Book Repair: part 2

Well, I was able to finish the repairs on my friend's Bible! It turned out well. She'll have to be more careful with it! Took about three days total, including drying time. See the pics below (with explanations!) (Also, when I say "tape," I really mean "book tape." It's not your average Scotch tape on a roll!)

P.S. I know there are people out there reading this blog! Please feel free to comment on anything you like or dislike, and tell my your thoughts on things. Also, if there's anything you want to hear about, let me know!

I started back to front for this book, and had to finish separating the book's binding for the spine: the back half was still attached, while the front half was in multiple parts.

(Above) You can see where I used a heavier tape for extra support between the back page and the cover. (Below) I also used this kind of tape for pages that needed extra help.

(Above) As you can see, within the two halves, there were many other, smaller chunks of pages that were falling out (some were even only partially out!), sometimes even single pages. For these types of delicate mends, I used a thinner, clear tape. (Below) Some pages had lost some of their paper as well! I fixed these types with the stronger white tape seen in the above pictures, as leaving holey pages would lead to further damage. (You can see the wax paper behind the page to the left. This is useful because if I didn't use it, I would end up taping the page behind it as well.)

(Below) You can see that I sometimes used other books as weights to help keep the pages flat, after I had smoothed them with my "bone." As you can see, you have to very carefully lay down the tape to make sure the two facing pages don't end up having a gap, and so the words don't get covered!

(Below) I had to cut the book open the rest of the way so I could glue everything back together. The long cardboard piece laying across the book belongs in the spine...but the glue wasn't doing its job anymore.

Below you can see the final step in this repair job. I taped the two halves of the Bible to each other and glued the spine reinforcement down, as well as more gauze (Gauze used in bookbinding is called mull, and is used in case binding to adhere the text block to the book cover--from Wikipedia). 

The final final step is to let the book dry overnight or longer. I simply set the book spine down between two other books and set them against the wall (spines down!) to keep the Bible upright and so gravity would push the pages down into the spine.

Hope you enjoyed my journey through mending!