SPINES 3

Working advice: The measurements given in this description are generic and you should make your own. Click here to see the images.

RODBACK
The Rodback is a very simple binding that can be useful for long one-section booklets, with the rods providing a solid spine. If you want to make a three-sections book, link the sections together with an unsupported sewing (like Coptic) and then fix the central section to the rods as explained below.

How to make it
For the cover you will need a sheet of paper (or very thin leather laminated with paper) a bit longer than the section and four times the width of it plus 30mm. A flyleaf surrounds the section and is sewn with it.
Fold the paper of the cover in the middle and lay the section in it with the spine of the section in the fold. Turn backwards the two sides of the cover leaving 1-2mm squares at the fore-edges.
Prepare two wooden rods 1-2mm in diameter (or more depending on the thickness of the section) which are the same length as the cover. If necessary paint the wooden ends with a colour that matches the paper cover.
Roll the two sides of the paper outwards around each rod until they touch the central fold of the cover underneath. Roll and unroll the paper two or three times until it curls, and cut off the excess paper if necessary - you only need sufficient paper to completely wrap the rod (see image 1).
Protect one side of the cover with a sheet of paper and with a small brush spread a thin layer of adhesive inside the curled edge then wind it tightly around the rod.
Do the same with the second rod. Put the book between two pressing boards with the rods protruding from the edges and leave them to dry: wrap a soft protective barrier sheet (e.g. Vilene or Bondina) around and between the book and the rods (see images 2, 3 and 4).

The sewing
For a small or medium booklet you will need two sewing stations but you can have more for longer books. With a needle make a hole 20mm from the head and tail edges of the section, piercing the central fold of the cover in the same go. Start the sewing inside the section going out in the middle of the cover's fold.
Keeping the two rods together at the spine, wind the sewing thread around them in a figure-of-eight shape, then go back into the same hole as before and make a firm knot with the thread that was left inside (see images 2, 3 and 4).
Go down to the second sewing station and out through section and cover. Link the two rods outside the cover as before. Fix the end of the thread inside the section with a second knot.