The first two phases of this project are described in Super Size Me: The Book Conservation Variety, Part 1 and Part 2.

One of the first steps for covering a book in leather, after the many steps mentioned in Parts 1 and 2 of this series, is to pare the leather. A piece of leather, in this case, calf leather, is cut to the size of the book plus about an inch extending beyond the head, tail, and fore edge of the book (top, bottom, and edge opposite the spine). The leather is then pared with a special knife to bevel or thin the edges to aid in turning the leather in around the cover boards. Once the leather is pared, paste is prepared and all the necessary tools are set out in easy reach.

The leather is moistened with water using a soft sponge or cotton. Then paste is applied, scraped away, and reapplied in stages. The moisture from both the water and the paste makes the leather more malleable as it is applied to the book.

The leather is first applied to the spine of the book and worked down around the raised cords. From there, it can be laid down on each cover. The binder then works at the head and tail of the book, with the covers open and the textblock upright and perpendicular to the table surface, to turn the leather in around the edges of the boards and form the endcaps.

After the book was covered in the leather and had ample time to dry, the original label (that was lifted from the original spine) was reapplied. While the facing tissue is still on the label, the label can be adhered to the new spine leather. Once dry, the facing tissue was removed.

The final step was to create a panel pattern on the front and back covers similar to the design on the original covers. A simple way to create a design on leather is to moisten it as leather is easily marked when dampened. After determining the basic rectangular design, a cardstock template was created to simplify the process of keeping the design parallel to the edges of the book. The cover was dampened, the template laid in place, and a bone folder was used to impress the lines in the damp leather. Once dry, the lines appear slightly darker. Once one cover was dry, the book was flipped over and the same design was applied to the back cover.