Bookbinding challenges - End papers

To see this post on the site, go to https://life2wheels.com.

I suppose it's fitting that the last purchase of needed supplies I finally made, after glue, sewing thread, beeswax, an awl, clamps, pressing boards, a homemade book press, brushes, a curved sewing needle, a skiving knife, book board, cover leather, book cloth, colour printed signatures, a sharpening stone, headbands, and bookmark ribbon, was end paper. 

Trust me it wasn't deliberate for it to come last towards the end of the project. It's just semi-co-incidental, that's all.

End papers are important mostly because they are the key ingredient that attaches the book to its cover. If the cover were to fall off and get lost, how else would you judge the book?

If you have a hard cover book handy (any one will do) open the cover but turn no pages. What you see is the book's end paper. Typically it's quite a bit heavier than the pages of the book, and in the vast majority of bindings, it is content-free. By that I mean there is nothing written on the end paper (if there is something there, it's likely on the back end paper, and courtesy of a librarian). The only aesthetic aspect is usually its colour.

I was planning for something more interesting. The book and the title are printed in red ink, and there is a myriad of red hearts... in the title, and towards the bottom on every love note page. So of course I thought red or white end papers covered in contrasting red or white hearts... that would be nice, no? Ideally in Japanese paper?

Well both my wife and the Japanese took issue with those suggestions. Impossible for me to find genuine Japanese paper featuring hearts (cranes and flowers yes, hearts no), and my darling who is the inspiration for this book (and my life) suggested cream or ivory, not red.

Last Friday we finally paid a visit to the leading arts supply store in Toronto, Above Ground Art Supplies, appropriately located on McCaul Street south of the Art Gallery of Ontario, and in the imposing shadow of OCAD U, Canada's oldest, largest and leading art and design university, located in downtown Toronto since 1876. 

I was leaning towards sturdy cream-coloured Canson 100 GSM paper from France, but Susan chose ivory Mingei Chiri Japanese paper instead:

A great choice. Japanese paper is among the very best in the world. Not only is it beautiful in appearance, it is also very robust, because it's made of strong Kozo fibre. That's the good news that makes it well suited to being end paper. The challenge I expected was the translucence of the paper.

I was confident that I could make it work, but I would have to run some tests.

[time passed]

I ran some tests and I feel that these end papers will work. I am hedging against possible failure by lining the cover with the same cream-coloured book cloth I used for the cover art.

The journey continues.

Kilometrestones - Chapter 1

First up: Brooks B17 Special saddle after 900 kilometres. To see this post on the Blog go to https://life2wheels.com.

I bought this saddle in early September 2023. I love the way it looks on my bike, and that it matches the leather ergonomic handgrips. I had no illusions that comfort might be imminent when I installed the saddle.

Comfort is not the most important thing in the near term, but it is in the long term. There are perhaps hundreds of YouTube videos on the Brooks B17. The topic of comfort along with estimates of the time it takes to break in the saddle to reach that comfort zone, are constants in virtually all those posts.

I have to be honest, the discomfort of breaking in the B17 has been substantial. I started tracking the kilometres ridden on the saddle right from the start. There were a number of times that I considered going back to the Brompton stock saddle. The Brompton saddle was comfortable from day one. The Brooks was definitely not.

At this point, 722 days in from September 2nd, 2023, the first day I rode on the Brooks, I can't really perceive much, if any, change in the appearance of the saddle.

There is no doubt however that now that my butt has inflicted precisely 900 kilometres of punishment on the Brooks (as of August 23, 2025 at precisely 15h21 - I stopped when the odometer registered the 900th kilometre), I have progressed to a degree of comfort.

And what degree is that, you might ask?

Well, we're not talking the kind of eye-rolling, grin-inducing, deep-sighing comfort of plopping yourself down on a plush, soft, leather-upholstered, down-filled couch. After all, we're talking bicycle riding, not watching a sitcom.

I measure the comfort of my Brooks after 900 kilometres according to four scientific metrics:

1. Can I ride on old wrinkled pavement without lifting weight from the saddle?
   Yes, now I can
   
2. Can I ride on a sidewalk and not wince at every joint in the concrete?
   Yes, now I can
   
3. Can I do a 6 to 9 kilometre ride without lifting weight from the saddle periodically?
   Yes, now I can
   
4. Can I do a 6-9 kilometre ride without thinking about my butt?
   Yes, now I can

So there you have it. I am finally pleased with my Brooks B17 Special saddle, and no longer yearn for the Brompton stock saddle.

Now that I recorded this Brooks-ish kilometrestone, I felt entitled to take a break and admire the urban horizon within just a handful of feet from where I took a break in 2018 to take some moments of tranquility after my last Ontario Bar exam. This time I sat on the bench, mere steps from the where the Brompton hit the 900 saddle kilometres, and enjoyed a few sips of water. If you look carefully you can see my red water bottle between the bench slats.

Next up: My 2021 Brompton H6R: 4,000 kilometres