@thecritter so as I said you donât need any special skills for this
First step I got some colorfull paper it can be carton (this adds a bit of stability but it doesnât have to be) like this
You can do any color you like you know do your vision đ
Then you trace the front the back and the spine of the book onto the paper like this
I like to do them separatly (as in cut them separatly and not do one long piece) because it allows for more flexibility when opening the book
Now you can just start decorating them how you like you can use stickers, i like to cut out pictures out of old magazines and stuff and for some parts I just tape a piece of paper to my laptop and trace it first with a pencile then I take it down from the laptop and trace it with fineliner
But if youâre not good with drawing or tracing you can just print out a bunch of stuff I also like to add little details like drawing small stars and stuff like that to bring the whole thing together
To arrange the different elements on the page I keep them lose so I can rearrange until Iâm happy then I glue them down
The glue that works best for me is like a glue roller because it holds the pieces in place and it doesnât make the paper all wrinkly like liquid glue does (also you donât need to glue everything on perfectly this is just to hold everything in place for the last step)
If you are done with the design and happy how it turned out now is the time to glue the rectangles with the design on them onto the book.
Now for the last step I got some (I have no idea how the correct english translation is in german itâs buchschutzfolie) book protection film (?) itâs just a transparent plastic film that is sticky on one side Iâm 100% sure you can get that on the internet if you canât find it in stores and itâs not expensive
So you wrap the book in this (this time I do one long piece) you place the book onto it and then make the cuts as needed
Something like this, if you struggle with this Iâm sure there are youtube tutorials for this but it shouldnât be too complicated
This can be a bit tricky as you need to make sure you donât trap any airbubbles but with a bit of practice this shouldnât be an issue (even if you get airbubbles you can prick them with a needel or make a small cut and smooth it out)
And thatâs how I did it, you can try things a bit differently see how it works for you but as I said you donât need any bookbinding skills or tools for this and you can 100% improvise on the things that you donât have at hand if you find an alternative that works for you
The most important thing is to have fun with it I hope this helps đâïžđâïž
