How to bind a book

Step 10 Admire!

Ta-da! You've created a marvelous thing-- a nicely hand bound book. And you did it all by yourself (with a little help!)

You're amazing!

Please comment with any questions, or clarifications. I hope that with all the pictures up, it will make the process a lot clearer, and inspire more people to join the ranks of hobby binders.

Comments

[kdelwat]

Awesome! I looked for bookbinding tutorials and found this. Well-written, good job. I'm going to use this to make a notebook.

[the mastergoat]

Nice instructable! I honestly prefer it to both books I found on book binding. But do you ever press your books or have any insite on doing so? I am not sure if it is entirely necissary but it is supposed to help stop any warping and get bubbles in glue out.

[eleraama]

 I don't press my books, mostly because I don't have space for a vice or press, but I frequently use very large binder clips to keep everything together. I brush on all my glue to prevent bubbles as well (using a watered-down glue solution instead of full-strength PVA helps immensely, particularly with the cover paper)

[AdamVanMeter]

Another substitute for a big old book vice is to use one or two C-clamps and two pieces of scrap wood to spread out the pressure and prevent marring the book. And even cheaper and simpler, you can use long bankers clips like they sell at some office supply stores and just clamp the spine lightly that way.

[mbear]

Instead of a full sized press, look around for a set of encyclopedias, phone books, dictionaries, etc. Then you have a way of putting pressure on the book without losing a lot of space in your home.

[kp77angel]

Thanks a bunch- been after something like this for a while and you've got me wanting to make one right now... what to bind... hmmm...!

[Xeaden]

Wow this is a great tutorial! Im going to try making one! My only suggestion would be, if possible, even more pictures! Im a visual learner, so its better :)

[jdc187]

im a little lost did you trim the head strips or are they under the cover. also for those of you that want a seemles look for the cover try covering the whole thing with a cloth of your choice after you put it together but befor you glue the pages to the cover

[eleraama]

 I apologise for not replying to this earlier, but in case someone else has the same question, the head *must* be glued to the board for the book to stay together. The cloth placed on the binding is there to make the binding stay together and remain flexible, not to keep the covers on.

[sugarfuss]

I do love this tutorial. I made my first dummy book last night, and it did work out quite well. Instead of using two different coloured materials for the front I used only one big piece of paper which gives the book a nice even look. Just as an idea for further projects :)

[eleraama]

I usually use patterned papers for the covers, and since there's no patterned binding cloth, it ends up looking like the one in this picture. When you say one big piece of paper, are you using paper for the actual spine?

[sugarfuss]

what I do is I get some card for the spine and stick it on there like you discribed, just to make the whole thing more stable. and then two pieces of card for the covers, both a big bigger than the size of the book. then I measure the whole thing, including the spine and cut the paper this size, leaving about 1 inch on each side. before I stick the two cover card pieces on the paper I measure the width of the spine plus the width of the cardboard times two and leave that space in between the two card pieces and then stick them on. this way the book closes nicely. you know what, I think I'll be making a tutorial soon as well. for the cover alternative :) otherwise I'll just send you some pictures of it if you want to

[Iri]

your tutorial here was very informative and creative! Thank you very much! :)