Casebound Lessons: Learning from the Leaders

by Jen Clark, The Binding Edge

Creativity ruled the day for three companies that took casebinding projects to new heights. Designers at a Missouri company used a collage of photos to showcase Chicago in a promotional piece that included casing for seven CDs, while craftsmen at an Arizona bindery turned out a new and innovative presentation product for a Canadian client. In addition, a multi-year project by a California publishing company utilized production methods that resulted in a set of one of the highest-quality leatherbound books in the industry.

Patience Pays Off for Missouri Manufacturer

Attention to detail and patience were key factors for a successful project at Trends Presentations Products, Washington, MO. The company’s effort paid off with a 2012 Binding Industries Association Product of Excellence Award for the Chicago CD set.

The design centered on a proposed business concept in the Chicago area, said Dave Inman, sales and marketing manager at Trends. “The Chicago CD set was part of a presentation kit that held seven CDs that highlighted details involving that proposal.”

The designers utilized a photo collage to showcase Chicago in a way that promoted the city, Inman explained. “The designers in this project really wanted to impress and make a statement with their presentation. The artwork had to be perfect. The high-quality printing from our press really made this piece stand out.”

All the printing was done using a Xeikon digital press, he said. Three separate art templates were used and had to be joined and aligned together to make the art look seamless throughout. “The collage of photos on the inside liner and tray casing really made this a challenge. Each individual piece had to be hand wrapped and precisely cut in order for all pieces of art to line up,” Inman said.

With little room for error, designers needed a continuous flow of art regardless if the CDs were in place or not. “The biggest challenge with this project was getting all the art to match up consistently through all stages of production,” Inman said. “Our graphics department really had to spend some time on this one. The CDs that went inside this presentation also were printed to match all of the liner art.”

The entire production crew had to work together on the project. “With a little patience and attention to detail, we were able to turn out a beautiful piece,” Inman said. “We felt we met our customer’s needs by providing a quality and affordable product that made an impression. Overall, the combined quality of our craftsmanship and digital printing made this piece stand out. We put a lot of pride in our work and try hard to create fast, quality and affordable products. The Chicago CD set was just that.”

Since Trends was the manufacturer on the project, they really don’t know much about the CD set’s intended audience. “We don’t sell direct,” Inman said. “We are one of only a few manufacturers that still only sell to resellers. So, oftentimes we may not know who the end user is that will be receiving our product. For this project, we really only knew that the CD set was part of a new business proposal presentation. Our goal and focus is to be a manufacturer that you can trust. We work hard to meet fast ship dates and treat every job with importance.”

Bridge Publications Tackles Multi-Year Dianetics Project

Since Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health was published in 1950, it has appeared on some 600 bestseller lists around the world. It also exists in many formats: hardcover, paperback, audiobook and as a book-on-film on DVD. Further, in 2009, Dianetics was translated into 50 languages – enabling 90 percent of Earth’s population to access the book in their language.

“To commemorate this achievement, Bridge Publications designed a leatherbound edition for each of the 50 languages Dianetics was translated into,” said Veronica Rodriguez, vice president of manufacturing at the Commerce City, CA, publisher.

Bridge researched extensively to determine the highest quality materials for every aspect of a leatherbound book. “All materials and details were carefully selected to represent the culture of each language edition,” Rodriguez explained. Limited to just 100 copies of each language, every one of the 50 unique editions is a distinctive blend of symbolism and beauty.

Distinctively suited to capture an aspect of the culture represented, the endsheets within each leatherbound are as varied as the 50 languages they represent. Hand-pressed bark dried on an African hillside. Marbled sheets of the highest craftsmanship. And whether embossed, stamped or stencil-cut, each one matches the beauty of its volume. To produce these books in-house, Bridge researched what equipment would be needed and trained its operators in the art of high-end leatherbound book production.

The company purchased and installed a Muller Martini Ventura 3215 sewing machine and a ribbon bookmark insertion machine, which was customized for Bridge’s book production. After installment and training, the company consulted Werner Rebsamen, professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Print Media, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences in Rochester, NY. Rebsamen, who has 50 years of experience in hardcover bookbinding, was educated as a master in bookbinding at the Academy of Fine Art, Zurich, Switzerland, before immigrating to the United States. Rebsamen consulted Bridge and gave technical advice on how to handle specific hardcover binding issues. After following his technical binding advice and further applying L. Ron Hubbard’s organizational procedures, which have been the bedrock of Bridge’s manufacturing organization and success, Bridge’s production methods resulted in a set of one of the highest-quality leatherbound books in the industry.

To produce the books, Bridge utilized 100-percent cotton text paper (Cranes Crest 60# Pearl White Wove). They chose genuine 22k gold foil from Quick Roll Leaf Manufacturing to stamp the leather case and flysheets, as well as the edge gilding, also done in-house. The flysheet paper – a UV/Ultra smooth white – came from Neenah. Bridge also chose the finest calfskin and goatskin leather available, sourced from two companies – Scotland-based J. Hewitt and UK-based Harmatan.

The pages were printed using an HP Indigo 7200 and were cut inline by a Lasermax 700 series cutter/stacker. The pages then were folded into 16-page signatures by a Standard Horizon folding machine. The signatures were compressed by a Speed Nip system and then sewn on the Ventura 3215 sewing machine. After being processed, they then were glued off on a Short Run Solutions binding machine from Germany’s Short Run Engineering and three-knife trimmed. The 22k gold-edge gilding was done on an Ochsner gilding machine.

The leather cases were handmade externally, while all the foil stamping, embossing, debossing and other decoration were applied internally. The main artwork dies were hand sculptured by Universal Engraving, Inc., of Overland Park, KS. The hand-engraved dies allowed the designer’s creation to cast a range of textures and layers into the fine-grain leather, which moved the bookmaking process into an art form in itself.

Once the cases were complete, the books were bookmarked with ribbons by an inline inserter and cased-in with a Diamant 30 Muller Martini casing-in machine. “These limited leatherbound books were then carefully examined for quality and individually numbered (1-100), put in their solander boxes, tissue wrapped and placed in a shipping box specifically designed to hold them,” Rodriguez said.

The leatherbound books went on sale and the public quickly began purchasing these unique editions. “We only produced 100 copies of each of the 50 language editions of Dianetics, which was a total of 5,000 leatherbound books,” Rodriguez said. “We have sold 4,729 books, and the last of these editions soon will be sold out.”

For its work on the project, Bridge Publications was awarded the 2011 Premier Print Benny Award in the category “They Said It Couldn’t Be Done,” as well as two 2011 Binding Industries Association Product of Excellence Awards for the Hindi and Arabic editions. The Dianetics Hindi leatherbound won first place in the “Case Binding” category and the Dianetics Arabic leatherbound won first place in the “They Said It Couldn’t Be Done” category.

Difficult Material Choice Challenges Arizona Binder

When liquor distributors in Western Canada needed a new and innovative presentation product, they turned to Roswell Bookbinding, Phoenix, AZ.

Mike Roswell, the company’s president, explained the concept was to incorporate multiple pockets and a notepad in the same unit – a project Roswell employees are familiar with. “The cover was machine made using a soft Portofino material,” he said. “The hard pocket inside the back cover was handmade. The inside soft pocket was diecut, scored and glued automatically and hand mounted to the piece.”

Portofino is a synthetic leather product made to look and feel like soft, supple leather. Prototypes were pre-manufactured in Roswell’s samples department for customer approval prior to producing the job, Roswell said. Ultimately, the client ordered 200 books.

Since bright white Portofino is difficult to keep clean and shows any imperfection, Roswell said quality control, like on any project, was important. “The pockets had to be perfectly aligned to fit properly,” he said.

A Kolbus diecutter was utilized on the pockets, but everything else was assembled and glued by hand. Tools used in the project included scissors, folding bone, a hand turn in tool and a Pot Devin glue machine.

“The client was thrilled and the presentation has been effective,” Roswell said.