Bookbinding pictures
Jan. 21st, 2007 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuHere are the pictures I promised you:
The text block, stitched together and ready for pasting into the cover.
The cover, waiting to accept the text block.
Before applying glue, I took a picture of the text block and cover roughly as they would fit together when assembled. (The text block is too far from the inner edge; but this was just for the picture.)
The completed book, closed.
Open to the half-title page. (I decided to save pages by printing the half-title on the copyright page, and skipping the half-title and full-title pages. And yes, I know it's properly known as the "bastard title" page, but I can't bring myself to use that term on a prayer book. Although I did wonder: given the binding order, is the "verso" what would normally be the "recto," and is what would normally be called the "verso" properly called the "sinistro"?)
A close-up of the stitching from the inside.
All the signatures at the bottom of the book. The ribbon bookmark is visible here.
This is what happens if you don't double-check all your tension before knotting off at the end of a signature.
The book open to a point near the middle. You can see how the text block is skewed. You can also get a sense of some of the typographical display that I am trying for; the musical cues are color-coded for the different types of days. (This spread is an extreme example of the more "artistic" layout.)
One last shot, showing the whole book in context. Obviously, I still haven't done the title on the exterior of the cover.
Shabbat morning, I was asked to be sh'liach tzibbur (prayer leader) and I was delighted to use my siddur for the first time in that capacity. I did feel that the beauty of the page inspired me to beauty in my singing.
Having the musical notation worked exactly as I had hoped in two spots. When we reached the piyyut (song) "El Adon," I blanked on a melody, so I simply picked #4 in the book and started singing. It was a melody that I like but that I can never come up with under the pressure of the moment. Perfect. And between Sh'ma and Amidah I often have trouble getting back into the Shabbat morning nusach (prayer modes) from chanting the Sh'ma using the Torah cantillation. Again, I just glanced at the musical notes to remind my brain of where it was supposed to be and I recovered.
I haven't yet gotten the chance to add the musical notation to the Hallel, and I actually blanked at Hodu Lashem Ki Tov --- but by that point I was riding high and simply improvised a new responsive tune. The congregation was enough in my groove that they handled the de novo call-and-response just fine, and I felt that unique elation that comes from leading the joyous singing of the Hallel.
When I set the siddur down while carrying the Torah scroll around, my rabbi picked it up and started leafing through it. His assessment: "This is really coming along nicely. You should publish it commercially when it's done." That was just the icing on the cake. (The chrein on the gefilte fish?)
The whole experience convinced me that I'm on the right track with this project. It made my tefillot (prayers) more beautiful and more spiritually satisfying. It made me a more effective sh'liach tzibbur (prayer leader). And although I started off trying to create something for myself, I seem to have stumbled on something that other people value as well.
The text block, stitched together and ready for pasting into the cover.
The cover, waiting to accept the text block.
Before applying glue, I took a picture of the text block and cover roughly as they would fit together when assembled. (The text block is too far from the inner edge; but this was just for the picture.)
The completed book, closed.
Open to the half-title page. (I decided to save pages by printing the half-title on the copyright page, and skipping the half-title and full-title pages. And yes, I know it's properly known as the "bastard title" page, but I can't bring myself to use that term on a prayer book. Although I did wonder: given the binding order, is the "verso" what would normally be the "recto," and is what would normally be called the "verso" properly called the "sinistro"?)
A close-up of the stitching from the inside.
All the signatures at the bottom of the book. The ribbon bookmark is visible here.
This is what happens if you don't double-check all your tension before knotting off at the end of a signature.
The book open to a point near the middle. You can see how the text block is skewed. You can also get a sense of some of the typographical display that I am trying for; the musical cues are color-coded for the different types of days. (This spread is an extreme example of the more "artistic" layout.)
One last shot, showing the whole book in context. Obviously, I still haven't done the title on the exterior of the cover.
Shabbat morning, I was asked to be sh'liach tzibbur (prayer leader) and I was delighted to use my siddur for the first time in that capacity. I did feel that the beauty of the page inspired me to beauty in my singing.
Having the musical notation worked exactly as I had hoped in two spots. When we reached the piyyut (song) "El Adon," I blanked on a melody, so I simply picked #4 in the book and started singing. It was a melody that I like but that I can never come up with under the pressure of the moment. Perfect. And between Sh'ma and Amidah I often have trouble getting back into the Shabbat morning nusach (prayer modes) from chanting the Sh'ma using the Torah cantillation. Again, I just glanced at the musical notes to remind my brain of where it was supposed to be and I recovered.
I haven't yet gotten the chance to add the musical notation to the Hallel, and I actually blanked at Hodu Lashem Ki Tov --- but by that point I was riding high and simply improvised a new responsive tune. The congregation was enough in my groove that they handled the de novo call-and-response just fine, and I felt that unique elation that comes from leading the joyous singing of the Hallel.
When I set the siddur down while carrying the Torah scroll around, my rabbi picked it up and started leafing through it. His assessment: "This is really coming along nicely. You should publish it commercially when it's done." That was just the icing on the cake. (The chrein on the gefilte fish?)
The whole experience convinced me that I'm on the right track with this project. It made my tefillot (prayers) more beautiful and more spiritually satisfying. It made me a more effective sh'liach tzibbur (prayer leader). And although I started off trying to create something for myself, I seem to have stumbled on something that other people value as well.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-21 09:52 pm (UTC)I wish more siddurim included music. I mean, I understand about the wide varities of applicable melodies, but including a few of the common options would help a lot of people.
(If your siddur were commercially available I'd buy one (assuming it didn't cost $500 or something -- not that I think it would, but I didn't want to sign a totally blank check here :-) ).)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-21 10:14 pm (UTC)Did you do the printing, physically, yourself? Or did you design the pages and send them to a printer?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-21 10:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-21 10:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-21 10:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-21 10:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-22 12:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-22 01:51 am (UTC)I might be interested in buying such a siddur if it also had transliterations, cuz my Hebrew-reading skills are rudimentary at best. And if it weren't $500. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-22 02:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-22 03:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-22 05:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-22 07:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-22 03:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-22 03:10 pm (UTC)beautiful
Date: 2007-02-12 11:27 am (UTC)i wrote to you last year (topic limmud), then i couldn't log in anymore (because i don't have a livejournal?), but i still read once in a while in your journal. it is always interesting for me.
i wish you all the best with your sifrut!
shosh
(Followed your link from Handmadebooks)
Date: 2007-12-24 02:20 pm (UTC)