Making a medieval book

[@hazelgardner957]

Absolutely amazing.. came for the book stayed for the cat (the end lmao 😂😂)

[@RachelStormborn]

Wow. I’m still learning and don’t have nearly the tools at my disposal that you do but this is certainly helping me with my progress in binding

[@avenfelon2065]

About a month ago i came across this video and today i finally finished my medieval book. I repeated everything except brass. So, I wanted to thank you for this video,that inspired me. In the course of work, I learned a lot of new things and it was cool

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you so much for your comment, it really makes me inspired

[@carrollnormandeau4525]

Wow you are a master bookbinder, just amazing

[@sandycampbell4190]

Wow. That is amazing work.

[@BrandonCarraway91]

This is absolutely incredible!

[@avenfelon2065]

It's briliant. I get aesthetic pleasure watching this. I'll try to recreate it by my own.

[@fivebuttons]

3:06 Sewing the end bands. Decorating the end bands 5:50. Very helpful!

[@Tackygloo]

sobs, im a beginner and dont have the tools to use wood, just been using thicc chipboard, but this video was very informative!

[@linamoses3513]

Amazing! And inspired. I make books and tablet weave and am obsessed with making cordage. Can’t wait to incorporate all of this together.

[@ianwilkins9010]

Only came here to see the cat, and am I glad I stayed. This person is an absolute artisan. I never realised how intricate a book made hundreds of years ago could be so delicate in its making. It was a pleasure to sit and watch an expert at work.

[@secretgardenhome1809]

Entertaining video, so much work goes into this wow!

[@carmenpdl8918]

Amazing and incredible work! You have very beautiful hands! Take care of them!

[@margohoogenboom6283]

Wat een geweldige tutorials! en wat een fantastisch resultaat!

[@GypsieT17]

Absolutly beautiful work amazing 👏 😍

[@dr.jyotirmaydubey9400]

Ha Ha.. I luv the end! Very awesome work btw.

[@thunderwolf1151]

wow, that looks like it must have taken a lot of dedication! amazing job!

[@davidmann8254]

Congratulations. Very competent. Well done

[@sherryhudson7812]

You girl, have some wicked skills! How beautiful.

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

I'm male, but thank you!

[@sherryhudson7812]

@@BrinkmanCrafts Oh my so sorry, there was such grace in your hands that I assumed you were female.

[@sherryhudson7812]

I do wonder where you learned all these marvellous skills, I'm completely fascinated! Is this your trade in life or a hobby?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you so much! Crafting is my hobby and I studied medieval books and picked up a couple of books on the subject to better understand the construction. After that I guess it was all about practise

[@orirune3079]

@@sherryhudson7812 Funny you say that, my first thought upon opening this video was "wow he's got some elegant hands"

[@instagtikaw9173]

Amazing work, bravo I like it from the beginning till the funny end 😄 Hope more videos. Take care Fan from Morocco, Africa

[@dexterdragons]

You are a genius! Congratulations!

[@csbbookbinding9769]

Hah! All that work, and they you just throw it out in the end. Really nice video. Thank for sharing!

[@elissak2811]

Thank you so much for sharing your process. I'm still not sure how the straps were successfully inserted on the books I'm reproducing. The inside cover of the original doesn't have a cutout that would allow the strap to be fasted on in advance... I guess it's more complicated with leather. I would have loved to see the gilding process in more detail. Really fascinating overall. Loved it the first time the cat stuck its face into what you were doing! Haha!

[@paulwomack5866]

"Sanding the chamfers". Tedious. Get a sharp handplane! Loved the tablet weaving - didn't see that coming.

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you, the tablet weaving felt like a nice touch. And thank you for the suggestion of using a handplane! That must be the right tool for this. On my last book I used a knife to cut away most of the material before sanding, but a handplane would be better

[@kmnk]

You got techniks that i haven't seen before. Excellent job.

[@steveday4797]

I had very similar lessons for a while at the London College of Printing, a long time ago now

[@stevekovarez]

Perhaps you could do a video on weaving the tablet edges please....couldn't really see what you were doing when sped up !

[@dkflbvbh1785]

Отлично сделано. Если можно поясните заправку нитей, для обшивки книги. Смотрел на мин. скорости, не понял принцип заправки нитей в квадраты с отверстиями.

[@barbaraross5348]

Very labor intensive . I'm glad i live now even though those books were beautiful i'm sure they were much more expensive ,and we couldn't own very many.

[@ryanf4106]

They were so valuable they were chained to the shelves.

[@DontLeaveMeLucile]

I made it to the tablet weaving segment before I told myself I'll never be doing this in this lifetime.

[@cynfulification]

I really wish I had the skills to make such books. We do not have bookbinding courses in my country. The trade is usually run by Indians who own stationery printing companies. I find making the book to be satisfying.

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

It just takes practise. I learned all via internet and only used equipment you can buy in any hardware store :-)

[@cynfulification]

You learnt it online?? 😳 Gosh where? In my country, for you to be even teaching book binding programs, you need to be Certified. Also they don't sell book binding tools here. It's mostly imported from UK.

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

There are many good youtube channels about bookbinding and I also got a couple of ebooks that explained it in depth. I made my tools from mostly plywood.

[@lostintimeworkshop7413]

That is sick! Amazing work!

[@danrooc]

FANTASTIC! Feline supervsion is always an issue no one should disregard. :-D

[@ragnes18]

Amazing ,book making is as beatiful. as violin making

[@lamina8501]

رائع... الكتاب يستحق كل هذا العناء فعلا لمن يعرف قيمته. just......... AMAZING! 💚

[@mr.clipeers2467]

Uau... Cara que maravilha de trabalho. Como posso aprender tal talento?

[@jcortese3300]

12 minutes and 35 seconds very well spent. :-)

[@ihsanoktay6791]

You are great!

[@emmafreeman7740]

Loved the video thanks. Any chance you can make one about the weaving in detail?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you so much! Perhaps you already have found videos, but otherwise you can search for tablet weaving. Sorry for the late reply!

[@ullinehiba8585]

So cool- Bindung a Book all steps in Short time trank you!

[@lkmayhew9390]

Absolutely wonderful!

[@emma24ism]

Wow, thanks for showing us

[@alwinsart8906]

I did this from watching the video. It was fun. I am a member of a medevil recreation group and we recreate the Arts and Sciences of the period. I would love to have any documentation on this for research purposes.

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

That's cool to hear! Most of what I do is described in The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding by J.A. Szirmai, a book that goes into medieval bookbinding in great depth

[@kyststudio-epicartadventure]

Nice detail. Sterling Silver is easier to work than brass, and it polishes up nicely. My cat stamps papers and documents with her teeth. “Cat approved”

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

I've been thinking about trying out sterling silver, it will be interesting to see how it behaves. Regarding polishing, I don't know why but I have just started doing it and wow what a difference it makes!

[@federinik77]

Amazing video, thank you! Could you share howto learn the weaving using the tablets?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you very much! But I think others can teach that much better than me, I can just do the basics

[@leononchaloir8665]

Wow that was amazing to watch ! I work with medieval books (mostly XVth century) and it's so cool to see how they were made back then ! thank you for sharing your work with us.

[@kagmay3229]

i aspire to make something like this and be as good as you someday....

[@frotz661]

All work will be inspected by the cat.

[@Chris-ji4iu]

Beautiful!

[@littleshopoferror]

jäkligt bra video, fick massor med tips om hur jag ska göra.

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Va roligt! Det är bara att höra av dig om du undrar något.

[@just5mil3z]

You are so cool !

[@cv-edf1023]

😳 Amazing! 😍

[@MrTaina182]

Que maravilha,fiquei apaixonada por esse livro,parabéns é muitoo lindooo

[@luzisabelle]

Hi! Amazing video, but what happened to the audio? Thank you for the upload, it was incredible!

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you so much! It was the first little more serious video I've made and didn't have any audio.

[@monyscell8352]

Wow... absolutely incredible! Some of the work you did should be shown slowed down to do it justice.. would love to see more detail. Awesome book. tfs :)

[@oscarkingsbury5032]

Please post more videos! I have a 1620 King James bible that is falling to pieces and missing about 30 pages. Id love to see you do a book restoration video to give me thre courage to tackle it.

[@kirlentt2674]

Thats amazing.

[@djreimer9744]

Excellent!

[@rumeunner3245]

That's a nice cat 🐈

[@irishguy13]

Perfectionism is a character flaw. (Don't forget to empty that trash can.)

[@fantasticania]

wow, that's truly amazing! plus the cute feline assistant ;)

[@kanchatka1]

Definitivamente fue un arduo trabajo, muchas elementos elaborados a mano. Y un libro pequeño, creo se debería ver mejor uno más grande que ese

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you, but I think that small books also has a charm

[@desarrolladoravega1961]

@@BrinkmanCrafts Claro que si, los libros pequeños si tienen su encanto; solo hay que darselos

[@sebastianprzybya5966]

The finished signatures have grain running perpendicularly to the spine... Correct me if I'm wrong

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Yeah, you're right. I couldn't find short grained paper.

[@sebastianprzybya5966]

@@BrinkmanCrafts emm..., just cut it in half before folding?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Then the book would be half the size. And no - I couldn't neither find paper of double the size in long grain.

[@sebastianprzybya5966]

@@BrinkmanCrafts @silverman834 I don't get it. You could've fold the signatures twice instead of three times, and stack two signatures together to make up for the correct thickness

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Yes, you're right, I forgot that I used that method in this video. Your way would make a more sound book, but I think I really wanted to make the signatures from just one paper. But yeah, I hope I nowerdays would pay more attention to this.

[@philipmalaby8172]

Very cool. Needed some nice background music.

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you, and thank you for your suggestion, I will do it next time

[@ireneclaracuevasgimenez4132]

Just a wonderful job. Would love a teacher like you ;) where did you learn such a great bookbinding skills?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you very much! I learnt the basics from youtube videos and the more medieval specific technics from the wonderful book "The archaeology of medieval bookbinding"

[@danny71737]

Whoa there's so much too look at!! Like what's the rope spinning thing and how did you make it? And book covers can be wood?? This is really cool please make another about the neat stuff you have! 😀

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you, there sure was a lot to fit in a short video! You can look up rope making for examples of how people make rope making machines. Yes, most early books had wood covers to protect the book block. The word codex actually means block of wood. It was only cheap books that didn't have it

[@danny71737]

@@BrinkmanCrafts well now I feel silly 🙃 thank you so much 😊

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Don't feel silly! Nobody can know everything. Thank you again for your kind words

[@lisajmascord8183]

Wow. Love that.TSF.

[@misjavanlaatum]

That textblock is so ... thicc ...

[@gabrielkinzel3389]

then Kindle became a thing... cool bummer

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Lol!

[@RaenbowBlight]

As convenient as the modern internet is, it's sad seeing how books have been one of it's major casualties. It's truly incredible having such of well of knowledge on every topic at our fingertips, but there is something to be said about the feel of the pages and the distinct smell of paper, ink, adhesive a physical book has.. It sounds so silly but I am thankful to have been lucky enough to be in the last generation that had to use encyclopedias for school reports. Hell, my kids can't even fathom a pre-Google world.

[@TheCuteZombie]

@@RaenbowBlight Not exactly. While the internet has made books a little less know, they are still the best way to keep information compared to the volatile media storage we have today. It's just that historically books have always been expansive. A masterpiece like the one in the video is an example. I remeber only seeing so many good books at my university, compared to now were you can find almost any book you want online and for free.

[@dr.proffesorphd371]

Is there a name for this style of binding?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

It is called gothic binding

[@dr.proffesorphd371]

@@BrinkmanCrafts thank you!

[@ecotextileStudio]

omg,.. you didn't chuck it away!!! That was mean, hahahaha

[@riseabove3133]

Freaking awesome

[@Mira-bp2ye]

was glue a part of the process in medieval times? if so, how did they make they glue?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Yes, they used glue made from animal tissue and maybe they also used wheat paste

[@drtareqismail]

Fantastic ,how do you know that ?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you very much! Most of it is learnt through the book 'The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding'.

[@maryrayner6029]

Awesome book… What was the blade you used to plough the edges?? I just saw the sewing frame on the affordable bookbinder…

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you! I used the blade of a hand plane to cut the edges, but nower days I use a paring knife as it gives you a better grip. Yes, their sewing frame is very similar. Perhaps I was heavily inspired by it, I don't remember.

[@CassandraEvergreen]

This is epic!

[@Lu-hs1qj]

❤ What is the name of the guillotine tool?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

It's called a paring knife. It's normally used when working with leather, but it's also great for this

[@clarissachapman]

What's the name of that tool for trimming the edges? Is that something special or just a scraper with a blade?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

I used an old blade from a plane, but now I always use a french paring knife

[@clarissachapman]

@@BrinkmanCrafts Thank you so much! Now I know what to buy!

[@IzonVez]

Would this work out for like 200 SEPARATE pages?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Yes, I've seen people sew books many inches thick

[@PhilpFong]

So , this is why books were so expensive .

[@mason9146]

Where did you find out how to install the cords into the cover like that? I’ve seen that method in medieval books and i want to try it myself but I can’t figure out how to do it

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

The book 'Archaeology of medieval bookbinding' describes several ways of doing it!

[@amitm1157]

What did it contain? Magic spells?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Maybe cat drawings?

[@avenfelon2065]

What kind of thread you used for tablet weaving?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

It is silk.

[@avenfelon2065]

@@BrinkmanCrafts thank you

[@johnbirkel7626]

lovely work, where did you get your finishing press?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you! I made it from some leftover plywood and threaded rod

[@fcarvajalbrown]

Beautiful work, must've been priceless in those times, one question, what kind of tool are you using to trim the pages? common knife?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you! I used a blade from a plane in the video, but nower days I use a french paring knife

[@fcarvajalbrown]

@@BrinkmanCrafts thank you for answering! best regards from Chile.

[@benjefferies8531]

Love this so much!! Quick question: how did you get the little brass spindle to stay snug within the clasp? And, was that just a piece of a brass nail or something?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you so much! It is a piece of brass wire, but one could just as well use a brass nail. A small solder keeps it in place.

[@benjefferies8531]

@@BrinkmanCrafts brilliant! Thanks!

[@VikingVern7]

did you use real parchment?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

No. They also had paper in this time period, but I have not been able to find similar paper why I use modern paper.

[@VikingVern7]

@@BrinkmanCrafts Fyi the ending made me litterally lol

[@benjefferies8531]

Ok one more question about the beautiful clasp: what gauge brass did you use, and do you just buy it online?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Please keep the questions coming :-) I use 0.7 mm brass, that should be about 1/32". I bought it in a local hobbyshop, but it should be easy to buy online.

[@benjefferies8531]

Thanks so much!! Here’s my latest - partly inspired by your tutorial! The clasp and corners are just a stock one from hobby lobby - I’m going to be replacing it with one I make myself :) www.reddit.com/r/bookbinding/comments/kmlvgx/my_first_medieval_girdlebook_a_psalter_book_of/

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Wow, very impressive! I love girdle books! Very nice tooling on the cover.

[@benjefferies8531]

@@BrinkmanCrafts thanks so much!!

[@nicvandenbroeke7527]

What kind of metal do you use to make those catch plates?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

It is brass.

[@batanghardinero1539]

what was the tool for trimming the edges?

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

That was the blade from a plane, but nowerdays I use a paring knife

[@batanghardinero1539]

@@BrinkmanCrafts thankssss ssooooo muchh😍

[@batanghardinero1539]

@@BrinkmanCrafts any brand or any kind of pairing knife??

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

I think a french paring knife is good for this, but I guess also other styles would work

[@batanghardinero1539]

@@BrinkmanCrafts ohhh thanks sooo much now i can get smooth edges to my books thankss soo much🥰

[@stephaniebracken2728]

I would like to request that the cat gets more screen time. Please and thank you.

[@edition-deluxe]

How did you gilt the page edges??

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

I used a gold pen... it felt like cheating so I didn't show it. Now I use acrylic gold paint instead.

[@shrutiw.6904]

Why the trash can 🥺?

[@rustledjammies8769]

KITTEH! :o

[@avarineavee6502]

Maybe this book is totally not in my style cuz I prefer more modern style than medieval, but wow. I think making this was effortable, cuz it came out amazing. I love how you made clamps and other decorations all by yourself. I really admire the whole process, and that you wanted to put an effort and time to make this (i'm sure i would be too lazy to make it this way like you did xD). I hope you still do your thing!!

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you so much! It still happens that I bind books, but not as many as I did a couple of years ago

[@Yunklob]

I think you've lost the sound. :(

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Thank you, but I had no sound for this old video

[@Yunklob]

@@BrinkmanCrafts You did it very well and interestingly. We will be waiting for a new video, with sound. #^.^#

[@Yunklob]

And it will be convenient to divide the new video into several parts.

[@20010Z]

Darn kitty cat

[@jollyroger7624]

Magic !?

[@likhaluna7461]

u just throw it away?!

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Yes, there's nothing one can do when this cat starts messing about! Lol

[@likhaluna7461]

@@BrinkmanCrafts aww but u just put your efforts in nothing if thats the case..anyways, it is indeed a nice book! :)

[@BrinkmanCrafts]

Hehe, sorry but the ending was just a skit to give the video a funny ending. The paw prints were just on an inserted paper and it was actually hard to get the cat to walk in a convincing way.

[@likhaluna7461]

@@BrinkmanCrafts woah, that's a relief! Thank you for telling me this hahaha.

[@sielfriedtcleophaszebbygow2475]

These days we just print and bind them, there is no longer an art to making books and passing down information