty!!!!

[@nich6220]

Fantastic video:) Is the point of sewing with tapes just to reinforce the spine? Why the washi paper in your first video? Thx

[@DASBookbinding]

The washi makes the joint between the book and case much stronger. It's the place many books fail. The tapes (sewing supports) provide a strong attachment between the cover boards and the book. It also provides a link between he sections without the negatives of a link stitch. DAS

[@nich6220]

Fantastic! Thanks so much for the info and the videos:) @@DASBookbinding

[@ryannixon1346]

You mention putting gold or silver over the graphite. How would you do that? I assume you skip the wax step and apply another size to bond the gold/silver to the graphite….but that seems like it will have issues as well. Since the gold or silver will rely on a bond to a particle layer that was softened with the second size?

[@DASBookbinding]

It's the same as edge gilding but with graphite instead of bole. I don't think I'd do a silver edge as it will tarnish. I'd do a white gold instead. DAS

[@jamiefutrell]

You are so talented and so patient. What beautiful art!

[@1musicsearcher]

Pretty classy look!

[@adamwintersteller6838]

is gold foil different from gold leaf? It seems different from the video but I cant find any trace of the stuff online. What do you mean by "real" gold foil?

[@DASBookbinding]

Good question. Real gold leaf is very very thin sheets of gold, like I use in the edge gilding video. You can also get the same leaf backed with a paper to make it easier to handle, but I never use this. Then there are all the heat activated foils, which are not gold but other altered metals such as aluminium, deposited in a thin film on a carrier with heat activated adhesives. Finally you can get a foil which has actual gold deposited onto it. This is what I use in the video. It is not common and fairly expensive. The last lot I bought was from Dominic Riley when he was in Oz last year. I think Talas sells it. All the best, DAS

[@cyrusunderscore7315]

Can you get an okay result without an agate burnisher? I want to put graphite edges on a couple of my books, but I can't justify dropping $50 on a tool I might only use twice. I get that I won't be able to get results like these, but would the graphite stay on the edge without using an agate burnisher? I wouldn't want it coming off on my hands as I read the books.

[@DASBookbinding]

Any hard smooth object will work. I know a number of people who use polished quartz pebbles. Especially with a bit of wax it really helps stop the black coming off on your hands. Hope that helps. DAS

[@avg0096]

@@DASBookbinding i was wondering this also because i cant find agate burnishers where i live, thank u for answering

[@maximeclermont6339]

And after the process is completed, the graphite edge doesn't stain fingers?

[@DASBookbinding]

The burnishing alone usually stops it coming off. But a few thin layers of wax really seals it in. I just grabbed that book and gave it a try and nothing came off. Happy binding! DAS

[@maximeclermont6339]

@@DASBookbinding cool! thanks

[@HieuTran-pw9ck]

This is so AMAZING! Thankyou sir for putting such incredible work to a video.