Double Needle Coptic Binding with Judy Serebrin

Last month, I once again got to take advantage of the wonderful workshops at the San Francisco Center of the Book. This time I wanted to expand my knowledge on non-adhesive bindings as I am doing a project in my archaeology class about early bookbindings that will lead to a historical model. This was my first time sewing cords through the board and my fingers were completely sore by the end of the day.

Make sure everything lines up at the spine.

Having a good quality board is important as I ran into problems
while making my holes with the board splitting. Sanding the edges helped.

Making sewing stations.

Set up of each pair of needles. Six used all together.

I did find this binding very frustrating due to my attempt to use two different color threads, which makes it very difficult to pull through the holes. There is a lot of bulk in this binding and if you are making one for non artistic reasons, only use one type of thread. 

As for my archaeology project here is a list of a few of the resources I'm using to recreate a medieval binding. Great books on the history of bookbinding.

The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding by J.A. Szirmai. The most complete study of the actual archaeology of books that I have found. High recommended for those learning to understand the binding structures and how it evolved. 

Twelve Centuries of Bookbindings: 400 - 1600 by Paul Needham and Bookbinding: Its background and technique by Edith Diehl are good resources as well.