How To Bind A Book

This blog entry comes from our companion site: Editorial Design. The wonderful TA Ayca has it loaded with useful and interesting tips and tricks. Here she presents how to bind a book.

Artist James Sheehan shows Martha Stewart how to bind a professional looking book.

They are making a book without the stitching, basically pasting papers together with double-sided adhesive and then hard covering it.
Watch the video, here.

Tools and Materials
Sheets of paper for binding into a book
Bone folder
StudioTac double-sided adhesive
Heavyweight papers for end pages
Pencil
Jade glue
Paint brush
Headband tape
Craft knife
Binder's board (acid-free)
Book canvas
Iron-on transfer paper (optional)

Binding a Book How-To
1. Collect all the sheets of paper you wish to bind into a book. Fold each sheet in half, with the image or text on the inside, using a bone folder.

2. Start with the folded sheet that you intend to have as your first and second pages. Place double-sided adhesive on the half of the folded paper that is the back of the second page. Burnish with the bone folder, remove protective backing and place the next folded page over it, lining up the folds and the edges; burnish to secure. Repeat to create the rest of the pages.

Note: If you are creating a blank book, or the pages are printed double-sided, you do not need to adhere the pages to each other. Arrange the folded pages in order and allow the loose pages to fall, folded-edge-down, onto a flat surface to make sure all pages are aligned at the spine. Then, continue with step 3.

3. Fold the two sheets of paper that you are using for the end pages in half. Use double sided adhesive to add these to the top and bottom of the stack of adhered sheets.

4. Place the stack of folded pages on edge of table, hanging off a quarter inch. Place several heavy books on top. Brush five coats of Jade glue onto the spine, allowing to dry for 10-15 minutes between coats.

5. Add headband tape to both ends of spine.

6. Trim the edge of the pages with a craft knife, if necessary. Place pages onto binder's board and trace around them. Add a quarter inch to the height of the tracing. Cut out two of these rectangles from the binder's board with a craft knife to make a front and back cover.

7. Cut a spine from the binder's board that is the same height as the two covers and a width that is equal to the thickness of the pages plus the two covers when placed together.

8. Place covers and spine on canvas, leaving a quarter-inch between the covers and the spine. Trace around each cover and the spine with a pencil, making a template for gluing everything down. Cut the canvas 1 inch around entire layout. Cut an ellipse out of each corner.

9. Brush glue onto one binder's board cover, being sure to cover the whole surface to avoid air bubbles. Glue the cover in place on the canvas. Flip the canvas over and burnish with a bone folder to remove air bubbles. Repeat for the second cover and spine.

10. Once the covers and spine are glued and burnished, brush a layer of glue along the extra inch of canvas on one of the sides. Fold canvas over to inside of cover and burnish to secure. Repeat for all sides, paying close attention to corners to be sure they are tucked in correctly. Once all sides are glued, do a final burnish all around with the bone folder.

11. Iron an image onto the front of the finished book, if desired.

12. Place book pages within the covers. Place a piece of scrap within the folded end pages on one side. Brush glue onto the back of the end page (the one that is facing up when all the pages are closed), being sure to cover the whole surface. Carefully close the cover onto the page with glue. Press down. Flip book over, open to the page you have glued, and burnish the page onto the cover. Repeat to attach the other end page to the other cover.

13. Place scrap paper within the front and back covers, and place several heavy books on top of the book. Let dry for an hour.

Resources
All tools and materials can be found at talasonline.com.

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