Some Simple Bookbinding Techniques for Beginners

If you are planning to print a book, a work report, a notebook, or a photo album, you may decide to bind it yourself at home. You'll need to know a little bit about basic bookbinding techniques in order to put together a solid finished product.

There are many different binding methods, and the type you choose depends on what you want the outcome of your book to look like.

Ring binding is a simple and cost effective bookbinding technique that is great for when you might have to add more text to your handmade books.

Thermal binding is a sturdy and neat binding method that allows documents to be opened flat. You don't have to have covers for thermal bound books. The way thermal binding is so strong is that it uses plastic strips and heat-fused cloth. There are actual bookbinding machines you can buy to do thermal binding, or you can make your own home bookbinding machine.

Perfect binding is the most common solution for paperback books and novels. You can easily do perfect binding at home using simple crafts materials such as a razor knife, Gorilla glue, and thick paper for the binding. It also helps to have a flat surface you can place the pages on while you do your binding.

Simple bookbinding techniques such as these can be a cost effective solution if you are trying to self publish or don't want to spend scads of money on a publishing company to publish your book.

How to Bind Books at Home

If you have acquired many online texts, ebooks, or other such reading documents on your PC, chances are that you will want to print these off and bind them on your own. It is really not hard to bind books at home with the required materials: printer, scissors, knife, and glue.

To bind books, there are three simple steps. First is to assemble your pages neatly so that they line up together and stay stacked evenly. This is vital so that your binding will be straight and even.

Secondly, it is necessary to make the actual binding itself, then attach it to your pages. You use binding board for this, which can be as simple as some cardboard or thick paper if you wish. Type of board used to bind books is dependent on the ultimate outcome. For example, paperbacks will simply use thick paper for their bindings.

The third step is to measure these pages and bind them carefully by placing the pages on a flat surface, then using a strong object to hold them down. At that point, you will need to use your knife to cut the pages evenly. When the pages are measured and cut, they are easily ready to be attached to your binding.

The process that will best teach you how to bind books at home is simply practice. By doing it enough, you will quickly master the art of home bookbinding. Eventually you will be able to create more stylized bindings such as medieval and Japanese-style bindings for your books.

Bookbinding Materials - Cereal Box Card Safe?

If you have done some experimenting with bookbinding materials, you might have considered using cereal box card. The high acidity level of this type of board for a book spine makes it less than ideal, but there are ways you can rectify that.

It is possible to reduce the acidity in cereal box card by soaking it in calcium carbonate and drying it under weight, between blotters. You can also coat it with PVA to seal in the board, reducing contact with the air.

However these methods are time consuming and use a lot of bookbinding glue if you choose the PVA method, so it will cost you more ultimately than buying good board.

You can also purchase testing kits to test the acidity of your bookbinding board. Litmus paper also works where you wet out a sample of the chosen material and lay the litmus paper on it. This paper gives you a basic acid vs. base reading by its color.

So in conclusion, cereal box cardboard is not a good bookbinding material for using in book spines. It is not structurally stable enough to stay flat even when surrounded by paper on both sides.

How To Bind Your Own Books - Simple Instructions To Bind Books At Home

Author: Shane

For many years, people have been practicing the art of binding handmade books. The internet has made this easy to learn, interestingly – and it is a wonderful felling to create your own book and bind it yourself. Here are some basic instructions on how to bind your own books at home.

To make a binding, all you will need is paper, glue, some scissors, and a brush to spread the glue. There are no expensive materials required to bind your own books. What you'll be doing is making a thick paper cover for the binding itself, then spreading glue over the binding to attach the paper clamp.

It's important to keep it near the spine so that your signatures stay in place. Depending on what type of book you are trying to create – softcover, hardcover, photo album, etc. - you may need sandpaper and cardboard or some other materials, but these are all very cheap.

In fact, you can learn how to create your own homemade bookbinding machine and reuse the same materials over and over for every book you want to bind. This method is great if you have a lot of online or computer material you want to print and read later.

It will cost very little to bind your paper, and you can simply print it off; printers are really cheap these days, and laser printers are fast and efficient.

Learning how to bind your own books is a fun and creative process that doesn't cost much and is something you can use for the rest of your life. If you want, you can start practicing by taking some rough papers and doing bindings on them to make sure you are applying book bindings correctly.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/crafts-articles/how-to-bind-your-own-books-simple-instructions-to-bind-books-at-home-2193827.html


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How to Print and Bind Your Own Ebooks

If you often use your computer to read downloaded books or online material, you might be wondering if there's a way you can print and bind your own ebooks. You can - and it doesn't require a lot of equipment.

All you need is a printer (inkjet preferably), paper, and the materials listed in the binding books post below.

First look at the type of book you're printing. Is it an instructional manual or reference book? Comb binding or a spiral binding might work best for easy page finding, if so. If it's a fiction book, having a regular paper binding which you glue to the back to make your own paperback book is a good choice.

You can get creative with your book covers, as well. For example, you can experiment with different fonts on Microsoft Word or Open Office. If you are printing a book you've written - even if it's just a collection of recipes - you can make it look a lot better by using an interesting font.

When deciding if you should make the book hardcover or paperback, think about the type of book, again. Fiction is usually best read in paperback, and if you intend to publish or sell the book, it's ideal. Hardcover books require cardboard, so you'll need some extra materials if you want to make your own hardback books.

Printing your own ebooks and binding them is a cinch these days. Save your eyes some strain and print your books for easy reference!

How to Bind Your Own Book Using Only Glue

This tutorial will instruct you on how to bind your own book using only glue for the binding. Other materials you will need are:

  • regular printer paper
  • very thick paper or cardboard depending on how strong you want your cover
  • PVA glue
  • glue brush
  • knife
  • pencil
  • scissors
  • ruler
  • paper for the cover

Step 1: Measure pages

You are going to need to first cut some paper to get the size you want your book's pages to be. For example, if you want a 15x10cm book, you need to add 1cm to the side where you want the binding to be. So for a landscape format book, you will measure 16x10cm.

Step 2: Making the inside of your book

Once your pages are measured, measure about 1cm to the left side of each page and mark this line with your pencil. Then take the knife and carefully score the marked line. Be careful not to cut off the small piece; you are just scoring the page so it's easier to fold the book's paper.

When all pages are scored, fold them on the marked line. You should have several single pages.

Step 3: Glue the pages

Now it's time to get your PVA glue. You can use regular glue if you can't find PVA, but the pages won't stick as well and your book may fall apart.

First, apply glue on the folded over piece of each page. You should really practice this first, because it is hard to get the right amount of glue otherwise. Too much glue makes your pages crinkly; not enough and you won't get them to stick.

Do each page one after another, starting with the first one, applying glue, and then sticking the next page on it. Make sure the outer two corners are aligned. Even if the binding doesn't line up that's okay because it won't be visible when it's finished.

Set aside some time for the pages to dry, so it's easier when you start sticking more pages on top of each other. Remember to always open the book up so you can make sure your pages aren't sticking together.

Step 4: Add front and back pages

For these front and back pages, you need to bring out the ruler again. Your measurements will probably be pretty close to what they were before, but ever millimeter becomes important at this point. For the front and back pages, you have to double the length of the book. In the case of a 16x14cm book, multiply 16 by two (the width stays the same).

Cut two pieces of paper in this size. You can use the same paper you are using for your interior pages, or new paper, if you like.

Once you have those two pieces of paper for the front and back, fold them down the middle. Then add your front page by applying some glue to the folded over narrow part of the paper, then put your front page on.

It's a little harder to do the back page since you won't have any guidance on how much glue you should apply, but a good trick is to imagine a 1cm line on the back where the binding is, apply blue, then stick the back page on.

Step 5: Prepare your book cover

While your glue is drying on the other pages, you can prepare the cover card. If you want a hardcover book, use cardboard; if you are doing a paperback, just use strong paper.

Using your measurements from the previous step, add 1cm to each side. 16cm becomes 17, 14 becomes 15, for example. Then, cut two pieces of card with these measurements.

Find the paper you want to use for your book cover, then place the two cover pieces beside each other, leaving a gap in between. The gap must have the width of the binding.

Place the card on the cover, using PVA glue (not too much so it doesn't crinkle). Leave roughly an inch of cover on each side of the card, and make sure it's completely covered in glue to avoid bubbles.

Then cut the edges off the cover, not too close to the card.

Finally, apply some glue to what's left of the cover material, fold the outer left and right sides over first, and stick them onto the card. Then fold the top and bottom over and stick them.

Now your cover is prepared, and set for connection to the book.

Step 6: Final book assembly

At this point you should take the inside of the book and turn it over, so you can start with the back page (that's easier).

Apply glue all over the back page, paying special attention to the corners. Then take the cover and place the spine in the gap you left earlier. Then stick the back page onto the inside of the cover and let it dry.

Apply glue to the front page, then take your cover, making sure the binding is very close. Fully close your book, stick the cover onto the front page, and carefully open it to make sure it fits. If it does, apply a little pressure to make it fully stick.

The last step is to go through your book and make sure no pages stick together.

Congratulations, if you have made it this far you have a fully handbound book you made all on your own. To simplify this process you can buy a bookbinding machine or make your own bookbinding machine at home.

How to Bind Your Handmade Books

If you want to publish your own books or just want to read online materials in print, learning how to bind handmade books is a great idea. It is not hard to do and only requires simple household materials.

You will need:
  • Cold glue
  • Scissors
  • A razor knife
And that is really it. A guillotine cutter does help a lot, but it isn't required.

The advantages to binding your own books are numerous. You'll save money and get sometimes better results than you would with a professional publishing company.

You can also bind photo albums, ebooks, pictures you've printed, or even books you've written yourself, like childrens' books.

You won't need any additional software to bind your books; all you need is a simple handmade bookbinding guide. This will show you how to actually build your bookbinding machine - and you don't need expensive equipment to make it.

This homemade bookbinding machine will also let you bind hardbacks if you wish, though you will need cardboard to complete that process.

This guide also teaches you how to spiral bind books, if you are making a notebook-style book or a how to guide, or anything you wish to have a spiral binding for.

Surprisingly, it only takes 1-5 minutes to bind your own books once you become familiar with the process. It can take as long as 20-30 minutes for the glue to set, but that is the longest stretch of time required to bind your book.

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