Book Binding: How to Sew an End Band

Frankie Ridolfi knows all about making books. Heck, he's called the Book Binding Guy for goodness sake. In this lesson he delivers detailed steps about how to sew the end bands on bound books. The end bands, or fuzzy caterpillars, are unique features found along the spine of the top and base of a bound book. While you'll often see imitation end bands on many books, these decorative features, when utilized properly, also serve an important binding function and are indicative of true high quality products.

There are few book binders who know how to sew end bands properly, and Frankie lays it out plain, making the process simple for anyone with the desire to learn.

This lesson is merely a small section of Frankie's comprehensive book binding tutorial. The full DVD covers how to make a complete, bound book from start to finish and is available on Frankie's website: www.bookbindingguy.com.

My name is Frankie Ridolfi. Friends call me a Renaissance man because of my diverse passions and hobbies. I especially love figuring out how to make or do things, and then share that with others. Here's my creative journey at a glance:

In high school I won awards for painting, cartooning, and creative problem solving. At Carleton College I studied geology and archaeology. I designed independent studies to build a telescope by hand-grinding the optics, and do astrophotography at the campus observatory. Somehow, I even convinced a chemistry professor to let me experiment with creating fireworks! Outside of class I did an internship at NASA in planetary science, was an artist on an...

I love his name: Book Binding Guy :)

10/03/2008

~ brittanie

What a well-made video! I'm very impressed.

I can't believe that very few books have a real book-end. So many publishers take the cheap route these days. This would be a great idea for homemade Christmas gifts! Where can I find all of these materials online? I've never seen a needle as big as the one used!

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