All of 30 of us(PG and UG students) were asked to share our work and show how far have we gone through in our project and what have we done up till now. This actually made us understand that what is now left is just a week and the final deliverable has to be shown. This meeting was of great help as we got reviews from Tarun, Suresh and Rupesh -what we have done is it going the right direction, what do we need to improve upon etc all keeping in mind the DEADLINE the 21st March.
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Moving further…
With the references and fixing up the target audience the next step is to explore the various styles of illustration for different bindings.
Tarun also told us that having a look at other DIY concept books or manuals would be of great help. He gave us few books on the DIY concept and I took two out of them for reference which are:
1.HANDBOOK BINDING, An instruction Manual
2.The other was a book “The Joy Of Making Indian Toys”, in which the illustrations were done by Tarun himself
Finalising the Target
The next very important thing which I was constantly thinking and trying to finalise was the target audience/ group to which this manual would cater to. So this manual would be for the ENTHUSIASTS who are interested in DIY (Do It Yourself) concept. It is also for those are interested to do something that requires hand skills (in this era where technology is replacing a lot of things that were done by hand ).
Documenting the Process at Print Labs
With all the information collection and research which was going on, one thing that we all thought would be helpful and important was documenting the process done at print labs which would be of great help during exploring different styles of illustrations for the manual. So we took Tarun and Sachin bhai’s permission to document the process at the print labs of the types we decided in the previous meeting:
- Centre-staple
- Centre-stitch
- Stab Binding (4 hole and 5 hole)
- Pad Binding
- Perfect Binding
- Perfect Binding(with grooves & with grooves and thread)
- Section-sewing (soft cover)
- Section-sewing (hard cover)
We also took short interviews of Suresh bhai ans Sachin bhai.
The processes were documented in the form of videos and photos with cameras and cellphones. Some of the photos during documentation of the processes are:
Meeting with Tarun- 27.2.2014
With a plethora of questions and doubts, and to finalise the types of Binding we need to include in our manuals we met Tarun on 27.2.2014 at the print labs. This was important because we wanted to document the process followed and taught at the Print Labs.
Finally we decided on the following types of bindings:
1) Centre Staple
2)Stab Binding- 4 hole and 5 hole
3)Pad Binding
4)Perfect Binding- with grooves and with grooves and thread
5)Section Binding-Soft cover and Hard cover
Craft Of Book Binding-Kansara Bindery
Kansara Bindery is a firm which today concentrates on providing service to PhD students and diaries for educational institutions. We went their for the 1st time when we accompanied Titu and Ananya for their project on letterpress. Kansara Bindery is a huge firm with loads of everyday jobs in printing and binding due to which they have divided their work into 2 parts one at Ashram road(the letterpress section) and the other at Khadia(binding section).
When Muntazhar Kansara (Munbhai) came to know about our project which was on Binding, he told us that he would love to show us the techniques on Craft of Book Binding which his grandfather started and dealt with, which we could document. Finally last month he took out time from his busy schedule and was happy to demonstrate the process with the help of his assistants(taught by him). It is the increasing demand of people that has forces him to move away from the traditional Hand Book Binding and use machines in order to fasten the process.
Salimbhai with Munbhai demonstrated the traditional process to us while all three of us(Aman, Kunal and me) documented the process. Some important steps are:
When asked about what he thinks that in Hand book biding should the machine be used, he said that machine to be used to give the book a finished look, i.e mainly used for cutting purpose only
Interviews in Delhi
During the buffer week when I went back home, I managed to get a few addresses of binding firms and could interview 2 of them(Thanx to internet).
The 1st was Giriraj Binding house . It is a small firm with 5 workers. They mainly deal in various types of Pad Binding since 15-20 years . Even thought they have two machines(cutting and staple machine ), most of the work is done by hand , using simple materials like – card board, paper, glue(LAI in Hindi), binding cloth , wire(for stapling machine).
Everyday they produce approximately 1000- 2000 pads, depending on the jobs they get. These jobs are basically from businesses in Chawari Bazaar.
On asking him that whether binding done by hand is better or the one done by machine he immediately answers,”Machine would definitely do it better. It’s just that binding in smaller quantities is what has to be done by hand as bindings to be done on machines have to be larger in quantity. Hand binding is also preferred if the size of the book has to be altered again and again/ frequently. ”
The other was not even a firm. There is a person named Laxman Gupta, who with an assistant makes files that are supplied to schools. He has been working past 40 years since this has being passed to him by his father. They make all these files by hand binding and using no machinery even for cutting.
Material Sourcing
Binding Cloth
Reczine samples
Coloured sheets , could be used for signature to create book
Satin coated sheets, could be used both for binding as well as cover
Decorative sheet s, could be used for title/cover
Materials and Tools required(Depending on level of complexity)
Thread(Best if you have waxed thread)
Needle
Cutter / Exacto Blade
Adhesive- Fevicol, Rubber solution etc
A pair of Scissors
Awl/ Something sharp to make holes
Brush(to apply fevicol)
Binding Cloth
2nd Meeting with Tarun
With a lot of doubts, questions and to seek direction 4 of us(Aman, Bhoomika, Kunal and Me) met Tarun. Telling him how far have we gone with our research and what feedbacks we got from Kavya, we wanted him to answer our list of questions and clear our doubts.
The discussion included the following points:
Binding————————?(we need to decide what types we want to include)
Sequence———————?(What-content, How-design decisions, For whom-target)
Techniques——————-?
DIY——————————-?
Interviewing- *commercial venture, *Enthusiasts, *Art and Craft Teachers, *Students from disciplines other that Graphic Design also etc.
CHOOSE YOUR DIRECTION – Target(very important){Decisions like whether can print labs collaborate with NGo’s }
Binding- A unique experience 