Most book binders see their craft as a labor of love, an activity to which you can’t really put a price. Reading some “how to” articles it becomes clear why: to make a hard-bound book, one must go through a long list of difficult and cumbersome steps, each of which seem to need a good amount of skill before it accomplished, or well at any rate.
I had other intentions. What I wanted was a physical book to hold in my hands and I wanted it now. Sewing classes, making laundry lists of materials, and mind-boggling directions were not part of the itinerary. So I quickly learned how to put together a “perfect-bound” paperback book, and I just as quickly made one.
The Plan
There is no shortage of book-binding sites on the internet, but like I said earlier, some are hard to follow, include unnecessary steps, and the directions may appear downright cryptic at times. By far the best resource I’ve found is diybookbinding.com.
You may have several reasons for wanting to make your own book:
- You’d love to read a bunch of free public domain classics, but don’t want to sit and read them off your computer. Thousands of great books can be found at projectgutenberg.com, ready for you to convert into real book form.
- You’d like to make a nice journal with some style. Design your cover how you’d like, print out ruled paper patterns, or even set a day-planner or dated diary entries.
- You have plans of self-publishing your book, collection of stories, or articles, and don’t want to pay Print-On-Demand publishers over $7 + shipping, when you could easily make your own for less than $2.
- Give personalized books complete with illustrations or photographs, or even classics or your own written poetry as gifts.
- You’re a crafty or DIY-type person, and just want to make some notebooks, journals, or photo-albums from scratch.
Materials
Now if I wanted to pay $15 for materials to make each book, I may as well either buy it from a book-store, or if it is my own writing I’d send it to lulu.com or something. So the plan is to spend as little money as possible.
- The most expensive tool you need may be the paper cutter. If you don’t have access or don’t want to spend the $20-$50 for one, you can get by with an X-acto knife and a metal ruler. My cutter is an X-acto 12″ guillotine which costs about $47. The cost is a lot up front but at least I have it to use for years to come. Check Amazon.com for some $19.99 cutters.
- Paper- you can use cheap newsprint or any kind of printer paper.
- The cover- pick up some cover-stock 11″ x 17″, or any size that is at least 8.5″ x 12.”
- Glue – Superglue 5 minute epoxy sets in 5 minutes and works perfectly. You can find this for about $3- $4. You can use contact cement, or maybe even regular white glue.
- Any inkjet printer.
- A press. In the picture above you’ll see I took two pieces of scrap wood and drilled two holes for bolts with wing nuts. If you don’t have the wood, you might get by with some clamps.
The material list seems like a lot of money at first. But just think of how many books you can make from just one trip to the store. The tools like the cutter, knife, press and printer you may already have and can be used for years. The cost of materials for one book: about $2.
Making The Book
1. The first thing you need to do is print the pages. With my HP Photosmart printer, there is the option to print a “booklet.” This arranged the pages for you and will make one big booklet which would normally be folded in half. If you have a PDF writer or reader (you can download CutePDF reader for free), you can do the same thing. The point is to have 4 book pages printed on one sheet of printer paper, which you would cut in half to make each leaf of the book.
Just open your document and leave it alone, without re-ordering any pages. Hit print and find preferences, options, or properties. Hopefully, you’ll be able to find an option such as this:
With my printer, the odd pages print out first, then I put that stack in, press “continue” and then the even pages print out. It couldn’t be easier.
2. Once all the pages are printed, cut each in half and stack in order. It pays to include page numbers in your document.
3. Print the cover. Most printers have options of choosing page size. In my case, I only wanted the front cover to print so I made my graphic upside down, with no borders, and printed on the card-stock which was previously cut to fit the printer. It came out oriented to be the cover of a “left-edge” book.
4. Put the cover on the book “block.” Take the stack of ordered pages and put together with the cover in the right direction. Score the part where the cover meets the book, so you can fold it. Place both the cover and the block in the press and tighten it. You’ll want the spine edge exposed and a little higher than the edges of the press.
5. Now you’re ready to glue the spine. Mix the epoxy, and brush it on the spine. Take the rest of the cover and fold over to press the spine together with the cover. Wait 5 minutes, then remove the book from the press. Now all you need to do is score the other side of the cover, fold it, and cut the excess off the ends of the book.
So that’s it. It may seem intimidating reading the instructions, but once you try it you realize how much of a cinch it really is.
Comments are closed