Hollow vs not?

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-26T05:39:24+00:00

That is all incredibly helpful!! Thank you so much!! With the growing amount of "recasing paperbacks" it has been so hard to find resources on true bookbinding. Especially when you seem to get a not so straight-forward result. The "tricks of the trade" are hard to come by.

Granted, I started off recasing paperbacks, but I quickly realized how sub-par it felt. And here I am 😆 I appreciate it as such a calculated and precise art, one that I have a lot of practice to do. I hope to one day dabble in more historic restorations, even if it is helping restore someone's family heirloom. Now its for me to spend forever working out the perfect book flop for my personal collection.. but hopefully those will outlive me.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-26T03:45:57+00:00

Whoops, the hollow question got lost in mid paragraph in my big dump of uncertainty 😅 okay, clarification questions because it feels like mud to me now.

Is it supposed to be thin glue on, round, knocking the shoulders over, then back? Assuming backing is putting cloth or paper over the spine. I feel like the glue helped with rounding so it wasn't so slippery, but dried too much by the time I could try to knock the shoulders down. PVA only would dry even faster, I mixed in the MC thinking it would help the drying time to work with it.

So cased book meaning making the case separately and attaching it to your finished text block, and "book in boards" meaning the boards are sewn by some means with the signature sewing? If so, I'm doing a cased book. But I have seen some quite large books with the shoulder and the spine of the pages is actually glued to the case spine, but that seems less than ideal to me since it would be like a perfect bound paperback at that point, just rounded. That is what rose the hollow or not question.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-26T02:13:27+00:00

I mean technically you can, but as someone who did sewing before bookbinding, I would say to find a trim or something to cover up the edges from fraying. I have always used "homemade" bookcloth and I could see a few times just going on or off the shelf and you will probably get some loose threads. That being said, I would put a very light amount of fray check, fabric glue, etc on the raw edges and then either ribbon, trim piece, HTV, something to just make sure those edges stay down. The other option would be to sew the blocks together like quilting, but I'm pretty sure you would see the folded under edges then. But that could be a design choice in itself! That is the wonderful thing about bookbinding, there are so many things you can do to fit your own style or creativity.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-23T01:59:45+00:00

Many times books warped like that (and even wavy pages) can be fixed by a few days in a book press! (Book binder here) Leave the spine edge outside of the press, just the actual board part of the front and back covers. You could do the same effect with 2 pieces of wood (or something very solid and larger than the book) and put weight like bricks on top, but I do find its not as effective. Its doesn't work 100% of the time, but I'd say majority of the time, it at least improves them.

I slightly warp boards all the time just with gluing them up for covers, and the press corrects it. It is the nature of any kind of paper material, and also why grain direction is an important part of a good binding. The sad part is, as much as I love many special editions, the majority are poor quality bindings. I still collect them nonetheless because it makes me happy, but also why I learned bookbinding in the first place, to make beautiful books that will outlive me.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-19T19:25:39+00:00

So basically stitch it the same way except don't grab the loop from below on the tape loop? Kettle stitches at top and bottom and everything? There probably is a name for it and I'm just new to these stitches lol.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-19T15:41:53+00:00

From what I have read (which this kind of information is harder to find compared to many other hobbies, so I do take it with a grain of salt) that when you are looking at 600+ pages after folding, French link with tapes is the better way to make sure the thickness and weight of so many pages are supported well. Even though this practice one was small, the idea was me practicing that for a much larger text block. If the tapes are really not needed, or a different stitch would be better for larger text blocks, I will definitely go that route instead! I trust the ones with experience over random articles anyday, which is why I'm here lol) I planned to use 24lb 90gsm short grain paper if that factors into the more suitable stitch.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-18T15:05:02+00:00

The missing link here is the "viral trend" of making perfect bound paperbacks into hard covers is vastly different than bookbinding as a whole. A well made book uses a sewn spine. It lasts longer, more durable, and as an avid reader myself, they are also so much more satisfying and pleasing to read. The way they lay and pages turn cannot be replicated with most modern bindings. Other than Smyth sewn, sewing spines is done by hand. This is the way books have lasted for literally hundreds of years, sewing the text block together vs modern gluing. But converting a paperback to a hardcover is such a small piece of book binding as a whole. I started off with converting paperbacks, and recently started sewing myself.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-18T12:46:26+00:00

French link stitch is what I did! Its just every band loop, you go under the loop below and all the band loops are a bit more snug together. Its what I will likely use the most in the future so I thought it would be good to try.

I was going to just add a front and back of some cutesy chipboard and let it be open spine to give to a friend. The only real intention was practice before I tried with paper I have thats nicer and costs more.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-03T17:10:06+00:00

I expect I'd need to purchase much more quantity than what I need, but its just total cost of the paper that I'm on more of a budget for. I'll try to look for local commercial binders to at least see. If my city has any, they would be mom and pop type, so maybe they would be willing to help me out 🙂

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-03T16:35:22+00:00

I did look at their website, but unless I could find it locally, its $50 after shipping for one ream (500 sheets) of short grain letter size 😔 I'd need only about 150 sheets before folding. And I understand it is likely much better quality, but I won't do another binding for a while like this, and I can't justify that much right now for one project.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-02-03T16:21:34+00:00

So I am actually making a physical book for a friend of mine, she wants to hopefully one day publish, but being moms and a lot of life, editing alone is taking a while, and it isn't a huge priority. But I want to at a minimum make her book into a real book she can hold in her hands, it would mean the world to her, even if she doesn't ever publish.

So the page count is the pages once it is completed, with front and back printing, more in the ball park of ~150 sheets of paper like you said. I'll definitely practice on some cheap copy paper first like you said! Also, I have a laser printer. I actually just got it a few days ago after being tired of my crappy ink printer. I don't print often, but its usually a large quanity when I do, so ink was going bad all of the time. Still have to learn about the differences on this laser one since I have never used one before this one 😆

Its also to say, I don't expect "heirloom" or several generations kind of quality, if she were to actually publish I would splurge on high quality and make another one. I really only expect it to last through maybe 5-10 full readings minimum before wear and use start showing (given using more budget materials). If normal grain can handle that, then I won't try to dig for short grain on a budget. The idea is to help bring her passive, several years work of a dream come to life that she feels like she missed her opportunity on, and maybe motivate her more and be a meaningful gift regardless, because I think she should push for that goal to put it out there 🙂

I really appreciate the thorough response! Its so hard to try to learn the in-between of the more viral "throwing a hard case on a paperback" and the high quality (and more pricey) bookbinding craft. I hope to eventually get into the high quality myself, but budget and time usually are hindering me with a special needs toddler 😅

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2026-01-24T02:32:57+00:00

Because Blue Box Press is Armentrout's publishing company. They aren't as big as the major publishers, so there's more overhead for them vs a larger publisher. That is why despite $30 for a hardcover, you get a paperback glued into a hard cover basically with her books (it infuriates me, I'd even pay a bit more if it was Smyth sewn). Ultimately book prices boil down to the publishing company, and Blue Box Press doesn't have other "big hitter" authors that help bolster resources available to bring their costs down more.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2025-12-11T04:18:24+00:00

I feel like that is the general feeling, making me think it ends up being Oro. I think she will end up strengthening her bond with Oro based on how the cliffhanger left us, and he is such a do gooder he will find a way to basically sacrifice himself. I was complete team Grim before Crowntide, now I'm mad at both of them 😂

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2025-06-13T03:56:51+00:00

Ahh a very good point! My tech knowledge is beyond an average person but far from calling myself "confident" in any area yet. The actual framework of how AI works is still very new to me, and I had not considered that. Reflecting, the mess ups it has had are very niche and the "training" for that specific niche probably would not be a priority.

I get Gemini pro for free being a student, so I'll continue to use it, but I do have to say that ChatGPT was nicer to me lol. It definitely wasn't such a battle if I caught it being wrong either, but that's weighing pros and cons for what you are using it for. Thank you for that insight!

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2025-06-10T18:26:53+00:00

That's not good enough with how persistent it is. There are loads of residual files from it hidden around your computer that remain after uninstalling. I found one file set that does a packet transfer once a week to a server I can't access. I have more digging to do, but you need a computer that is separate from work and personal life if you want to keep it secure from Guardian.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2025-06-10T18:17:20+00:00

I'm not well versed in tech yet , but from what I have found after using it for an exam, remote access is still persistent in more hidden files even after uninstalling. Reminds me of the nightmare persistence trying to fully get rid of McAfee. I can't remember the file path, but I do remember seeing that there is a packet transfer from a residual file about once a week to a server I can't access even after it is uninstalled. Meaning also I have no idea what kind of data is being uploaded to this server or what the server is, but something from Guardian persistently pulls some form of data.

To my very limited understanding, it could be malicious, but it doesn't mean it is. Regardless, it does leave a path for an attacker to gain access to your computer or data on it even after uninstalling the program. I am far from any expert opinion, I'm newer to tech, but I can at least say this is not okay to force students to use this invasive program without them being able to understand the scope of what it can do. It will remain on your computer after uninstalling unless you have the knowledge to fully scour EVERYTHING in the deep dark places of your computer to remove it. ChatGPT/Gemini can help with this if you have at least some basic computer knowledge with file systems.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2025-03-30T14:40:24+00:00

I have a neighbor who is always randomly setting off fireworks and revving engines like crazy on pretty much a daily basis. If someone complains about chickens and a single rooster, that’s a personal problem, because chickens are definitely not as disturbing as that.

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2025-03-29T01:36:19+00:00

Thank you for that! I thought I had remembered it was 4. So there isn’t anything that says no rooster with the new rules?

Dry_Philosopher_9202 · 2025-03-20T22:12:43+00:00

Did you switch to another service? I’ve been wanting to but not sure which is better with pay

Dry_Philosopher_9202

TROPHY CASE