Advanced Bookbinding Classes
A Little Leather?
Later this week we will be excitedly tearing these enticing brown paper wraps open in preparation for the Advanced Bookbinding Class this Saturday.
This, of course, is our leather stash. Leather bindings are a particular speciality here at Downie Allison Downie. It is a very skilled way of binding, which fewer binderies can do these days. Due to the lack of these skills still being taught, and of course the ever increasing prices of leather, it is certainly becoming one of our more high end services.
On our Advanced Bookbinding Class we spend the day binding a notebook in leather - much like this one I made as an example in our last class. We have a choice of leather for the spine and an even wider choice of beautiful papers for the sides to make your book truly the only one of its kind.
We show you how to work with the leather to stretch it over the book's spine and how we create the decorative raised bands. Hopefully we'll even have time for a little bit of gold tooling too!
Our Advanced Bookbinding Class usually requires a little prior bookbinding experience but if you would like to join us you can find out all the dates and details on our classes page. Or if you'd like to know more about our leather binding and repair work you can by clicking here.
The Artists' BookMarket 2017
Our Talented Co-workers at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Kerry Douglas
On Saturday afternoon while most of the capital were watching the rugby Gail and I travelled straight past Murrayfield to The Fruitmarket Gallery to see all the lovely work on display last weekend at this years Artists' Bookmarket, Edinburgh.
Two of our very own bookbinders, Kerry Douglas and Gillian Stewart, were showcasing some of their own stunning prints and books among many other artists, designers and makers.
This was the first year I've been to the BookMarket but I hear it has been running for 7 years now and is sort of an annual mini artist book festival with people exhibiting and selling their work, along with talks and discussion groups, workshops and poetry readings.
There were around 40 stalls to peruse (and purchase from!) showing an interesting variety of not just book making but also book art, photography, poetry, writing, drawings, ceramic and glass work, printing and letterpress among other techniques.
Gillian Stewart
Although here in our bindery we pride ourselves on our quality of craftsmanship, it is not usual for us to be able to work as creatively as we saw the artists do at the BookMarket. The books and booklets we saw were little works of art in themselves and really inspiring to pick up and look through. Kerry and Gillian specialise in graphic design, illustration and printmaking, which combined with the skills they have learnt here at Downie Allison Downie, they use to create beautiful and thought provoking art - in book form!
I should have told you all about it sooner so that everyone could have gone to see the BookMarket - I do apologise! But please have a look at their amazing work and check out their websites. by clicking on any of the images in this post.
If you have an idea for an book project but don't know where to begin we can help it come to fruition We are always happy to listen to your thoughts and answer any questions we can. You could even come and do a class with us to learn the basics now you've seen what can be achieved!
Kerry looking after her and Gillian's stand at the Artists' Bookmarket
Kerry Douglas
Gillian Stewart
Kerry Douglas
Top Tips for Dissertation Binding
Attention Students!
Since re-opening after New Year we seem to have a rush on thesis binding - you students must've been working hard over the holiday season!
When I was writing my dissertation I lost count of how many chocolate digestives I ate whilst procrastinating! Although we can't help you write your essay, we can certainly get it ready for submission for you! Here are a few top tips to make the process a little easier.
- First, and most importantly, please leave us enough time for binding
Binding books is not an instant process. First we print it (if you need us to), thread sew it and then we glue it up and trim the edges. After that we make a hard cover to fit, letter it with your name and title of your thesis before finally putting the book block into it's case and pressing it. Even after all that, someone checks it to make sure it is up to our high standards before it is ready for collection.
This whole process means that your book could be worked on by several different people with the majority of this work being done by hand. We can offer services from a 3 day turnaround up to a 2 hour service but please note you will be charged a higher rate the shorter the turnaround!
- Save your document in PDF format.
Check your whole document! We don't read your thesis - mostly we don't even understand your title - so please check it for spelling errors, get it proof read, look for images or tables which don't fit on the page and remember we will charge you our colour printing rate for every page which contains a coloured heading or a blue hyperlink.
Once you are happy with your document save it as a PDF. If you don't know how to, we can tell you here. We need it like this to guarantee the layout and pagination of your document looks exactly the same on our computer screen as it does on yours.
Watch this video to see how we bind your thesis!
- Come and see us!
We are open from 7:30am until 5:00pm Monday to Thursday and from 7:30am until 2:30pm on Fridays. During these opening hours I guarantee someone will be there to talk to you. If the door is shut when you arrive please just turn the handle and come in and see us - I know this sounds stupid but we have had a couple of Ph.D. students who can manage to write hundreds of pages on subjects I could never hope to understand but who seem unable to comprehend the door handle!
- We've got your spec covered
We understand that you are trusting us with many years of hard work but from this point on you can leave the rest to us! We bind dissertations every single day so we know what we're doing! We have your University Specification and will bind your dissertation ready for submission. If you are at a Glasgow based university we can even deliver it to your tutor for you! Don't panic, we got this!
- Or just do the whole thing online!
You can of course make things even easier for yourself by uploading your thesis to us online! The form will take you through all the relevant details and payment process. You can then either come and collect it in person or we can courier it to you or your University.
Check our our thesis pages for more info, prices and our online upload form.