Here are some pictures of the finished work of the Bible. It was a straightforward external and internal re-hinging and exterior restoration. The deterioration of the original spine leather was horrible and was missing pieces, so it still looks a bit rough. But the work came out to be as I expected. When the original spine is missing pieces, I can create imitation embossing to fill the gap, but for this Bible, because the ornaments were very specific and the missing parts were large, I had to leave it alone. Anyway, One thing about doing a re-hinge especially on leather bindings, is to make sure the "joint on the hinge" where the new leather (or whatever material) goes underneath of the original leather (or material) is as invisible as possible. Needless to say, you pare the edges of new spine leather, but you also need to pare the edges of the original leather so that the connected parts become smooth and unnoticeable. I uploaded a couple of close-up pictures of the hinge so that you can see what I'm talking about. However, because the freaking lighting in the bindery is terrible for taking photos, it created too much sheen on them. So you might not be able to see exactly what I want to show. Ahh.. I'm gonna have to solve this lighting problem soon... Anyway, the actual work is better looking than what's shown on those amateur pictures, is what I'm sayin' ! The bottom line is : I ain't a photographer! I'm a bookbinder, for god's sake!
The before and after on this book is really astonishing. Such a great job!
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