Redecorated (Write Off) Brotherband Book

I found a couple of Brotherband books that the local library wrote off. They were falling apart, but gave me a good excuse to redecorate them. This is my first attempt.

Materials:

1. Old book
2. Leather
3. Paper
4. Board
5. Rope
6. Ribbon
7. Linen strips (can also be other cloth)
8. Glue (woodglue or other PVA glue)
9. Pewter
10. Paint
11. Wood stain

Tools:

1. Ruler
2. Knife
3. Clamps
4. Brush
5. Punch
6. Scissors
7. Snippers
8. Metal container
9. Lasercutter (optional)
10. Pewter heater pot (optional)

Remove the old cover, by cutting as shown at the photo.

If the old glue is a pit crusty, it might also be a good idea to ad some fresh glue on the spine.

To make the spine look cool, ad some beautiful ribbon on the top and bottom. Normally they ad strength when they are sewn to the spine, but here they are just for looks.

The same goes for the rope that I glued to the spine. If they add strength, it is pure by accident.

You can make your endpapers really nice by decorating them or using special paper. I just took some nice thick paper that was big enough.

1. Fold the papers in half
2. Cut them to size
3. Stack them on some old paper and put old paper on top so that just 6mm (1/4 inch) is showing
4. Put glue on the 6mm that was showing
5. Glue them on the front and back of your book block

1. Cut the boards to size. You want them a couple of mm bigger than your book block. I added 4 mm (1/6 inch) to the top, bottom and front. So the boards will be 8 mm (1/3 inch) higher than the block and 4 mm wider.
2. Now punch, cut or drill holes in the boards where the ropes are on the spine.
3. Pull the rope ends trough the holes
4. Glue the boards to the spine with cloth

I used a laser cutter for the parts that I want raised on the front of the cover. If you have one, you can use the added file, but you can easily cut them by hand and glue them where you want them.

I used leather because that is what I have, but there are many materials that you can use, as long as it is pliable enough.

1. Cut the leather with at least an inch extra material around
2. Put enough glue on the spine
3. Push the spine in the middle of the leather
4. Cut in an slight angle all the way towards the spine
5. Remove the extra leather at the spine leaving 6 mm (1/4 inch)
6. Fold the left over 6 mm leather into itself
7. Massage the leather over the rope on the spine
8. Wrap rope or rubber bands around the book, next to the rope to accentuate them while the glue is drying

1. Put enough glue on the board
2. Glue the leather on it
3. Cut off the corners from the leather, 4 mm (1/6 inch) from the board
4. Wrap and glue the sides around the board (you can wait with this step until after painting)
5. Glue the end sheet on the board (you can wait with this step until after painting)
6. For the front board, you will need to massage the leather in the corners of the glued on extra board
7. Keep on massaging until the glue is dry enough

I used wood stain to paint the leather and that worked great for me.

Painting the edges on the inside was a bit difficult for me, but will be much easier if you paint first and fold the sides in later.

To get rid of the brush strokes, I dabbed the wet stain with some paper towel.

I designed my shields in Corel Vector. Corel aborted this program and they did not come out with any software that can open the Corel Vector files. For that reason I just added the PDF files.

I engraved the design on board with the laser cutter. You can possibly also do this by hand (I can't), so perhaps for this step a laser is necessary.

Be sure to engrave the image mirrored, because this is just the mold for the pewter

1. Stack the boards. Start with the engraved board, than the cut form, than the blanc board.
2. Put a piece of wood on the top and bottom
3. Clamp the stack together
4. Put the stack is a metal container that can catch the leaked pewter
5. Make sure that you won't have to touch anything during the pour.
6. Melt the pewter. You can easily do this in an old pot on a normal stove. Make sure that you use pewter without lead in it, so don't ever use old antique pewter
7. Pour the pewter into the mold
8. Wait a few minutes until it is cooled down
9. Open the mold
10. Snip off the sprew

To make the text on the shields better visible, I painted the shields. They also look so much cooler now.

1. Paint the whole shield with dark acrylic paint.
2. Remove all the paint with a dry (paper) cloth.

The paint will remain in the low spots and make the engraving so much better visible.

I used double sided tape to put the shields on and that worked great.

1. Put the tape on the back off the shields
2. Cut off the extra tape
3. Take off the paper backing
4. Push in place

Now find a nice quiet place to enjoy and read your book.

I really like the result and already found some Brotherband fans that wondered where I have got this cool version from.

I also did two more books from this series.