Chris Fitzgerald, one of my eraser carving net friends, sent me this email about the coptic binding. I didn’t realize until after I posted that bit in the “Big Mittens” post, how good the blockquotes look with this blog template. Here they go again!
I don’t know how often you check the comments on your
blog but I promised a formula for calculating binding
thread. So I called my friend Jean and here it is.
Lay the thread out along the full height of the
assembled book. One length for each signature, one
length each for the front and back cover. One length
for luck plus just a bit for knots, etc.(not much)
I’ve taken classes with Jean and this works.
I find something similar. I wrap the thread once and a half around the book’s length (with signatures sandwiched between cover boards) per signature. Sometimes I add a little for luck, but that always gives enough. I do, however, sew with doubled thread.