Handmade Grimoire Bookbinding Completed

91 Icelandic Magical Staves and other Galdr drawn across 144 pages of antiqued paper, bound in blood, beeswax and silk thread, stitched onto raised bands, and glued onto oak boards wrapped in leather (leather aged by a hundred days of Irish rain) and held shut with a brass hasp.

My grimoire is a humble masterpiece of a codex --- of a manuscript, using traditional, Medieval, and ancient methods of bookbinding that were used long before the printing press.

Fullbound and leatherbound on raised bands.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• grimoire
• book
• of
• shadows
• bookbinding
• leatherbound
• codex
• manuscript
• the
• craft
• wicca
• asatru
• icelandic
• magical
• staves
• galdr
• rune
• starhawk
• scott
• cunningham
• gerald
• gardner

[yoyomax12]

Watched the other video first!

That is a book begging to be touched and opened. :)

Are you going to write the title of the book on the spine? Many of my very old books that seem to be bound that way have the title seemingly hand written in "gold" ink on the spine.

[brojoghost]

@yoyomax12 I was thinking about trying to figure out how to do some embossing, kinda considered buying a packet of gold leaf, but I also have metallic gold ink. So far not sure what will become of the book cover yet :)

[dreamer72fem]

Your book came out great. Wish I could see it in person...be soo cool to just look it over.

[brojoghost]

@dreamer72fem I know how you feel - I find myself picking it up often, opening and closing it, putting it back down, only to pick it up again... like an aesthetic curiosity. :)

[Cadwaladr]

It looks really good, and that lampblack ink is probably better than a historical type iron-gall ink, which is acidic and can eat through the paper over time.

[brojoghost]

@Cadwaladr my only worry about lampblack ink is how soluble it is. I like the consistency of metal nibs, but if I would have used India Ink like I kinda wanted to, I would only have been able to use feather quills. The whole book is waterproof, except for the knowledge within. Heh.

[hellen1727]

Very very beautiful job!!!! And the content is outstanding!!

[kristeena1807]

U are gorgeous

[imperceptibleme]

John you did a beautiful job making the book and then binding it. It's quite an accomplishment. I looked at all your pictures on Twitter of how you bound the book and it's so interesting. Great Job!! Hugs!

[brojoghost]

@GuruMN the inspiration that kept me going was the Book of Kells, and other medieval manuscripts on display at Trinity College Dublin. They had an exhibit on how books used to be made by hand, and ever since then, I've wanted my own handbound codex... so I went as "all out" as I could :)