{"id":9790,"date":"2015-07-05T01:00:08","date_gmt":"2015-07-05T05:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/?p=9790"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:47:32","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T19:47:32","slug":"bookbinder-of-the-month-ben-elbel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/05\/bookbinder-of-the-month-ben-elbel\/","title":{"rendered":"Bookbinder of the Month: Ben Elbel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Water-BenElbel\"<\/a>For the\u00a0Designer Bookbinders International Bookbinding Competition<\/a>\u00a0in 2009, binders were invited to produce a binding for the set book Water<\/em>, a collection of poems and illustrations based on the the theme of water.\u00a0The set book was published by\u00a0Incline Press<\/a>\u00a0in a limited, letterpress edition that included images from various talented illustrators and marblers. This was the first international competition since the organization began offering competitions back in 1975.<\/p>\n

Ben Elbel<\/a> put together a beautiful binding in white calf (and quite impressive in how pristine it looks). The bath plug fits snugly into the front cover, but is easily removable to reveal the end of the title.<\/p>\n

This binding is so clever and probably the first binding of yours I ever saw. Can you talk about the process of fitting the plug into the front cover?
\n<\/strong>This binding was my entry for the 2009 Designer Bookbinders international competition and was among the prize winners.<\/p>\n

My initial plan was to have the boards produced from enameled steel, the material from old fashioned bath tubs, but a quote from a supplier made me change my mind.<\/p>\n

The boards are made up from 2x 3mm boards, so a total thickness of 6mm. They are heavily beveled around the edges but retain full thickness in the middle to accomodate the plug. The leather was also very thick and I had to thin it down locally to turn it in the hole. This is how I did it.<\/p>\n

\"Water2-BenElbel\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the\u00a0Designer Bookbinders International Bookbinding Competition\u00a0in 2009, binders were invited to produce a binding for the set book Water, a collection of poems and illustrations based on the the theme of water.\u00a0The set book was published by\u00a0Incline Press\u00a0in a limited, letterpress edition that included images from various talented illustrators and marblers. This was the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,68,13],"tags":[1834,1867,1836,665,794,793],"class_list":["post-9790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-binder-of-the-month","category-bookbinding","category-feature-book-of-the-week","tag-ben-elbel","tag-bookbinding","tag-bound-for-success","tag-designer-bookbinders","tag-incline-press","tag-water"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Btis-2xU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9838,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/26\/bookbinder-of-the-month-ben-elbel-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":9790,"position":0},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Ben Elbel","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"July 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I am wrapping up this month's interview with\u00a0Ben Elbel\u00a0by showcasing his recent binding of Breakfast at Tiffany's. Read on to discover the technique behind the decorative covers and what secrets lay within the binding. Breakfast at Tiffany\u2019s is covered in beautifully decorated leather, which caught me by surprise. Having only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BreakfastAtTiffanys6-BenElbel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4771,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/10\/bookbinder-of-the-month-lori-sauer-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":9790,"position":1},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Lori Sauer","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"March 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The first Designer Bookbinders International Competition was organized in conjunction with the Bodleian Library in 2009. Each binder involved submitted a binding of the set book Water, which is a collection of poems and illustrations based on the theme of water. The set book was published by Incline Press in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/water-lorisauer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/water-lorisauer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/water-lorisauer.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9803,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/12\/bookbinder-of-the-month-ben-elbel-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":9790,"position":2},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Ben Elbel","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"July 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I love this structure developed\u00a0by Ben Elbel, which he appropriately named Onion Skin Binding. A lovely description inspired by\u00a0layering effect that creates\u00a0the mesmerizing maze-like spine. In this post I talk about this structure with Ben starting with its development to how he's adapted the structure. The Onion Skin is another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "binder of the month"","block_context":{"text":"binder of the month","link":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/category\/binder-of-the-month\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/OnionSkin2-BenElbel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/OnionSkin2-BenElbel.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/OnionSkin2-BenElbel.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9828,"url":"https:\/\/www.herringbonebindery.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/19\/bookbinder-of-the-month-ben-elbel-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":9790,"position":3},"title":"Bookbinder of the Month: Ben Elbel","author":"Erin Fletcher","date":"July 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In Sonnet XVII, Dutch bookbinder Marja Wilgenkamp has reimagined Shakespeare by using a process developed by the artist collective\u00a0La Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Anonyme. 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