Vent: That one comment about my spine rounding made me rethink everything

Been binding books for about 4 years now, mostly for fun and some side gigs. I always thought my rounded spines looked good - nice and tight, professional. Then this older bookbinder at a shop in Portland looked at one of my rebinds and said straight up "your spine is choking the text block." At first I was kinda pissed. But I went home and looked at what he meant. Turns out I was rounding too much, making the book impossible to open flat. I loosened up my rounding hammer technique and started using a backing board differently. Now my books actually lay open. Has anyone else gotten a critique that made you totally change your process?

2 comments

2 Comments

diana_moore7523h ago

Gotta love when someone calls out your "choking" technique, right? I had a similar moment with my own binding where I realized I was basically crushing the life out of every book I made. @diana314 is spot on about those old books too, they really teach you something about gentle curves and opening action. Now I can actually hand someone a book and not worry about them struggling to crack it open. It's funny how the harshest critiques end up being the most helpful if you don't let your ego get in the way.

diana3141d ago

Oh man, I used to be one of those people who thought a super tight rounded spine was the sign of quality work. But then I saw a book from the 1800s that had a much gentler curve and it opened like a dream, totally changed my whole approach.