Binding Books

This weekend some friends and I spent a few hours working on binding some books. We started with the paper from some drawing pads which we folded in half in sets of 4 to 6 to form signatures. We stacked between 5 and 8 of the signatures and stitched book tapes to them, then glued on the mull to form the book block.

I cut some 1/8th inch hardboard to make coverboards and the spine. To this we glued some card stock to make the hinge, and then to the coverboards we glued some fabrics.

The book block was then pasted into the cover along with end papers made from scrapbooking papers. This was then clamped to prevent the pages wrinkling while the paste dried.
The spines ended up being to wide IMO, I think I prefer them to be about 1/8 to a 1/4 inch narrower than we made these. On the other hand, we can put lots of stuff between the pages of these books and then the spine will be just right.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *