How to bind a book

Step 7 Finishing the signatures

When you've sewn all the signatures together, double kettle stitch the final head or foot. Then take the PVA and squirt some onto your finger (or a paintbrush, but you finger works better and it's fun to peel off the glue) then rub it *into* the spine. It is important that some (albeit just a bit of) glue gets in between the signatures and fills in the spine. When this is done, cut a piece of cloth (not bookcloth) to a little bigger than the dimensions of the spine. Stick this onto the wet glue and smooth it out. Then cut a piece of heavy cardstock to the exact dimensions of the spine and glue it onto the cloth. Rub it smooth.

NOTE: During all this, make sure the bindings are centered and sticking out! I once clipped one off while trimming the card, so be careful.

Comments

[mousearound]

i have used duck tape when my husband asks me too. i have found that so far and it has only been a year, that 1. it has to stay out of the sun or heat, because it will pucker and makes it look awful. and 2. so far the adhesive hasn't given out maybe in five years or so if he keeps leaving it in the car window. im not too happy with him leaving it like that after i worked so hard to repair it in the first place.

[dreachan]

can i use something else like duck tape?

[eleraama]

You can try but I seriously doubt it will end well; the adhesive is not pH-neutral (as far as I'm aware) so it will start to eat away at the structural integrity of the book and it tends to get brittle with age. (That being said, if you don't really care about the book's longevity it may be worth a try) The paper I've used in the picture is a pH-neutral kraft paper; it has more cellulose than normal paper so it stands up to more abuse.