BookBinding: Getting Started
A couple years ago I went to a workshop for bookbinding that turned out to be a bust for a beginner like me. I put what few supplies I had away but over time I started collecting how-to books, YouTube videos and a DVD along with paper, waxed thread, stamps and ink to make an assortment of books. ::ahem:: I have yet to make one.
My goal is to make a traditional hardcover book with a quarter bookcloth spine. If I believed in prayer I would pray that it'll look something like this:
I'm using bookcloth instead of leather for the spine but I'm hoping the effect will be just as nice. The tutorial I'm using is a DVD by Frankie Ridolfi who has labeled himself TheBookBindingGuy. Early on in the DVD he tries to flirt with his assistant Ashley and it's a bit like watching your parents flirt: kind of sweet but please stop 'cause you're freaking me out! When they stick to assembling a book it's much better and they actually make it look easy but I'm not going to count on it. For the most part I follow his program with a few exceptions: He buys large sheets of paper that he tears down (folds and cuts in half with a knife) whereas I went to Staples and bought resume paper to fold in half. He uses a paste made out of rice flour and I'm using PVA glue. He makes his own headbands and tailbands by alternating colored threads over a piece of twine. I broke out in a sweat just watching him do it. So yeah, premade end bands will have to do.
Here's what I'm starting out with:
My desk with my textbooks nowhere in sight. \o/ I'm making this book for a friend and so I'm trying to use colors and patterns that fit both her and her work. The reddish-orange paper is for the cover and the bluish-green is for the inside end sheets. This is where I tremble because I have friends who can mix colors and patterns and it looks great but when I try it it seems like my color wheel is a little flat and/or wobbly. I take comfort in that I have plenty of time to change my mind but this is what I'm going with for now. The off-white resume paper is going to be used to print out a booklet using Word. Four sheets will be folded in half making 16 readable sheets. Every 16 sheets is a signature. The finished book will be about the size of the DVD cover. Beside the paper is a long ribbon of black and white end band that I can cut to size and paste to the spine. I was originally going to use the spool of waxed 4-ply linen thread but it seems kind of heavy for a book where the sewing is hidden so I'm going to use the 2-ply in the baggy instead. I have a love-hate relationship with the giant spool of twine in large part because it was so hard to find it in a thickness that would show through the bookcloth. You would think that thick twine would be at every craft and/or hardware store in town but not so. When I could find it it was either too thin or just short of being rope. I ordered it from two different bookbinding sites and ended up with string both times only to find it at Wal-Mart when I wasn't looking for it. All of this is laying on a piece of dark brown bookcloth.
Next up: sewing the signatures together.
My goal is to make a traditional hardcover book with a quarter bookcloth spine. If I believed in prayer I would pray that it'll look something like this:
I'm using bookcloth instead of leather for the spine but I'm hoping the effect will be just as nice. The tutorial I'm using is a DVD by Frankie Ridolfi who has labeled himself TheBookBindingGuy. Early on in the DVD he tries to flirt with his assistant Ashley and it's a bit like watching your parents flirt: kind of sweet but please stop 'cause you're freaking me out! When they stick to assembling a book it's much better and they actually make it look easy but I'm not going to count on it. For the most part I follow his program with a few exceptions: He buys large sheets of paper that he tears down (folds and cuts in half with a knife) whereas I went to Staples and bought resume paper to fold in half. He uses a paste made out of rice flour and I'm using PVA glue. He makes his own headbands and tailbands by alternating colored threads over a piece of twine. I broke out in a sweat just watching him do it. So yeah, premade end bands will have to do.
Here's what I'm starting out with:
My desk with my textbooks nowhere in sight. \o/ I'm making this book for a friend and so I'm trying to use colors and patterns that fit both her and her work. The reddish-orange paper is for the cover and the bluish-green is for the inside end sheets. This is where I tremble because I have friends who can mix colors and patterns and it looks great but when I try it it seems like my color wheel is a little flat and/or wobbly. I take comfort in that I have plenty of time to change my mind but this is what I'm going with for now. The off-white resume paper is going to be used to print out a booklet using Word. Four sheets will be folded in half making 16 readable sheets. Every 16 sheets is a signature. The finished book will be about the size of the DVD cover. Beside the paper is a long ribbon of black and white end band that I can cut to size and paste to the spine. I was originally going to use the spool of waxed 4-ply linen thread but it seems kind of heavy for a book where the sewing is hidden so I'm going to use the 2-ply in the baggy instead. I have a love-hate relationship with the giant spool of twine in large part because it was so hard to find it in a thickness that would show through the bookcloth. You would think that thick twine would be at every craft and/or hardware store in town but not so. When I could find it it was either too thin or just short of being rope. I ordered it from two different bookbinding sites and ended up with string both times only to find it at Wal-Mart when I wasn't looking for it. All of this is laying on a piece of dark brown bookcloth.
Next up: sewing the signatures together.