All Bound Up

Sometimes I play around with making books

[all-bound-up]

I finally put titles on all the books I’ve bound!

I also printed all the signatures for Lady Chatterley’s Lover today, and started typesetting the first fanfic I ever read back in 2011, to bind just for nostalgia’s sake. It’s currently 1244 pages in word though, and getting bigger with every chapter break so… that’s fun. It also has a sequel which I am debating whether to bind.

[shu-bullshit]

Things I Wanna Tell You

Want to share an old work of mine with you guys today :) It’s a lil book called Things I Wanna Tell You

It's long so I'm gonna put a read more here before the whole book!

There was a depressed period in my life, where I felt tired of things, and I even found painting and watching others’ works were terrifying. Though now those feelings seem so far away from me, I didn’t know when it could end when I was in it. I think it’s same for a lot people, and I know that encouragement and positive words can’t just bring you out of there.

So I made this book when I started to feel that I’ve got out of that situation. You can say it’s a collection of small things in life that I found comforting in my hard time, I simply want to share them with you. They may be tiny and ordinary and we always forget about them when we focus on “bigger” things, but I think they are actually the big part of life.

This is from May 2020 and I’m glad to say it has been almost a year!! It was my first book and I’m looking forward to make more in the next two years^ ^

[all-bound-up]

It’s done!!!!!! Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth and Age of Innocence bound into a dos-á-dos book!

I’ve been planning this for months and been putting it off until this week because there were so many new techniques I wanted to learn to put into it (kettle stitching, making and using book cloth and the whole general concept of a dos-á-dos book)

It’s nowhere near perfect, but I’m proud of it.

Oh, I used @omfgreylo’s video on dos-á-dos binding to guide me.

[freckleslikestars]

I was going to bind The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence together as a dos-a-dos volume but I think together they’re too thick and heafty to make it practical for actual reading though. I mean it’s over 800 pages and whilst I really want to, I also want it to be practical for actually reading.

I’m going to think on it a bit.

[all-bound-up]

Amish Country by Lolabeegood (on gossamer) all completed.

I know I was posting my progress with this in a thread to help others, but I was finding making that post was anxiety inducing and so I was putting it off. I would recommend using Sea Lemon’s youtube if you need support though.

[all-bound-up]

So I’m going to, as I work on the next book I’m binding, give a step by step of the way i do it. Now, this is by no means the best most perfect way to bind a book, and I take a lot of shortcuts. But it works.

So, we start with the digital side of things. For this example I’m using the xf fanfic Amish Country by Lolabeegood on Gossamer. I start by copy and pasting the entire fic into a word document. If I’m using a fic from AO3, you just click the little download button at the top and it gives you options - I use html and copy it from there.

In the word document, you then want to edit the text so it looks like how you want it. I find that size 18 times new Roman font works the best for the look I want to achieve - when the pages are scaled down into signatures and printed the font size drops quite dramatically.

You also want to create a cover page - I just use a word preset because I’m lazy.

Add page numbers and check they’re in the font you want - it’s a little detail but having them in a different font can be quite jarring sometimes.

Once it’s done to your liking, save it as both a word document (so if you notice a problem whilst printing you can go back and edit it) and a pdf.

I then use a Java program by Quantum Elephant called bookbinder to turn the pdf into signatures.

It can be intimidating at first, but you just import the pdf you’ve just saved and check the settings are correct. I usually leave the units as points, paper size as A4, single sided, with alternate page rotation on because I don’t have an automatic duplex printer. For book size I use standard paperback, keeping proportion, and I add a fly leaf. I use the standard signature format.

And then all you do is hit generate document and it will create a folder of pdfs containing your signatures.

I tend to find that the first page of the second side of the first signature is upside down so you just need to rotate that one in your pdf viewer, and you’re good to go.

I’m going to leave it here for now, because I have to do stuff for my dissertation to be submitted tonight, so when I print it out either tomorrow or Friday probably I’ll do another step by step of that.

[freckleslikestars]

First off, I meant to say last time, but I tend to find anything less than 100 pages too fiddly to case bind, and I don’t really like doing anything under 150 pages. It does depend though. It’s definitely possible, I just find it more awkward to work with.

So, you’ve got your pdfs of signatures, now it’s time to print.

First, though, there are some considerations. Like, what paper you’re going to use.

I’m going to put the rest under a cut because it’s so long - also we don’t actually get around to printing in this reblog, I just talk about supplies and equipment, because I ran out of ink 😬

Because I can’t read on white paper (whoop whoop dyslexia) I use Xerox Symphony laser and inkjet 80g/m^2 in Ivory

It’s like £8 something for a ream on Amazon which makes between 5-6 books (depending on the length obviously)

It does depend on what look you’re going for though. The mass produced books you buy are usually printed on uncoated paper because it’s more porous so soaks up more ink and drys quicker. However I’ve found that it’s a lot more expensive and harder to source. If you know of a local publishing house you might be able to talk to them about it though and see if they can help source it at a more reasonable price through buying it wholesale. But honestly, I’ve found coated paper works just fine.

You also want to consider your printer. Now I’m definitely not saying go out and buy a new printer. I did, but that was actually just because my dad and I were fed up of screaming at our cheap one that cost like £20.

So, let’s talk why we went with the printer we did.

Introducing Printy McPrintface

He’s an HP officejet 7110. Not my first choice, but the only printer in stock in the entire country that fully suited our needs without breaking the bank completely.

Our biggest motivator for ol’Printy was that he does ‘edge to edge’ printing up to A4. Now I will say that it’s not completely edge to edge so if you need a printer for photos that do go edge to edge, I’d actually recommend a Canon edge to edge printer. They just didn’t have any in stock. But, the key thing about it being edge to edge is that it’s boarders on each of the sides are equal, or only have a shift of about a millimetre. Here’s a test print to explain:

See those squares? Other than the bottom left one, they’re all about equidistant from the edge of the page. The bottom left one is out of line because my dad sucks at laying things out on word. (Also it’s wrinkly because the cat decided to sit on it)

Now why is this important. Here are some photos to explain.

This book was printed on the old printer. See between the two pages the height difference of the first line? That’s because the printer had an inbuilt margin on one side, so when you flipped the page over to print the back it added an extra centimetre margin to that side.

This book was printed on Printy McPrintface. Notice there’s little to no hight difference (on this page there is none, I just photographed it at an odd angle)

Now, this isn’t actually a major noticeable problem when you’re reading it I haven’t found, though it does slightly worsen my dyslexia. However, aesthetically, it bothers me a lot.

If your printer didn’t cost you £20 and you have the ability to alter the margins, you can use a little trial and error to alter the margins on the actual printer (rather than the document) you could also take the time to fiddle with the document itself if you really want to punish yourself, and alter the margins on the pages that would be printed on the reverse side if you can figure out signatures without the use of a handy little piece of software. I tried, and uh...it’s not a fun process.

(We also got him because he can print up to A3, and we use A3 printing a lot for other things, and for an A3 printer he’s surprisingly unbulky.)

I would say that ink is probably the most expensive part of each book. Speaking of which, I need to order some more ink before I actually start printing Amish Country 😬

Kind of on that note, I highly recommend making sure you have the time, supplies and patience’s to print the entire thing out in one sitting. Depending on your printer and the length of the book it should only take an hour, maybe an hour and a half. It depends on how fussy your printer is though. But printing all in one go just means that you don’t forget where you are, and what you’re doing and the routine you’ve gotten yourself into.

My biggest top tip though: use plain, cheap, scrap paper for the first attempt at printing a signature. Don’t waste that nice paper you’ve bought, because inevitably the first one will screw up. That very first signature you print will teach you what order the papers print, what direction the paper feeds, and if you need to make any adjustments. It also gives you a rough idea of what size you’ve got for your text, and if you need to increase the font size at all. And honestly, I did my whole first book on plain white printer paper as practice and I still will run the first signature through on plain paper as a practice to check it over before I print it out on the nice paper.

I’ll probably do printing and stitching in one go once I have more ink (probably Sunday, maybe Monday) but I’m going to list equipment you might want to start thinking about for going further.

So, first off, I have a cutting board. Standard A3 affair. I use it for other things too. They’re pretty cheap and available at most craft stores or on Amazon.

Then we have a Stanley knife that is older than me that I stole from my dad, and a metal ruler that is also older than me and I stole from my dad. Those are what I use for trimming everything down to size.

And then the magic box of tricks. I got this box as a kit on Amazon for something like £13 I think, but you can probably gather most of these things up (and actually if my mother hadn’t stolen my dads awl when she left and the good waxed thread I probably wouldn’t have got it. The box contains needles and waxed thread in varying colours (although personally I think the thread it comes with is slightly too thick, and I think it would actually be better to use a thinner cotton and double thread it, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it also contains an awl (the sharp pointy think used for sticking holes to put the threat through) and two foldy tools that probably have a name but I’m too lazy to find out.

And, of course, a pencil is always useful for measuring, and scissors for cutting thread.

I also keep some big chunky binder clips on hand to hold things together if need be, but I tend not to use them particularly often.

For the case binding:

We have greyboard which is the sturdy card. You can get it in various shapes and sizes, I think mine came in a pack of 25 A4 sheets 1mm thick.

Your best friend in this whole endeavour is a rubber latex based adhesive like copydex (another thing I’m running low on 😬😬 but again I use it for other things as well as bookbinding) unlike other glues, because it’s latex it’s flexible as well as being strong, which gives your spine some flex when reading instead of cracking. I love copydex. Smells like fish, but it’s great stuff. As well as being flexible and strong, it also works great with fabric.

Which is what we come to next. I use two fabrics per book - the plain cream one that holds the signatures together (its role has a name, but I can’t remember it) which is just good old cotton lining fabric (it’s the same stuff I use to line facemasks) and then a fabric for the cover. I usually use fat quarters that I pick up from my local craft store, particularly with floral designs and simple repeating patterns, just because I like the look of it. The main four books that I have done so far each used one of my four William Morris fabrics, and I really wish I had other ones to keep the theme going, but I have also used patterns like the blue one pictured for books for family and friends.

A note on fabric: what you should really use is book cloth, which is more sturdy and gives a crisper finish. You can buy it online for varying prices, though it does seem to be sold by the meter like standard fabrics so you probably want to know that you’re going to be using a fair amount. If you don’t want to have to buy book cloth but still want that crisper, more professional look (it’s also probably easier to work with) you can make your own by ironing a layer of heat and bond to the back of your fabric and then putting tissue paper over that. Because I’m lazy, cheap and can’t be bothered to buy heat and bond, I just use plain cotton which...has its downfalls. It’s harder to get a smooth, crisp finish and there tends to be a lot of movement in the material, though not enough for it to be a problem. I think it gives a less smart spine, too. But I’m okay with that. It’s not a major problem for me. When I can be bothered I might make my own book cloth, but as stated, I’m lazy and like shortcuts.

The final thing in this photo is ribbon for bookmarks, just because I don’t feel comfortable dogearing the pages on handmade books and I’m notoriously bad at loosing bookmarks. I have a couple of roles of this ivory ribbon, and loads of other ribbons from various things that I’ve just collected over the years and I just use what fits best. It’s not a necessity, it just gives an aesthetically pleasing finish to the book.

I’m going to talk about book presses and end papers in their own reblogs, probably tomorrow because this is getting long 😬 but I’m fairly certain that’s a rundown of your next considerations.

[all-bound-up]

Let’s talk book presses.

Now...I would argue that a book press is not 100% necessary. BUT, I would say that it helps and makes life somewhat easier and gives a better finish.

Firstly, what does a book press do? Well, as the name suggests, it presses the book. The main benefit of this is that you can when gluing the spine together hold the signatures tighter so no glue slips through and you get a tighter spine.

For example:

This book was made without a press, using a vast quantity of binder clips. You can see a very clear gap between the two signatures. The other problem with binder clips is that the spine bows out in the middle because it’s held tight at the edges rather than an even pressure.

This book was made with a press. There’s still a gap but it’s less prominent (I had a lot of trouble with this one - if the birthday present for my friend was already wrapped up I’d show that one as an example because that one worked well.

The other benefit of using a book press (which was my main motivator for building one) is that you can do painted edges, for which the only example i have is a photo of my friends birthday present before I wrapped it.

It’s nowhere near the easiest of practices, and it depends on whether you like the look, but it’s quite useful to have the ability.

This is my book press. It’s very rudimentary. But, it works for what I need.

I’m going to go through how I made it, and then what I would do different if I made another.

So, it’s total cost was £24.26, but depending on what materials you already have you could probably do it for cheaper.

First off, we have our wood. I used a 18x405x810mm MDF board cut into three. I then on the bottom pieces drilled 4 14mm holes, 2 inches in from the sides. On the top board I drilled 12mm holes in the same place. If you’re using MDF, do not use wood bits, use normal bits. Wood bits really don’t cut MDF well because of what MDF is.

I then used 4 12x120mm hex bolts, with 4 12mm washers and 12mm wing nuts. It’s heavy duty but it really holds the book tight and that’s what you want.

Put the hex nuts through the two boards with 14mm holes, put your book on, and then the top 12mm hole board, your washers and your wing nuts. Tighten that baby up and voila, a book press.

I put little felt feet on the bottom of my hex bolts so they don’t damage the floor, but that’s just because my landlord scares me. It does make it easier to slide it around thought.

On that note, I recommend using a sturdy table or desk. The only table we have in our house is glass and really not ideal for the force needed for cutting down through blocks of paper or greyboard or supporting a book press whilst you’re tinkering, so I work on the floor. That works too, but a table or desk is probably better. You want a hard flat surface to work against ideally.

On to what I would do differently.

Firstly, if I could I would use hardwood, just because the MDF is flexible, which isn’t really what I want. It works, but I would have preferred hardwood. We couldn’t get any in a reasonable size or price because, y’know, the whole pandemic situation meant that where I’d normally buy wood is closed at the moment so we had to do our best.

I actually want to try getting a couple of butchers blocks and try using those instead, but the butchers blocks in our local supermarket are like £30 each, which is a far cry from the £9 I spent on a sheet of MDF.

If I had a real plan and wasn’t just making it up as I went along, I probably would have devised a system of guides to keep the text block lined up whilst I glue the spine together just because I don’t stitch the signatures together before I glue (I know, another shortcut, but I haven’t gotten around to teaching myself. When I do a dos-a-dos binding soon I might learn.

The only other thing I would change would be having some sort of Chuck to stop the MDF from warping when there’s pressure on the book, so it doesn’t bow either side of it. That’s not as easy a fix as it sounds because each book is a different width.

So, do you need a book press? No, I wouldn’t say so. Does it make life easier? Yes. Would I recommend at least making a rudimentary one if you’re planning on making more than just a couple books? Yes.

[all-bound-up]

Printing! This is the first physical step of your book becoming a book! Yay!

Printing is...it’s pretty self explanatory. You just have to figure out what way your printer orientates. DO THIS ON PLAIN CHEAP PRINTER PAPER FIRST.

Every printer is different, so what I do once I’ve printed the first side of my signature will possibly be different to what you need to do. I essentially reorder them so the top sheet is on the bottom and the bottom sheet is on the top, and then rotate them 180°. In the old printer I would turn the pages upside down and then rotate 180°.

Once the second side is printed, I then reorder them again so that the bottom page is on top again - this should be the middle page in your signature, with consecutive page numbers visible:

You also should have quite a big boarder. Don’t worry, this will all be trimmed off.

Also, this is an example of what times new Roman font size 18 looks like when printed. It may seem big in the document, but it’s about right when printed.

The fic I’m printing has 12 signatures and I’m timing how long it takes to print it. The print spooler on the laptop I use gets stuck so between each signature side i have to reset it, but that takes less than twenty seconds on average now. I’m also going to have to change the ink at some point but it will give a rough guide. (51 minutes - including an ink change and having to reprint one because I messed up)

My biggest top tip for printing is alternating which way you stack each signature so you can keep them separate whilst still in the correct order, like so:

And that’s pretty much all for printing. It’s probably the most boring bit.

I’ll probably do folding, trimming and stitching tomorrow because I just don’t have the brainpower to focus on it tonight.

[all-bound-up]

Folding and trimming - your book is starting to take shape!

Okay, so you’ve printed your signatures. Next, you want to take those signatures and fold them.

First, make sure that you’ve got two consecutive pages on top, so page 199 and page 200 for example.

You want to knock them on the side and top to make the pages of your signature all line up and even, then you want to fold down the middle. Make that line nice and crisp. Simple.

Now, you’ve got to remember that because you’re folding around 7 or 8 sheets of paper together, it’s not going to look neat at the edge

This is okay - we’ll trim those edges. Fun fact though, pages left like this are called deckled edges.

Just keep repeating this until you’ve got all your signatures folded! This doesn’t take long at all.

And now it’s time to grab that pencil, sharp knife and straight edge (I really recommend a steal ruler because you’re less likely to damage it with your knife and it gives a better edge).

You’re going to want to start by marking out where you’re wanting to trim it. The measurements I use for a standard size paperback (according to bookbinder3) on A4 paper is 2cm from both the top and the bottom, like so

and then 11.2cm from the fold, like so

And trim, pressing down on your ruler and running your Stanley knife down it.

Be responsible. Practice all the knife safety shit that I don’t.

To produce margins like this:

And then, like before, repeat with the rest of the signatures.

Honestly, this is the part I hate most about the whole process, because my brain has so much trouble reading rulers. Like, my dyslexia looks at all the lines and breaks. So I normally put a YouTube video on of artists/creatives (a lot of Evan and Kaitlyn and Nerdforge lately) in the background because people chaotically creating things whilst I chaotically create calms me.

I’m going to leave it here and do stitching when I feel more like it.

[all-bound-up]

So I’m going to, as I work on the next book I’m binding, give a step by step of the way i do it. Now, this is by no means the best most perfect way to bind a book, and I take a lot of shortcuts. But it works.

So, we start with the digital side of things. For this example I’m using the xf fanfic Amish Country by Lolabeegood on Gossamer. I start by copy and pasting the entire fic into a word document. If I’m using a fic from AO3, you just click the little download button at the top and it gives you options - I use html and copy it from there.

In the word document, you then want to edit the text so it looks like how you want it. I find that size 18 times new Roman font works the best for the look I want to achieve - when the pages are scaled down into signatures and printed the font size drops quite dramatically.

You also want to create a cover page - I just use a word preset because I’m lazy.

Add page numbers and check they’re in the font you want - it’s a little detail but having them in a different font can be quite jarring sometimes.

Once it’s done to your liking, save it as both a word document (so if you notice a problem whilst printing you can go back and edit it) and a pdf.

I then use a Java program by Quantum Elephant called bookbinder to turn the pdf into signatures.

It can be intimidating at first, but you just import the pdf you’ve just saved and check the settings are correct. I usually leave the units as points, paper size as A4, single sided, with alternate page rotation on because I don’t have an automatic duplex printer. For book size I use standard paperback, keeping proportion, and I add a fly leaf. I use the standard signature format.

And then all you do is hit generate document and it will create a folder of pdfs containing your signatures.

I tend to find that the first page of the second side of the first signature is upside down so you just need to rotate that one in your pdf viewer, and you’re good to go.

I’m going to leave it here for now, because I have to do stuff for my dissertation to be submitted tonight, so when I print it out either tomorrow or Friday probably I’ll do another step by step of that.

[freckleslikestars]

First off, I meant to say last time, but I tend to find anything less than 100 pages too fiddly to case bind, and I don’t really like doing anything under 150 pages. It does depend though. It’s definitely possible, I just find it more awkward to work with.

So, you’ve got your pdfs of signatures, now it’s time to print.

First, though, there are some considerations. Like, what paper you’re going to use.

I’m going to put the rest under a cut because it’s so long - also we don’t actually get around to printing in this reblog, I just talk about supplies and equipment, because I ran out of ink 😬

Because I can’t read on white paper (whoop whoop dyslexia) I use Xerox Symphony laser and inkjet 80g/m^2 in Ivory

It’s like £8 something for a ream on Amazon which makes between 5-6 books (depending on the length obviously)

It does depend on what look you’re going for though. The mass produced books you buy are usually printed on uncoated paper because it’s more porous so soaks up more ink and drys quicker. However I’ve found that it’s a lot more expensive and harder to source. If you know of a local publishing house you might be able to talk to them about it though and see if they can help source it at a more reasonable price through buying it wholesale. But honestly, I’ve found coated paper works just fine.

You also want to consider your printer. Now I’m definitely not saying go out and buy a new printer. I did, but that was actually just because my dad and I were fed up of screaming at our cheap one that cost like £20.

So, let’s talk why we went with the printer we did.

Introducing Printy McPrintface

He’s an HP officejet 7110. Not my first choice, but the only printer in stock in the entire country that fully suited our needs without breaking the bank completely.

Our biggest motivator for ol’Printy was that he does ‘edge to edge’ printing up to A4. Now I will say that it’s not completely edge to edge so if you need a printer for photos that do go edge to edge, I’d actually recommend a Canon edge to edge printer. They just didn’t have any in stock. But, the key thing about it being edge to edge is that it’s boarders on each of the sides are equal, or only have a shift of about a millimetre. Here’s a test print to explain:

See those squares? Other than the bottom left one, they’re all about equidistant from the edge of the page. The bottom left one is out of line because my dad sucks at laying things out on word. (Also it’s wrinkly because the cat decided to sit on it)

Now why is this important. Here are some photos to explain.

This book was printed on the old printer. See between the two pages the height difference of the first line? That’s because the printer had an inbuilt margin on one side, so when you flipped the page over to print the back it added an extra centimetre margin to that side.

This book was printed on Printy McPrintface. Notice there’s little to no hight difference (on this page there is none, I just photographed it at an odd angle)

Now, this isn’t actually a major noticeable problem when you’re reading it I haven’t found, though it does slightly worsen my dyslexia. However, aesthetically, it bothers me a lot.

If your printer didn’t cost you £20 and you have the ability to alter the margins, you can use a little trial and error to alter the margins on the actual printer (rather than the document) you could also take the time to fiddle with the document itself if you really want to punish yourself, and alter the margins on the pages that would be printed on the reverse side if you can figure out signatures without the use of a handy little piece of software. I tried, and uh...it’s not a fun process.

(We also got him because he can print up to A3, and we use A3 printing a lot for other things, and for an A3 printer he’s surprisingly unbulky.)

I would say that ink is probably the most expensive part of each book. Speaking of which, I need to order some more ink before I actually start printing Amish Country 😬

Kind of on that note, I highly recommend making sure you have the time, supplies and patience’s to print the entire thing out in one sitting. Depending on your printer and the length of the book it should only take an hour, maybe an hour and a half. It depends on how fussy your printer is though. But printing all in one go just means that you don’t forget where you are, and what you’re doing and the routine you’ve gotten yourself into.

My biggest top tip though: use plain, cheap, scrap paper for the first attempt at printing a signature. Don’t waste that nice paper you’ve bought, because inevitably the first one will screw up. That very first signature you print will teach you what order the papers print, what direction the paper feeds, and if you need to make any adjustments. It also gives you a rough idea of what size you’ve got for your text, and if you need to increase the font size at all. And honestly, I did my whole first book on plain white printer paper as practice and I still will run the first signature through on plain paper as a practice to check it over before I print it out on the nice paper.

I’ll probably do printing and stitching in one go once I have more ink (probably Sunday, maybe Monday) but I’m going to list equipment you might want to start thinking about for going further.

So, first off, I have a cutting board. Standard A3 affair. I use it for other things too. They’re pretty cheap and available at most craft stores or on Amazon.

Then we have a Stanley knife that is older than me that I stole from my dad, and a metal ruler that is also older than me and I stole from my dad. Those are what I use for trimming everything down to size.

And then the magic box of tricks. I got this box as a kit on Amazon for something like £13 I think, but you can probably gather most of these things up (and actually if my mother hadn’t stolen my dads awl when she left and the good waxed thread I probably wouldn’t have got it. The box contains needles and waxed thread in varying colours (although personally I think the thread it comes with is slightly too thick, and I think it would actually be better to use a thinner cotton and double thread it, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it also contains an awl (the sharp pointy think used for sticking holes to put the threat through) and two foldy tools that probably have a name but I’m too lazy to find out.

And, of course, a pencil is always useful for measuring, and scissors for cutting thread.

I also keep some big chunky binder clips on hand to hold things together if need be, but I tend not to use them particularly often.

For the case binding:

We have greyboard which is the sturdy card. You can get it in various shapes and sizes, I think mine came in a pack of 25 A4 sheets 1mm thick.

Your best friend in this whole endeavour is a rubber latex based adhesive like copydex (another thing I’m running low on 😬😬 but again I use it for other things as well as bookbinding) unlike other glues, because it’s latex it’s flexible as well as being strong, which gives your spine some flex when reading instead of cracking. I love copydex. Smells like fish, but it’s great stuff. As well as being flexible and strong, it also works great with fabric.

Which is what we come to next. I use two fabrics per book - the plain cream one that holds the signatures together (its role has a name, but I can’t remember it) which is just good old cotton lining fabric (it’s the same stuff I use to line facemasks) and then a fabric for the cover. I usually use fat quarters that I pick up from my local craft store, particularly with floral designs and simple repeating patterns, just because I like the look of it. The main four books that I have done so far each used one of my four William Morris fabrics, and I really wish I had other ones to keep the theme going, but I have also used patterns like the blue one pictured for books for family and friends.

A note on fabric: what you should really use is book cloth, which is more sturdy and gives a crisper finish. You can buy it online for varying prices, though it does seem to be sold by the meter like standard fabrics so you probably want to know that you’re going to be using a fair amount. If you don’t want to have to buy book cloth but still want that crisper, more professional look (it’s also probably easier to work with) you can make your own by ironing a layer of heat and bond to the back of your fabric and then putting tissue paper over that. Because I’m lazy, cheap and can’t be bothered to buy heat and bond, I just use plain cotton which...has its downfalls. It’s harder to get a smooth, crisp finish and there tends to be a lot of movement in the material, though not enough for it to be a problem. I think it gives a less smart spine, too. But I’m okay with that. It’s not a major problem for me. When I can be bothered I might make my own book cloth, but as stated, I’m lazy and like shortcuts.

The final thing in this photo is ribbon for bookmarks, just because I don’t feel comfortable dogearing the pages on handmade books and I’m notoriously bad at loosing bookmarks. I have a couple of roles of this ivory ribbon, and loads of other ribbons from various things that I’ve just collected over the years and I just use what fits best. It’s not a necessity, it just gives an aesthetically pleasing finish to the book.

I’m going to talk about book presses and end papers in their own reblogs, probably tomorrow because this is getting long 😬 but I’m fairly certain that’s a rundown of your next considerations.

[all-bound-up]

Let’s talk book presses.

Now...I would argue that a book press is not 100% necessary. BUT, I would say that it helps and makes life somewhat easier and gives a better finish.

Firstly, what does a book press do? Well, as the name suggests, it presses the book. The main benefit of this is that you can when gluing the spine together hold the signatures tighter so no glue slips through and you get a tighter spine.

For example:

This book was made without a press, using a vast quantity of binder clips. You can see a very clear gap between the two signatures. The other problem with binder clips is that the spine bows out in the middle because it’s held tight at the edges rather than an even pressure.

This book was made with a press. There’s still a gap but it’s less prominent (I had a lot of trouble with this one - if the birthday present for my friend was already wrapped up I’d show that one as an example because that one worked well.

The other benefit of using a book press (which was my main motivator for building one) is that you can do painted edges, for which the only example i have is a photo of my friends birthday present before I wrapped it.

It’s nowhere near the easiest of practices, and it depends on whether you like the look, but it’s quite useful to have the ability.

This is my book press. It’s very rudimentary. But, it works for what I need.

I’m going to go through how I made it, and then what I would do different if I made another.

So, it’s total cost was £24.26, but depending on what materials you already have you could probably do it for cheaper.

First off, we have our wood. I used a 18x405x810mm MDF board cut into three. I then on the bottom pieces drilled 4 14mm holes, 2 inches in from the sides. On the top board I drilled 12mm holes in the same place. If you’re using MDF, do not use wood bits, use normal bits. Wood bits really don’t cut MDF well because of what MDF is.

I then used 4 12x120mm hex bolts, with 4 12mm washers and 12mm wing nuts. It’s heavy duty but it really holds the book tight and that’s what you want.

Put the hex nuts through the two boards with 14mm holes, put your book on, and then the top 12mm hole board, your washers and your wing nuts. Tighten that baby up and voila, a book press.

I put little felt feet on the bottom of my hex bolts so they don’t damage the floor, but that’s just because my landlord scares me. It does make it easier to slide it around thought.

On that note, I recommend using a sturdy table or desk. The only table we have in our house is glass and really not ideal for the force needed for cutting down through blocks of paper or greyboard or supporting a book press whilst you’re tinkering, so I work on the floor. That works too, but a table or desk is probably better. You want a hard flat surface to work against ideally.

On to what I would do differently.

Firstly, if I could I would use hardwood, just because the MDF is flexible, which isn’t really what I want. It works, but I would have preferred hardwood. We couldn’t get any in a reasonable size or price because, y’know, the whole pandemic situation meant that where I’d normally buy wood is closed at the moment so we had to do our best.

I actually want to try getting a couple of butchers blocks and try using those instead, but the butchers blocks in our local supermarket are like £30 each, which is a far cry from the £9 I spent on a sheet of MDF.

If I had a real plan and wasn’t just making it up as I went along, I probably would have devised a system of guides to keep the text block lined up whilst I glue the spine together just because I don’t stitch the signatures together before I glue (I know, another shortcut, but I haven’t gotten around to teaching myself. When I do a dos-a-dos binding soon I might learn.

The only other thing I would change would be having some sort of Chuck to stop the MDF from warping when there’s pressure on the book, so it doesn’t bow either side of it. That’s not as easy a fix as it sounds because each book is a different width.

So, do you need a book press? No, I wouldn’t say so. Does it make life easier? Yes. Would I recommend at least making a rudimentary one if you’re planning on making more than just a couple books? Yes.

[all-bound-up]

Printing! This is the first physical step of your book becoming a book! Yay!

Printing is...it’s pretty self explanatory. You just have to figure out what way your printer orientates. DO THIS ON PLAIN CHEAP PRINTER PAPER FIRST.

Every printer is different, so what I do once I’ve printed the first side of my signature will possibly be different to what you need to do. I essentially reorder them so the top sheet is on the bottom and the bottom sheet is on the top, and then rotate them 180°. In the old printer I would turn the pages upside down and then rotate 180°.

Once the second side is printed, I then reorder them again so that the bottom page is on top again - this should be the middle page in your signature, with consecutive page numbers visible:

You also should have quite a big boarder. Don’t worry, this will all be trimmed off.

Also, this is an example of what times new Roman font size 18 looks like when printed. It may seem big in the document, but it’s about right when printed.

The fic I’m printing has 12 signatures and I’m timing how long it takes to print it. The print spooler on the laptop I use gets stuck so between each signature side i have to reset it, but that takes less than twenty seconds on average now. I’m also going to have to change the ink at some point but it will give a rough guide. (51 minutes - including an ink change and having to reprint one because I messed up)

My biggest top tip for printing is alternating which way you stack each signature so you can keep them separate whilst still in the correct order, like so:

And that’s pretty much all for printing. It’s probably the most boring bit.

I’ll probably do folding, trimming and stitching tomorrow because I just don’t have the brainpower to focus on it tonight.

[all-bound-up]

So I’m going to, as I work on the next book I’m binding, give a step by step of the way i do it. Now, this is by no means the best most perfect way to bind a book, and I take a lot of shortcuts. But it works.

So, we start with the digital side of things. For this example I’m using the xf fanfic Amish Country by Lolabeegood on Gossamer. I start by copy and pasting the entire fic into a word document. If I’m using a fic from AO3, you just click the little download button at the top and it gives you options - I use html and copy it from there.

In the word document, you then want to edit the text so it looks like how you want it. I find that size 18 times new Roman font works the best for the look I want to achieve - when the pages are scaled down into signatures and printed the font size drops quite dramatically.

You also want to create a cover page - I just use a word preset because I’m lazy.

Add page numbers and check they’re in the font you want - it’s a little detail but having them in a different font can be quite jarring sometimes.

Once it’s done to your liking, save it as both a word document (so if you notice a problem whilst printing you can go back and edit it) and a pdf.

I then use a Java program by Quantum Elephant called bookbinder to turn the pdf into signatures.

It can be intimidating at first, but you just import the pdf you’ve just saved and check the settings are correct. I usually leave the units as points, paper size as A4, single sided, with alternate page rotation on because I don’t have an automatic duplex printer. For book size I use standard paperback, keeping proportion, and I add a fly leaf. I use the standard signature format.

And then all you do is hit generate document and it will create a folder of pdfs containing your signatures.

I tend to find that the first page of the second side of the first signature is upside down so you just need to rotate that one in your pdf viewer, and you’re good to go.

I’m going to leave it here for now, because I have to do stuff for my dissertation to be submitted tonight, so when I print it out either tomorrow or Friday probably I’ll do another step by step of that.

[freckleslikestars]

First off, I meant to say last time, but I tend to find anything less than 100 pages too fiddly to case bind, and I don’t really like doing anything under 150 pages. It does depend though. It’s definitely possible, I just find it more awkward to work with.

So, you’ve got your pdfs of signatures, now it’s time to print.

First, though, there are some considerations. Like, what paper you’re going to use.

I’m going to put the rest under a cut because it’s so long - also we don’t actually get around to printing in this reblog, I just talk about supplies and equipment, because I ran out of ink 😬

Because I can’t read on white paper (whoop whoop dyslexia) I use Xerox Symphony laser and inkjet 80g/m^2 in Ivory

It’s like £8 something for a ream on Amazon which makes between 5-6 books (depending on the length obviously)

It does depend on what look you’re going for though. The mass produced books you buy are usually printed on uncoated paper because it’s more porous so soaks up more ink and drys quicker. However I’ve found that it’s a lot more expensive and harder to source. If you know of a local publishing house you might be able to talk to them about it though and see if they can help source it at a more reasonable price through buying it wholesale. But honestly, I’ve found coated paper works just fine.

You also want to consider your printer. Now I’m definitely not saying go out and buy a new printer. I did, but that was actually just because my dad and I were fed up of screaming at our cheap one that cost like £20.

So, let’s talk why we went with the printer we did.

Introducing Printy McPrintface

He’s an HP officejet 7110. Not my first choice, but the only printer in stock in the entire country that fully suited our needs without breaking the bank completely.

Our biggest motivator for ol’Printy was that he does ‘edge to edge’ printing up to A4. Now I will say that it’s not completely edge to edge so if you need a printer for photos that do go edge to edge, I’d actually recommend a Canon edge to edge printer. They just didn’t have any in stock. But, the key thing about it being edge to edge is that it’s boarders on each of the sides are equal, or only have a shift of about a millimetre. Here’s a test print to explain:

See those squares? Other than the bottom left one, they’re all about equidistant from the edge of the page. The bottom left one is out of line because my dad sucks at laying things out on word. (Also it’s wrinkly because the cat decided to sit on it)

Now why is this important. Here are some photos to explain.

This book was printed on the old printer. See between the two pages the height difference of the first line? That’s because the printer had an inbuilt margin on one side, so when you flipped the page over to print the back it added an extra centimetre margin to that side.

This book was printed on Printy McPrintface. Notice there’s little to no hight difference (on this page there is none, I just photographed it at an odd angle)

Now, this isn’t actually a major noticeable problem when you’re reading it I haven’t found, though it does slightly worsen my dyslexia. However, aesthetically, it bothers me a lot.

If your printer didn’t cost you £20 and you have the ability to alter the margins, you can use a little trial and error to alter the margins on the actual printer (rather than the document) you could also take the time to fiddle with the document itself if you really want to punish yourself, and alter the margins on the pages that would be printed on the reverse side if you can figure out signatures without the use of a handy little piece of software. I tried, and uh...it’s not a fun process.

(We also got him because he can print up to A3, and we use A3 printing a lot for other things, and for an A3 printer he’s surprisingly unbulky.)

I would say that ink is probably the most expensive part of each book. Speaking of which, I need to order some more ink before I actually start printing Amish Country 😬

Kind of on that note, I highly recommend making sure you have the time, supplies and patience’s to print the entire thing out in one sitting. Depending on your printer and the length of the book it should only take an hour, maybe an hour and a half. It depends on how fussy your printer is though. But printing all in one go just means that you don’t forget where you are, and what you’re doing and the routine you’ve gotten yourself into.

My biggest top tip though: use plain, cheap, scrap paper for the first attempt at printing a signature. Don’t waste that nice paper you’ve bought, because inevitably the first one will screw up. That very first signature you print will teach you what order the papers print, what direction the paper feeds, and if you need to make any adjustments. It also gives you a rough idea of what size you’ve got for your text, and if you need to increase the font size at all. And honestly, I did my whole first book on plain white printer paper as practice and I still will run the first signature through on plain paper as a practice to check it over before I print it out on the nice paper.

I’ll probably do printing and stitching in one go once I have more ink (probably Sunday, maybe Monday) but I’m going to list equipment you might want to start thinking about for going further.

So, first off, I have a cutting board. Standard A3 affair. I use it for other things too. They’re pretty cheap and available at most craft stores or on Amazon.

Then we have a Stanley knife that is older than me that I stole from my dad, and a metal ruler that is also older than me and I stole from my dad. Those are what I use for trimming everything down to size.

And then the magic box of tricks. I got this box as a kit on Amazon for something like £13 I think, but you can probably gather most of these things up (and actually if my mother hadn’t stolen my dads awl when she left and the good waxed thread I probably wouldn’t have got it. The box contains needles and waxed thread in varying colours (although personally I think the thread it comes with is slightly too thick, and I think it would actually be better to use a thinner cotton and double thread it, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it also contains an awl (the sharp pointy think used for sticking holes to put the threat through) and two foldy tools that probably have a name but I’m too lazy to find out.

And, of course, a pencil is always useful for measuring, and scissors for cutting thread.

I also keep some big chunky binder clips on hand to hold things together if need be, but I tend not to use them particularly often.

For the case binding:

We have greyboard which is the sturdy card. You can get it in various shapes and sizes, I think mine came in a pack of 25 A4 sheets 1mm thick.

Your best friend in this whole endeavour is a rubber latex based adhesive like copydex (another thing I’m running low on 😬😬 but again I use it for other things as well as bookbinding) unlike other glues, because it’s latex it’s flexible as well as being strong, which gives your spine some flex when reading instead of cracking. I love copydex. Smells like fish, but it’s great stuff. As well as being flexible and strong, it also works great with fabric.

Which is what we come to next. I use two fabrics per book - the plain cream one that holds the signatures together (its role has a name, but I can’t remember it) which is just good old cotton lining fabric (it’s the same stuff I use to line facemasks) and then a fabric for the cover. I usually use fat quarters that I pick up from my local craft store, particularly with floral designs and simple repeating patterns, just because I like the look of it. The main four books that I have done so far each used one of my four William Morris fabrics, and I really wish I had other ones to keep the theme going, but I have also used patterns like the blue one pictured for books for family and friends.

A note on fabric: what you should really use is book cloth, which is more sturdy and gives a crisper finish. You can buy it online for varying prices, though it does seem to be sold by the meter like standard fabrics so you probably want to know that you’re going to be using a fair amount. If you don’t want to have to buy book cloth but still want that crisper, more professional look (it’s also probably easier to work with) you can make your own by ironing a layer of heat and bond to the back of your fabric and then putting tissue paper over that. Because I’m lazy, cheap and can’t be bothered to buy heat and bond, I just use plain cotton which...has its downfalls. It’s harder to get a smooth, crisp finish and there tends to be a lot of movement in the material, though not enough for it to be a problem. I think it gives a less smart spine, too. But I’m okay with that. It’s not a major problem for me. When I can be bothered I might make my own book cloth, but as stated, I’m lazy and like shortcuts.

The final thing in this photo is ribbon for bookmarks, just because I don’t feel comfortable dogearing the pages on handmade books and I’m notoriously bad at loosing bookmarks. I have a couple of roles of this ivory ribbon, and loads of other ribbons from various things that I’ve just collected over the years and I just use what fits best. It’s not a necessity, it just gives an aesthetically pleasing finish to the book.

I’m going to talk about book presses and end papers in their own reblogs, probably tomorrow because this is getting long 😬 but I’m fairly certain that’s a rundown of your next considerations.

[all-bound-up]

Let’s talk book presses.

Now...I would argue that a book press is not 100% necessary. BUT, I would say that it helps and makes life somewhat easier and gives a better finish.

Firstly, what does a book press do? Well, as the name suggests, it presses the book. The main benefit of this is that you can when gluing the spine together hold the signatures tighter so no glue slips through and you get a tighter spine.

For example:

This book was made without a press, using a vast quantity of binder clips. You can see a very clear gap between the two signatures. The other problem with binder clips is that the spine bows out in the middle because it’s held tight at the edges rather than an even pressure.

This book was made with a press. There’s still a gap but it’s less prominent (I had a lot of trouble with this one - if the birthday present for my friend was already wrapped up I’d show that one as an example because that one worked well.

The other benefit of using a book press (which was my main motivator for building one) is that you can do painted edges, for which the only example i have is a photo of my friends birthday present before I wrapped it.

It’s nowhere near the easiest of practices, and it depends on whether you like the look, but it’s quite useful to have the ability.

This is my book press. It’s very rudimentary. But, it works for what I need.

I’m going to go through how I made it, and then what I would do different if I made another.

So, it’s total cost was £24.26, but depending on what materials you already have you could probably do it for cheaper.

First off, we have our wood. I used a 18x405x810mm MDF board cut into three. I then on the bottom pieces drilled 4 14mm holes, 2 inches in from the sides. On the top board I drilled 12mm holes in the same place. If you’re using MDF, do not use wood bits, use normal bits. Wood bits really don’t cut MDF well because of what MDF is.

I then used 4 12x120mm hex bolts, with 4 12mm washers and 12mm wing nuts. It’s heavy duty but it really holds the book tight and that’s what you want.

Put the hex nuts through the two boards with 14mm holes, put your book on, and then the top 12mm hole board, your washers and your wing nuts. Tighten that baby up and voila, a book press.

I put little felt feet on the bottom of my hex bolts so they don’t damage the floor, but that’s just because my landlord scares me. It does make it easier to slide it around thought.

On that note, I recommend using a sturdy table or desk. The only table we have in our house is glass and really not ideal for the force needed for cutting down through blocks of paper or greyboard or supporting a book press whilst you’re tinkering, so I work on the floor. That works too, but a table or desk is probably better. You want a hard flat surface to work against ideally.

On to what I would do differently.

Firstly, if I could I would use hardwood, just because the MDF is flexible, which isn’t really what I want. It works, but I would have preferred hardwood. We couldn’t get any in a reasonable size or price because, y’know, the whole pandemic situation meant that where I’d normally buy wood is closed at the moment so we had to do our best.

I actually want to try getting a couple of butchers blocks and try using those instead, but the butchers blocks in our local supermarket are like £30 each, which is a far cry from the £9 I spent on a sheet of MDF.

If I had a real plan and wasn’t just making it up as I went along, I probably would have devised a system of guides to keep the text block lined up whilst I glue the spine together just because I don’t stitch the signatures together before I glue (I know, another shortcut, but I haven’t gotten around to teaching myself. When I do a dos-a-dos binding soon I might learn.

The only other thing I would change would be having some sort of Chuck to stop the MDF from warping when there’s pressure on the book, so it doesn’t bow either side of it. That’s not as easy a fix as it sounds because each book is a different width.

So, do you need a book press? No, I wouldn’t say so. Does it make life easier? Yes. Would I recommend at least making a rudimentary one if you’re planning on making more than just a couple books? Yes.

[metalheadsagainstfascism]

COME ON, PEOPLE! WE'RE BANNING THE CONFEDERATE FLAG!

Make Flying the Confederate Flag Illegal

Compromising with the southern states after the civil war only led to Jim Crow laws which lasted into the middle of the 20th century. Every

Video by the guy that started it below.

-fae

[captain-dinghy]

Anyone wanna lend me an American zipcode

[metalheadsagainstfascism]

10001

That's legitimately an American zipcode (I have a short list of easy to remember ones for work)

-fae

[captain-dinghy]

Uuuhhh can i have an American phone number too, it doesn’t like my english one 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[metalheadsagainstfascism]

Phone number isn't required. Just leave it blank

-fae

[all-bound-up]

So I’m going to, as I work on the next book I’m binding, give a step by step of the way i do it. Now, this is by no means the best most perfect way to bind a book, and I take a lot of shortcuts. But it works.

So, we start with the digital side of things. For this example I’m using the xf fanfic Amish Country by Lolabeegood on Gossamer. I start by copy and pasting the entire fic into a word document. If I’m using a fic from AO3, you just click the little download button at the top and it gives you options - I use html and copy it from there.

In the word document, you then want to edit the text so it looks like how you want it. I find that size 18 times new Roman font works the best for the look I want to achieve - when the pages are scaled down into signatures and printed the font size drops quite dramatically.

You also want to create a cover page - I just use a word preset because I’m lazy.

Add page numbers and check they’re in the font you want - it’s a little detail but having them in a different font can be quite jarring sometimes.

Once it’s done to your liking, save it as both a word document (so if you notice a problem whilst printing you can go back and edit it) and a pdf.

I then use a Java program by Quantum Elephant called bookbinder to turn the pdf into signatures.

It can be intimidating at first, but you just import the pdf you’ve just saved and check the settings are correct. I usually leave the units as points, paper size as A4, single sided, with alternate page rotation on because I don’t have an automatic duplex printer. For book size I use standard paperback, keeping proportion, and I add a fly leaf. I use the standard signature format.

And then all you do is hit generate document and it will create a folder of pdfs containing your signatures.

I tend to find that the first page of the second side of the first signature is upside down so you just need to rotate that one in your pdf viewer, and you’re good to go.

I’m going to leave it here for now, because I have to do stuff for my dissertation to be submitted tonight, so when I print it out either tomorrow or Friday probably I’ll do another step by step of that.

[freckleslikestars]

First off, I meant to say last time, but I tend to find anything less than 100 pages too fiddly to case bind, and I don’t really like doing anything under 150 pages. It does depend though. It’s definitely possible, I just find it more awkward to work with.

So, you’ve got your pdfs of signatures, now it’s time to print.

First, though, there are some considerations. Like, what paper you’re going to use.

I’m going to put the rest under a cut because it’s so long - also we don’t actually get around to printing in this reblog, I just talk about supplies and equipment, because I ran out of ink 😬

Because I can’t read on white paper (whoop whoop dyslexia) I use Xerox Symphony laser and inkjet 80g/m^2 in Ivory

It’s like £8 something for a ream on Amazon which makes between 5-6 books (depending on the length obviously)

It does depend on what look you’re going for though. The mass produced books you buy are usually printed on uncoated paper because it’s more porous so soaks up more ink and drys quicker. However I’ve found that it’s a lot more expensive and harder to source. If you know of a local publishing house you might be able to talk to them about it though and see if they can help source it at a more reasonable price through buying it wholesale. But honestly, I’ve found coated paper works just fine.

You also want to consider your printer. Now I’m definitely not saying go out and buy a new printer. I did, but that was actually just because my dad and I were fed up of screaming at our cheap one that cost like £20.

So, let’s talk why we went with the printer we did.

Introducing Printy McPrintface

He’s an HP officejet 7110. Not my first choice, but the only printer in stock in the entire country that fully suited our needs without breaking the bank completely.

Our biggest motivator for ol’Printy was that he does ‘edge to edge’ printing up to A4. Now I will say that it’s not completely edge to edge so if you need a printer for photos that do go edge to edge, I’d actually recommend a Canon edge to edge printer. They just didn’t have any in stock. But, the key thing about it being edge to edge is that it’s boarders on each of the sides are equal, or only have a shift of about a millimetre. Here’s a test print to explain:

See those squares? Other than the bottom left one, they’re all about equidistant from the edge of the page. The bottom left one is out of line because my dad sucks at laying things out on word. (Also it’s wrinkly because the cat decided to sit on it)

Now why is this important. Here are some photos to explain.

This book was printed on the old printer. See between the two pages the height difference of the first line? That’s because the printer had an inbuilt margin on one side, so when you flipped the page over to print the back it added an extra centimetre margin to that side.

This book was printed on Printy McPrintface. Notice there’s little to no hight difference (on this page there is none, I just photographed it at an odd angle)

Now, this isn’t actually a major noticeable problem when you’re reading it I haven’t found, though it does slightly worsen my dyslexia. However, aesthetically, it bothers me a lot.

If your printer didn’t cost you £20 and you have the ability to alter the margins, you can use a little trial and error to alter the margins on the actual printer (rather than the document) you could also take the time to fiddle with the document itself if you really want to punish yourself, and alter the margins on the pages that would be printed on the reverse side if you can figure out signatures without the use of a handy little piece of software. I tried, and uh...it’s not a fun process.

(We also got him because he can print up to A3, and we use A3 printing a lot for other things, and for an A3 printer he’s surprisingly unbulky.)

I would say that ink is probably the most expensive part of each book. Speaking of which, I need to order some more ink before I actually start printing Amish Country 😬

Kind of on that note, I highly recommend making sure you have the time, supplies and patience’s to print the entire thing out in one sitting. Depending on your printer and the length of the book it should only take an hour, maybe an hour and a half. It depends on how fussy your printer is though. But printing all in one go just means that you don’t forget where you are, and what you’re doing and the routine you’ve gotten yourself into.

My biggest top tip though: use plain, cheap, scrap paper for the first attempt at printing a signature. Don’t waste that nice paper you’ve bought, because inevitably the first one will screw up. That very first signature you print will teach you what order the papers print, what direction the paper feeds, and if you need to make any adjustments. It also gives you a rough idea of what size you’ve got for your text, and if you need to increase the font size at all. And honestly, I did my whole first book on plain white printer paper as practice and I still will run the first signature through on plain paper as a practice to check it over before I print it out on the nice paper.

I’ll probably do printing and stitching in one go once I have more ink (probably Sunday, maybe Monday) but I’m going to list equipment you might want to start thinking about for going further.

So, first off, I have a cutting board. Standard A3 affair. I use it for other things too. They’re pretty cheap and available at most craft stores or on Amazon.

Then we have a Stanley knife that is older than me that I stole from my dad, and a metal ruler that is also older than me and I stole from my dad. Those are what I use for trimming everything down to size.

And then the magic box of tricks. I got this box as a kit on Amazon for something like £13 I think, but you can probably gather most of these things up (and actually if my mother hadn’t stolen my dads awl when she left and the good waxed thread I probably wouldn’t have got it. The box contains needles and waxed thread in varying colours (although personally I think the thread it comes with is slightly too thick, and I think it would actually be better to use a thinner cotton and double thread it, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it also contains an awl (the sharp pointy think used for sticking holes to put the threat through) and two foldy tools that probably have a name but I’m too lazy to find out.

And, of course, a pencil is always useful for measuring, and scissors for cutting thread.

I also keep some big chunky binder clips on hand to hold things together if need be, but I tend not to use them particularly often.

For the case binding:

We have greyboard which is the sturdy card. You can get it in various shapes and sizes, I think mine came in a pack of 25 A4 sheets 1mm thick.

Your best friend in this whole endeavour is a rubber latex based adhesive like copydex (another thing I’m running low on 😬😬 but again I use it for other things as well as bookbinding) unlike other glues, because it’s latex it’s flexible as well as being strong, which gives your spine some flex when reading instead of cracking. I love copydex. Smells like fish, but it’s great stuff. As well as being flexible and strong, it also works great with fabric.

Which is what we come to next. I use two fabrics per book - the plain cream one that holds the signatures together (its role has a name, but I can’t remember it) which is just good old cotton lining fabric (it’s the same stuff I use to line facemasks) and then a fabric for the cover. I usually use fat quarters that I pick up from my local craft store, particularly with floral designs and simple repeating patterns, just because I like the look of it. The main four books that I have done so far each used one of my four William Morris fabrics, and I really wish I had other ones to keep the theme going, but I have also used patterns like the blue one pictured for books for family and friends.

A note on fabric: what you should really use is book cloth, which is more sturdy and gives a crisper finish. You can buy it online for varying prices, though it does seem to be sold by the meter like standard fabrics so you probably want to know that you’re going to be using a fair amount. If you don’t want to have to buy book cloth but still want that crisper, more professional look (it’s also probably easier to work with) you can make your own by ironing a layer of heat and bond to the back of your fabric and then putting tissue paper over that. Because I’m lazy, cheap and can’t be bothered to buy heat and bond, I just use plain cotton which...has its downfalls. It’s harder to get a smooth, crisp finish and there tends to be a lot of movement in the material, though not enough for it to be a problem. I think it gives a less smart spine, too. But I’m okay with that. It’s not a major problem for me. When I can be bothered I might make my own book cloth, but as stated, I’m lazy and like shortcuts.

The final thing in this photo is ribbon for bookmarks, just because I don’t feel comfortable dogearing the pages on handmade books and I’m notoriously bad at loosing bookmarks. I have a couple of roles of this ivory ribbon, and loads of other ribbons from various things that I’ve just collected over the years and I just use what fits best. It’s not a necessity, it just gives an aesthetically pleasing finish to the book.

I’m going to talk about book presses and end papers in their own reblogs, probably tomorrow because this is getting long 😬 but I’m fairly certain that’s a rundown of your next considerations.

[all-bound-up]

I posted this to the wrong blog and then reblogged the wrong post saying I posted it to the wrong blog. Gagh!!!!!

[all-bound-up]

So I’m going to, as I work on the next book I’m binding, give a step by step of the way i do it. Now, this is by no means the best most perfect way to bind a book, and I take a lot of shortcuts. But it works.

So, we start with the digital side of things. For this example I’m using the xf fanfic Amish Country by Lolabeegood on Gossamer. I start by copy and pasting the entire fic into a word document. If I’m using a fic from AO3, you just click the little download button at the top and it gives you options - I use html and copy it from there.

In the word document, you then want to edit the text so it looks like how you want it. I find that size 18 times new Roman font works the best for the look I want to achieve - when the pages are scaled down into signatures and printed the font size drops quite dramatically.

You also want to create a cover page - I just use a word preset because I’m lazy.

Add page numbers and check they’re in the font you want - it’s a little detail but having them in a different font can be quite jarring sometimes.

Once it’s done to your liking, save it as both a word document (so if you notice a problem whilst printing you can go back and edit it) and a pdf.

I then use a Java program by Quantum Elephant called bookbinder to turn the pdf into signatures.

It can be intimidating at first, but you just import the pdf you’ve just saved and check the settings are correct. I usually leave the units as points, paper size as A4, single sided, with alternate page rotation on because I don’t have an automatic duplex printer. For book size I use standard paperback, keeping proportion, and I add a fly leaf. I use the standard signature format.

And then all you do is hit generate document and it will create a folder of pdfs containing your signatures.

I tend to find that the first page of the second side of the first signature is upside down so you just need to rotate that one in your pdf viewer, and you’re good to go.

I’m going to leave it here for now, because I have to do stuff for my dissertation to be submitted tonight, so when I print it out either tomorrow or Friday probably I’ll do another step by step of that.

[all-bound-up]

Always make sure you have a cat supervising when editing text

[all-bound-up]

@iconicscullyoutfits​‘ Triptych

282 pages

I somehow managed to mismeasure everything with this one, but it still looks cool. And it looks so pretty with the other books, though I don’t have any more William Morris fabrics which sucks because they look so good together.

[all-bound-up]

Am I considering binding Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth and The Age of Innnocence into a dos-a-dos binding?

[all-bound-up]

Listen i have no printer or book binding equipment but you're seriously making me want to print out and illustrate fic and turn it into a book

Ahah, my plan is working

[fanboundbooks]

Some still stitching and gluing shots from the first book I made. I can't share the finished product on here yet as it is for my friend and she doesn't get to see until she gets it.

[fanboundbooks]

It's a Doctor Who fic anthology so we are going hard on the Galaxy imagery. Galaxies even hidden beneath the binding.

[all-bound-up]

And it’s finished!

@mldrgrl’s Broken Things

I really like this little volume - Printy McPrintface the new printer meant that I could finally sort out the problem of pages being misaligned, and so it’s a centimetre shorter than the past few.

I messed up one of the end pages, which annoys me, but I had a spare so it’s not really a problem. It just means there’s a less nice end page at the back.