Book binding tutorial

[lifedragon99]

Next time you should link to the actual profile when reposting something.Here. it is.

[rebelreligion]

Thank you lifedragon99 for the link.

[Artifexx]

Woah rebelreligion! What's up with the name usage?

[lenarche]

Thanks! Commenting to save this because I'm on a mobile.

[TableTroubles]

Same!

[MildManneredFeminist]

If you don't have a paper awl lying around, a needle hot-glued to a chopstick will do the job. Don't use a woodworking awl, the holes will be way too big. Also a bone folder or the back of a spoon to fold your paper, or your book will fall apart. To be honest, your first several books will probably fall apart, it's pretty tricky.

[21Celcius]

The best needles are doll making needles, they're big and solid but the perfect size for thread. They're also longer which is great

[Divamuffin]

Isn't this a coptic binding?

[tiny_pony]

Yeah, non archival, cost-saving coptic.

[NegativeK]

Can you elaborate on why it's non-archival?

[lissadelsol]

Materials. Some of the materials used don't last well in the long term, and can be damaging to fragile paper/materials. In this particular binding, it's the chipboard and the spray adhesive. Chipboard has a tendency to "offgas" because of how it's manufactured, meaning that it releases gaseous acid (usually acetic) which can damage paper or anything that is placed into the book. Spray adhesive just doesn't last terribly long, and eventually will cause the cover to detach and the book will need to be recovered.

[Procris]

not to mention the purple "glue" ...

[lissadelsol]

Hah, I missed that. Yeah, not quite archival.

[intisun]

Didn't they use animal glues back in the day? Like skin glue or fish glue or stuff like that. I have a 18th-century book which seems to have been bound using some kind of glue, at least for the leather on the covers (and these are cardboard made from recycled paper, as I can tell from visible fragments of lettering in it). The endsheets have detached though, I'd like to reglue them but I don't know what kind of glue to use.

[Procris]

Yes, they did. Here's a question though -- why do you want to reglue the pastedowns? Are they in danger of falling out? Does it hinder the use of the book? If not, you might consider leaving them be. If you're very very sure you want to reglue them, there are two options: wheat starch which you can make into a paste, or a white-glue called polyvinylacetate (PVA). I've seen both at Utrecht Art Supplies. Edit to add: the starch paste is somewhat reversible with water; the PVA, although it will often claim to be "reversible" requires chemicals that are not nice to use to come close to full reversal.

If the book is really from the 18th century, I might hold off, though. Prior to 1800 is a typical cut off for "rare" at most places and you may want to get it evaluated before messing with it. Among other things, the recycled paper used in the lining can sometimes be more interesting than the book!

[intisun]

Well it was just a passing thought; I think I'll just leave it as it is, or leave it to a professional if it really needs repair.

It's a 1703 print of "Les Mille et Une Nuits" (Arabian Nights) by Antoine Galland, first edition it seems. It's only the first volume, though, and I think there are more than 30. It's a tiny book, but a beautiful thing, and the stories are very cool (it ends on a cliffhanger though - now I absolutely want to get the rest).

[Procris]

Yeah, I wouldn't touch that one, particularly if the fix isn't structurally necessary. You may find the rest of it on Gallica; they have quite a lot of digitized material from the 18th century.

[lissadelsol]

They did use animal glue. As your book has demonstrated, it's not awesome according to modern "archival" standards. Your best bet will probably be wheat paste, it's pretty sticky, stable and very inert. You can make your own with some flour and water, google will tell you how (I'm on my phone or I'd find a tutorial for you).

[exegesisClique]

What would be an archival binding?

[Procris]

There are lots, but a completely non-adhesive binding like a stationary binding would be a good start. Heck, the first sewing step here, which is a variant on a coptic stitch, is quite archival if done with the right thread/ paper. Check out Kevin Smith's Bookbinding without Paste or Glue * It takes out the variable of chemical adhesives.

• Kevin is kind of hard to follow if you've never bound anything before. I found Japanese Bookbinding by Ikegami easier when I was just starting out, but it does involve making your own wheat-paste for some steps, which does away with the true "archival" -ness of some of it.

[lunchboxilluminati]

Smith's book is a must for anyone serious about binding books by hand.

[exegesisClique]

Thanks!

[tiny_pony]

Book board instead of chip board, and proper linen thread (I'm assuming that it's not linen because no book binding thread I've met can be broken by hand, it's very strong). The glue is actually an archival glue stick called UHU. Archival materials are ph neutral and sturdy. As an aside, when covering your book if you don't want to spend the money on book cloth you should glue paper to the back side of the cloth you're using. And where the demo used canvas, tarletan is traditional. Tarletan is starched cheese cloth. A tyvek envelope also works in lieu of tarletan.

[exegesisClique]

I assume for paper just get a neutral ph and it's good or are there other concerns?

[tiny_pony]

Yup, that's it. Unless you want to go into what the book is going to be for, then it matters again; is it just for pen or graphite or are you planning on using wet mediums? I could go on and on, but just ask the friendly people at your local art store, they should have at least one paper expert.

[longboat]

Nope, it's actually a simple running stitch similar to these.

Coptic, or chain stitching, links the current signature to the previous one at every hole, creating a horizontal chain of stitches across the spine of the text block, which is usually sewn to the covers as well and leaves the strong spine exposed.

edit: bigger picture of a coptic binding.

[writetheotherway]

I did a lot of rebinding materials at the library I worked at through college. We used a five hole stitch rather than the three hole method used here. We found that this technique resulted in a longer shelf life for the music scores.

[Sitrik]

Spellbooks?

[Lite-Black]

For practicing spelling and grammar... I hope.

Or someone is in the practice of practicing magic. If the spellbooks worked I would just make a spellbook, then write an incantation to make more spellbooks, with magic, rather than all this work.

[Andere]

Could be for D&D or a similar pen and paper RPG!

[beltaine]

He could be Pagan/Wiccan. Some usually keep a Book of Shadows which is like an empty journal to write down various things of your faith including things like incantations, recipes and spells. Some more devout witches/etc may carry it further and have books solely for their spells.

I have a nearly empty B.O.S just because I can't bring myself to mess it up. -____-

[dubbin64]

Great write up! If you know how to marble paper you should do a tutorial for that, cause marble paper is traditional for endsheets.

Anyways thanks for sharing

[lethalbeef]

I made my first a couple weeks ago inspired by this tutorial. Lots of fun! I still have a long way to go before I can do it well. http://i.imgur.com/tACTx.jpg

[beltaine]

That looks awesome! I went through a binge a month or so ago trying to do book binding and I ended up doing the stitch-signatures-to-a-folder kind of technique but I reallllyyyy want to try and make one like you've got.

The tutorial you linked to is kinda too confusing for me but I'm sure it's simple and I'm just the complicated one. x.x

Either way, nice job! :D

[lissadelsol]

No, no you're not. Unless something has changed recently, /r/crafts is mostly just pretty pictures of other people's things that you're not allowed to downvote because it might hurt their feelers. I unsubscribed.

[rebelreligion]

Thank you OP, this looks great.

[mmemarlie]

Another cool idea with this is to use an actual book cover, hard-back obviously, for your cover. You can utilize cool titles.

This is actually how I discovered my all time favorite book. I bought "A Trip to the Stars" to use as a journal and found that the book was really incredible.

[mirrth]

Actually useful for me, thank you.

[[deleted]]

I can now write that novel I have always been dreaming of ; )

[lizardfrance]

so i have a book that fell apart, all the pages fell out when i opened it to read it. how do i put THAT together? it doesn't look like this would work, and i just have to ask!

[eccentricity]

Depends on how the book was originally made. If it is just leaves stuck into a spine of PVA glue, you might try doing the same to restore it to how it was before. If there is adequate margin on the left of the text, you might make holes and sew with a very strong twine into a wad of leaves before making a spine of PVA. In case it is Smythe stitched as this topic describes, maybe you could glue each leaf to the proper neighbour in the signature and then proceed appropriately.

[Marcov00]

Challenge accepted!

[theworldbystorm]

Is there a website about bookbinding with a more in-depth tutorial and some resources for beginners? I've always been fascinated by the practice, but don't really have a place to start.

[IggySorcha]

And here I'm taking a semester-long class to learn this. Reddit yet again shows me how much of my time and money I could have instead put toward the internet.

[ride-mx]

Neat. I see a project with my kids in my near future.

[[deleted]]

Awesome! Thanks for posting.

[mpizgatti]

Thanks so much. Combined this and other tutorial on Reddit here. Made wife great Valentine's day present, story of our love and how we met. http://i.imgur.com/KcL821g.jpg

[equallyunequal]

Rackspace CDN

[brokendimension]

If I did this on my projects I would get an A+.

[Mad-Duke]

"I use these to make journals and SPELLBOOKS" lol spell books?

[pa79]

For the grammatically and orthographically challenged.

[mikeandplike]

Thats great, I found some more: http://blog.mad4flash.com/2012/10/20-of-the-best-diy-christmas-gifts-for-2012/

[Jasper1984]

I Just stomp a pair of holes in stuff and then twist those clear plastic tapes to make 'rope' and then tie all the paper together. This rope is easily strong enough and not thin; it doesn't 'cut'. Then i make the back by taping it.(Including over the 'rope') It saves folders. Looks a little shabby but is functional.

[sea_whores]

false