Page:The Art of Bookbinding, Zaehnsdorf, 1890.djvu/161

Rh To blind tool the side of a book it must be marked with a folder and straight edge, according to the pattern to be produced, and as a guide for the rolls and tools to be used. These lines form the ground plan for any design that has to be worked. Damp the whole of the side with a sponge, and brush it as before directed; then work the fillets along the lines marked. Run them over the same line two or three times. When dry, make the fillet immovable by driving a wooden wedge between the roll and fork, and gigger it backwards and forwards to produce the gloss. If tools are to be worked, make them slightly warm, and as the leather dries make the tool hotter and hotter. This must be repeated as often as is necessary, until the desired depth of colour and gloss is obtained. In using a roll that has a running or continuous pattern, a mark should be made upon the side with a file, at the exact point that first comes in contact with the leather, so that the same flower, scroll, or other design, may always fall in the same place in the repeated workings. It is impossible for a roll to be cut so exactly that it may be worked from any point in the circumference without doubling the design. All blind work is done in the same manner, whether in using a small or a large tool, viz., the leather must be damped and repeatedly worked until the depth of colour is obtained. It is then allowed to dry, and re-worked to produce the gloss. The beauty of blind work consists in making the whole of the finishing of one uniform colour, in other words, avoiding the fault of having any portion of the work of lighter tint than the rest.

Gold Work is far more complicated than blind or antique work, so that it will be better if one practises upon some spare pieces of roan, calf, or morocco before one attempts to finish a book. Gold work is not more difficult than blind tooling, it is only more complicated. The