Mini Hard Cover Bookbinding, No Sewing Skills Required!

This tutorial will show all the steps you need to make a quick and easy notebook with supplies you probably have lying around your house. These little books are a great project for a rainy day or bored afternoon. Of course, this is just my method, you can do whatever you want with these. this book in the instructable was a specific request from my brother. I don't really agree with the colors, but he picked them, so thats what I'm doing. just so you know, this is my first instructable, so bear with me.

Step 1: Materials and Tools

What you need for this project is:
-thick cardboard (non corrugated)
-notecards or little pieces of paper for the pages
-paper (Optional: with cool designs and pictures)
-needle and thread (relax, its not really for sewing)
-hot glue gun (a crafty persons best friend. seriously, if you don't have one, get one. they are cheap, perfect for almost any project.)
-glue stick
-scissors or X-Acto knife
-clamps (or very heavy books. clamps are a bit more convenient)
- a nail and hammer

Step 2: Pages!

for pages, I used notecards. I like them because they are thick, and have a lined and blank side. that way, I have pages for writing and pages for drawing. if you do use notecards, keep in mind that your book may be a bit stiff and difficult to flip through. Some bending and use will help this.
take groups of three notecards and fold them in half together. repeat for as many pages as you want. when you're done, you should have a bunch of little 6-page groups.

Step 3: Piercing the Pages

Once you have your pages, you'll want to put them all in a neat stack and clamp 'em (you will need to put a layer of cardboard or wood in between the clap and the paper, otherwise it will make marks and impressions on the page. I learned this the hard way.). Then, put them on a surface you wont mind a few holes in, and hammer a nail through the pages near the folded edge. Make three or four of these holes, we will be threading the pages together with them.

Step 4: Threading the Pages

Remember, I did say that no sewing skills were needed for this. All you need to do is thread a needle. Then, push the needle through one of the holes, wrapping it around at the very least four or five times. You do not want your pages to fall apart! When you're done with that, just tie a couple square knots. Knowing how easily thread unties, put a tiny bead of hot glue onto the knot and flatten it with the tip of your hot glue gun. It should be flat, otherwise you'll end up with a lumpy book.

Step 5: Cutting Covers

Our covers will be made out of thick cardboard. Cut the two cover rectangles with about an eighth of an inch more than the pages on all sides except the back. Also, cut a spine with the height of the covers and the width about the thickness of the pages and covers stacked. be careful with your measurements, you don't want a crooked book.

Step 6: Putting the Paper Onto the Covers: Part 1

take a piece of the paper you want to see on the cover, and put your cardboard rectangle on it. draw out a rectangle around it with a half an inch to an inch of extra room to glue onto the inside. cut right angles out of the corners, then use a gluestick to glue the cardboard to the center. fold the edges over to the inside cover and glue them down as well. You dont have to be really tidy with the inside folds, just make them flat by squishing it with a big dictionary or something while it dries.

Step 7: Putting the Paper Onto the Covers: Part 2

when your covers are dry, take another piece of paper and cut a rectangle slightly smaller than the cover. Gluestick this into the inside of the cover piece to cover up the folded parts. You should not see any of the brown cardboard at this point. Again, squish it with a bigger book while it dries to get it nice and flat.

Step 8: The Spine

This is one of the most important steps. Cut out a long rectangle of paper that has room on the top and bottom when the covers are placed on it. Make sure the paper goes out an inch or so onto the covers, this is for aesthetic and supportive purposes. Also, be sure to leave space between the spine and covers, this is so the book will be able to open when it all comes together. when you have your rectangle, glue the pieces in place, then fold over the top and bottom flaps, gluing them securely with the gluestick.

Step 9: Making the Spine Folds

This is another very important part. take the bit of paper between the spine piece and covers and make a fold in it so it looks like a V pointing to the inside.

Step 10: Putting It All Together

The last thing to do is to put a good amount of hot glue onto the spine, and attach the pages. be careful to put it right in the middle of your spine piece, again, a crooked book would be bad. once you let this dry, You're done! that's all there is to it!

Step 11: OPTIONAL: Embossing

Something I did with my book was a bit of embossing. I just took a couple plastic gears from an old clock and clamped them down on the cover for a while. they left a pretty good imprint, but for more specifics, you can go to this instructable here from fellow instructable writer Randofo.
https://www.instructables.com/id/Embossing-a-Moleskin-with-Gears/