I found section sewing (kettle stitching) achieves the same kind of result therefore I decided to research more into it. Kettle stitching is a technique in which each page is folded individually in sections (signatures). Each signature is then sewn into each other along the spine. After stitching all the signatures together it can then be glued together and added with a thicker paperback cover.
Here I tried to make an A6 mock-up of this bounding technique. I decided to make an A6 version first as I liked to see if the technique will be an easy and quick technique as well as if it is quite effective in keeping a page wide open like I read. Also, I used sugar paper purely as it's quite cheap and I didn't really want to spend much on a small really rough binding attempt. In the future I may make another variation of this technique but with a more considered paper stock(s) and some content inside.
I just used 8 A6 sized sugar paper in order to give the book some bulk and see how effective it may be. Needle and thread are also needed and I tried it with 5 holes on each page.
I stitched the first signature like normal, from the back to the front and so on, before putting the needle through the last hole in the first signature I put the second signature on top of the first one then the needle through the first hole in the second signature (4).
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From the second signature I continued stitching the needle through its second hole, I then put the needle and thread through the existing stitch right below on the first signature (5) then put it back through the hole. This process is repeated until the end of the second signature and just like the process on the first signature, the third signature is added before the needle is put back through the second signature, then the needle and thread is put through the first hole of the third signature.
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From the third signature, the process is the same however instead of putting the needle and thread through the first signature stitch it is put through the stitch right below it (the second signature) (7, 8). This process is repeated all throughout with each returning stitch put through the stitch right below it until all the pages are stitched in.
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After the last page is stitched in, put the needle and thread through the inside stitch on the last signature and make a knot, put the needle and thread back to the outside stitch and pull until the knot is pulled on the outside. Both the very first and last knot should be on the outside stitch (10).
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Thoughts & Reflection:
I actually quite like this technique, it's really easy and flexible- if you run out of thread before finishing, simply closing the knot and starting again from the same place is possible without complications, as long as you follow the steps the book will be bounded fine! It's also possible to add as much pages as you want as each signature is put on top of each other and not inside therefore it wouldn't bulk up as much and still close. This is quite good as I quite wanted my book to have a lot of pages (though I'm still not sure how much exactly). I think it will also be not as fiddly when I want to add in concertina pages or have pages which are different sizes as I'd probably need to only adjust the page length of the concertina and poke the holes different on different size pages to fit the standard size the book is. having this kind of binding to my publication may also be beneficial as it will make it very easy for the readers to handle and go through the book. Also, as interaction with the book is quite crucial to my publication concept, comfortability also goes alongside it and I think this technique definitely does it. I can also glue the publication together and put a thicker paperback cover for more security and stronger binding which I also thought was quite nice as I'll have the option of putting a cover or not on the publication giving it some diversity.
However, there are some disadvantages to this technique. The thickness of the pages will need to be limited for the thread and needle to go through it. Paper or material thicker than 300 msg may be hard to stitch therefore I will need to carefully consider the papers that i'll use as I may be restricted to certain weights. Also, this technique is quite labour intensive - if I was to use lots of pages e.g. 100 it may take me a long time to produce at least one book. This also means that it'll be hard to mass-produce this book due to it being hand-made. In addition, to this as it is handmade, it may introduce stitching errors to the book e.g. forgetting to loop a stitch or putting holes on wrong places, making the process longer and harder.
If I choose this technique, it may be that I'll need to think of alternative way of putting thick pages or alternative materials that will fit with the content and context. Also, practicing and making alternative mock-ups may also be plausible to create a perfect final publication. Furthermore, in relation to the mass-production disadvantage it may be that the publication may be limited or actually some books like "The Form of Book Book" is bounded in the same or similar way which may not be an issue. Although, maybe it will be costly? Making the final publication possibly be on the more expensive side. Overall, I really like this technique however, I will still explore other bounding techniques which may be more suitable or effective for my publication.
Also, as of now I haven't really got concrete content for my publication yet, that's why I've only been exploring binding techniques. The more I explore other binding techniques the more I will incorporate actual content in order to get a much better idea of which technique i will actually use as the binding technique may also depend on the need to effectively communicate the content and concept of my publication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O4kFTOEh6k\
https://www.studentbookbinding.co.uk/blog/types-of-binding
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