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Fraying the ends of the cords

This morning, we used a small tool to fray the ends of the cords we glued to the spines of our books yesterday. The tool is a small wooden peg with 3 sewing needles attached which separates the strands of the cords. These frayed ends will be glued to the boards of the book later.

Making paste

Then, we mixed paste to use for the days work.

Glued down frayed cords to boards

The ends of the frayed cords were then glued down onto both book boards. I slid a piece of release paper on top of it and pressed the books for about 20 minutes.

Lifting leather from the cover

I used my lifting knife to lift the leather off the cover boards of the book.

Applying Japanese paper and pressing

All the books were then placed in a press. The spaces between the cords were lined with two layers of Japanese paper and allowed to dry.

Attaching a leather lining

A leather lining was made and pasted to the spine. This leather piece was pressed onto the spine and the space around the raised bands on the spine reinforced with string tied to the press.

Tomorrow-rebacking the spine with new leather.