LIS 7580 - Bookbinding

Hello, I'd like to walk you through the basics of bookbinding, so that you can make a book of your own.

You'll need several materials to start binding your own books:

1. Cloth (to cover our covers)
2. Cardboard or Chipboard (to make our covers and spine)
3. Glue (to combine the cloth with the cover)
4. Scrap Paper (for various purposes, but especially to seal the covers and spine together)
5. Inside Paper (to seal the cloth to the covers, I just used regular paper, but you might want to do one with a special pattern)
6. Gluestick (to seal the scrap paper to the covers, and attach the leaves to the spine of the book)
7. Needles (to sew the pieces together)
8. Thread (to hold the pieces together, waxed thread is best)
9. Awl (to poke holes in the covers and signatures so you can sew them)
10. Cutting Board (a surface to work on, hopefully something that you will not care if it gets scratched)
11. Metal Ruler (to be used to cut along, and to help in folding, if it isn’t metal, it may end up getting damaged in the cutting)
12. Bone Folder (to be used to flatten paper when folding, real bone is best, but I just used plastic)
13. Scissors (to cut paper)
14. Knife/Scalpel (to cut paper)

You will also need to prepare what you want to be in the book's pages ahead of time. Whether that's blank paper for making a journal, or a story you've made yourself that you've printed out.

To begin with, we'll establish some terminology:

A "Sheet" is a single piece of paper. A "Folio" is a piece of paper that's been folded in half. A "Signature" is a collection of folios nested inside each other. A book is made from sewing together several signatures. This means that when you're printing your book, you'll need to do so in a specific way. The outermost folio of a signature has the first and last pages of that signature printed on one side, and the second & second-to-last pages printed on the other. Every folio inside it follows that pattern.

For example, in the first signature of the book I made, the first folio contained pages 1, 2, 61, and 62. The second folio contained 3, 4, 59, and 60.

There's software, websites, and templates that you can use to have your book plotted into such a pattern. I used both the New and Old versions of "Bookbinder JS" websites. With this website, you can simply upload a PDF, and choose how you want it arranged. There are various methods of placement, which allows you to print on sheet of paper between four and even thirty-two pages. I chose to print out sixteen pages to a sheet of paper, which required me to cut each sheet of paper into four folios, but it did save on printing costs.

Make sure your PDF has plenty of space in the margins, and clearly-labeled page numbers. Otherwise, there are dangers of you confusing the page order, or of having some of the text get cut off in the printing process. To make a folio, a tool such as a "bone folder" is invaluable, as it allows for easy, crisp folds, even when working with large bundles of paper.

I borrowed a paper trimmer to give myself a workspace, but really all you’ll need is a cutting board or something similar. A surface that you aren’t afraid of scratching up if necessary. A bright light overhead will also help you better see what you’re doing. Having all the necessary materials within arms reach will also benefit you.

Take the paper you've printed out, and fold it as needed. If you're using the "Folio" method, just fold it once hamburger style, and then press down with the bone folder, starting from the middle and gently going up and down. If you're doing a more complicated method, however, you will have to first cut the sheet into smaller folios, and then fold each of them. The "quatro" method prints out four pages of your book on each side of the sheet of paper. The "octavo" method I used prints out eight pages on each side of the sheet of paper. Remember to be aware of the shape of each folio, and not cut any of them in half. Try to keep the folios as close to the same size as possible.

When folding, first touch the open edge of the paper to each other, and hold it shut with your fingers. Then take the bone folder, and starting from the middle, and gently pull it along the closed edge, flattening it down, then go in the opposite direction. Run it along the edge several times to create a thin, crisp, edge.

I've tried various tools to do this cutting, from scalpels, thread shears, and even butter knives (a book on bookbinding I checked out recommended it, but I don't), but in the end ordinary scissors worked best.

Once you've had your folios, arrange them in the correct order, with the first and last pages on the outside, and working in.

Once you've made your signatures, you'll need to prepare them for the book. Using the bone folder, fold not just the folios, but the entire signature. If you have the papers packed in thick, then you might not be able to get it perfectly flat, but the goal should be to create a clear crease. Then, take the awl (the object that looks like a screwdriver) and use the pointed end to pierce through the paper along the crease. If you're using the website I did, then there should be dots already printed you can use to guide you.

You'll want to create a pattern, where you have two holes nearby each other, then give some space, and then two more nearby holes. This is so that when you begin sewing, you'll have the outside stitches in the wider space between the two holes, and the inside stitching between those two holes. This will minimize the thread visible inside the book, and keep it mostly along the spine, which will end up getting covered up.

When using the awl, be careful not to poke yourself. It's sharp, and there's a surprising amount of force needed to pierce so many pages at once. This is where the cutting surface comes in handy. I used a paper trimmer, and placed my signature over the groove to make the holes.

When sewing the signatures together, it's best to use waxed thread, so that it can slide easily over the pages without damaging either the paper or the thread. I bought pre-waxed thread, but it's also possible to simply run regular thread through a block of wax.

Before you start sewing, keep in mind how much thread you'll need. Leave at least five inches before your first stitch, as that thread will be used to sew the pages of the book into the material of the cover. Similarly, when you're done, you'll need to leave a similar amount hanging for the opposite cover.

When sewing the signatures, begin from the top hole and work down. When you come to the end of one signature, sew directly into the bottom hole of the next. When you reach the top again however, stitch the two top holes together, before going back into the top hole and continuing from the top of the third signature. Repeat this pattern when you reach the bottom. This will tie each signature from the top and bottom not only to the signature before and after it, but also with the first signature, keeping the book's pages tightly packed.

Use your cardboard or chipboard to make your covers. Draw an outline of your book onto the cardboard, as you'll want the covers to be just slightly bigger than the book's pages. Do an outline of the spine of the book as well. After you cut out the three pieces (the back, the front, and the spine) poke holes in the front and back cover.

Sew the two pieces of thread that you left sticking out into the covers, drawing them from the book to the cover's top hole, then back to the book, sliding into the loops of thread already there, and then to the opposite cover's top hole, and then work down, repeating the process. This ties the front and back covers together, as well as tying them to the book itself.

Then you'll take your pieces of scrap paper, and slide them between the insides of the front and back covers, and the front and back of the book, across the spine of the book. You'll glue this down to the inside of the covers, giving them one more layer of connection and protection. Then, you'll glue the spine cover to the spine of the book, on top of the scrap paper and the thread.

Now, you'll need to cover your covers, if you're trying to make a professional looking and longer-lasting book. Take your cloth or fabric (I used an old bedsheet) and cut out a rectangle from the fabric about an inch (or smaller, for a smaller book) bigger than the book itself with its covers lying flat. Once you have the fabric cut, fold the top and bottom of it over the cover of your book, gluing it down. Then fold the left and right sides over your covers, and glue them down too. To avoid getting glue on the pages of my book, I clipped them together.

Then, take two more pieces of paper, and seal the fabric down to the covers on the inside, hiding the mess. Press down, and then allow it to dry.

After the glue has all dried, you'll have a fairly professional-looking book!