So what's the big deal about that band. Why do some like it better than the good ol' sturdy twill band that's usually used?
For one, ramie band is super thin in comparison. Despite it's synthetic look, those bands are a natural material and made from fibres of the Ramie plant (Boehmeria nivea)
Ramie band is very thin to begin with, but additionally to that, it can be frayed and spread out to glue almost evenly onto the board.
One can fray them while dry, but it's much easer to just moisten the ends a bit.
They immediately turn wavy
and can be pulled apart with ease.
Glued down like this they are very much invisible later on. If there are some parts sticking still together, they can gently be separated with a bonefolder or a needle, the tip of a knife.
If glued to the endpapers, like I have here, don't forget to put something between the endpapers to absorb moisture and prevent your textblock from getting wavy.
(Sorry for the low contrast, naturally I forgot to take a picture of the coloured papers.)
I admit, it's not as sturdy as twill and when backing a book, one needs to be a bit cautions with the bands, but that is pretty much the only thing I came across that can be an issue.
Hey 😊 I'm very interested in getting into fan binding, and I love your work! I wonder, how much does it normally cost you to bind a book? I see you made quite a few in 2022 and I would love to hear about the average amount you normally spend :) best of luck on your future projects!
Aww thank you for the compliment! ❤️ I'm also really terribly sorry for how long it took for me to write out this response--I've been really busy lately, and properly calculating what actually goes into my books is something I haven't really done previously, as I typically engage in fanbinding as a hobby, and I don't usually keep track of how much is going into my books. It's also a bit difficult to exactly calculate materials wise as often things I buy end up going a long way... so breaking down the prices can be difficult as you'll see below.
Anyhow! Fanbinding is a really lovely hobby, and highly encourage you to get into it when you have the time and energy! If you are interested and haven't yet joined the Renegade bindery discord (18+ however!) with all the lovely fanbinding/bookbinding enthusiasts, I'd highly recommend you do as they have a bunch of resources for beginners and are an absolutely lovely community.
To properly answer your question, what one spends on making books can really depend on the materials you use. Hell, there was a document from Renegade on how to make really low cost book out of materials you just have lying around at home, which I unfortunately can't find right now. Personally the cost has also varied depending on where I'm getting my resources, and as you become familiar with whats in you area, you can also minimize cost for certain resources. Below the read more I'll actually give a break down of what generally goes into a 100 page (about 100k) A6 book. Everything will be given in CAD as I live in Canada.
Basic A6 100 pg Book:
Paper: 1.7$ as 100 pages would be 50 sheets of paper. It's 17$ for a ream (500 pages) of cream paper. I'm not sure the exact price for the printer, as that I own my own printer. I know that for just plain bright white and black and white text you are charged .20 per page at Staples, which for a 100 page book would be 20$.
Bookboard: .80-3$ I've had quite a variety of bookboard I've bought; currently am getting 9$ for a pack of 6 chipboard which makes about 12 a6 books; so about .79$, but I've previously bought chip board that is much more expensive (15$ a pack for about 4 books, which would be 3.75$ per book). I've also used the back of old sketch books, stiff and flat shipping envelopes for prints,and I've recently seen that someone recycles old books from library sales where the books are just going to go to the landfill.
Endpaper: I like coloured end and cover papers; per one sheet, it is usually about $5-10. Depending on my use of the paper, usually I can get about two A6 book worths out of the paper, which means about per 1 a6 its 2.5-5$ for the end paper.
Cover paper: For cover paper I often use a mix of paper. I also usually use the same type of fancy papers as the end papers, so thats an extra 5-10$, which can be halved. However, I often mix this with simple single coloured cardstock paper for scrapbooks. Normally, since I'm cheap, I buy the dollar store paper which is about .75$ per sheet. So about cover paper goes from 3.5-6$.
Ribbon: I like to make my books with ribbons so they are not just supported by sewing. Again, I'm not fancy so I use micheals/dollarstore polyester ribbons; a roll costs about 1.5-3$. For spine ribbons, getting a white or neutral colour is best as that in-between the signatures the colour isn't obvious. However, for adding ribbon bookmarks, it's nice to have a colour that matches the colour scheme of the book. The rolls obviously end up being used for more than one book project, so it's somewhere in the cents for the ribbons per book. I like silky polyester for ribbons as for those used as a bookmark, you can easily ensure the end doesn't fray by using a lighter to melt the very edge.
Thread: I just use sewing thread that I double when sewing the signatures together. It's about 3$ for a roll of white, and will last a very long time. I do like to add beeswax to the thread, which is somewhat optional. You could probably also use other soft waxes such as those used in candles if you don't specifically have beeswax. That cost will be under beeswax though.
Backing cloth - I purchase micheals squares of linen fabric, which you can buy for $2-3 for the cloth backing of the spine. Again, you can get quite a few cloth backing out of one square of fabric. You can also choose to use cloth instead of paper for a book cover, which then you would swap the coverpaper to the price of the cloth. Again, purchasing a neutral cream-white for the cloth is the best for the backing for the cracks between the signatures. I also know people will use misprint paper for backing, which would be even cheaper.
Paste: Personally as I'm cheap, so I like to make bookbinders paste at home; this is made by boiling a flour-water mixture. However, bookbinders paste takes long to dry, and for the first time or two might be more damp then you want and can leave your pages a bit wrinkly; as well, I'm not sure how acid free it would be considered in the long run, and its not a strong bond if it's not a large surface area that's paper-paper. Lots of people like to use ph-neutral PVC glue instead, which an art store near me sells around 10$ for 8oz, which is definitely pricier in comparison, but you'll end up using it for many books, so it can pay off. I've also however used simple Elmer's glue a couple of years ago in my first bookbinding forays, which is also cheap.
Head bands
Twine: lots of people use different types of cores for their headbands, but something that can remain an even width is good. I use this type of twine, which costs about 12$ per roll. The one I use is one I already had at home. Obviously you can get a quite a few headbands out of a ball of twine.
Embroidery floss: about 1.5$ for two different colours. Again, you'll only be using part of the whole embroidery floss for the endbands.
Beeswax proofing
Beeswax: 7 oz for 7$. Again, a fraction of one of these bars is used per book.
Mineral Spirits: also a fraction required for the a single book. A bottle however is about 11$ for 4.2 oz.
So if you are going by the bulk items, without anything at home including everything and going middle of the road for prices, that would be about $84... however, most of these costs are negligible in the long run per an individual book, plus often you may have some of these lying around already, which can significantly cut into these costs. As a result a more accurate cost of materials per a single individual book would be about maybe $30.50 on average, and going by middle of the road for some prices, and utilizing the 20$ for the text block via staples. The heaviest cost will always be printing out your textblock, which can be minimized if you have your own printer at home (but then you need to invest in one...).
However, cost again can really quite vary, depending on what materials you are using! Starting off with things you already have at home significantly cuts into material costs, and starting on smaller projects will make the material cost cheaper. Plus, some fancy paper can be bought in packs for cheaper then they type of paper I tend to purchase. I hope this was at least somewhat informative, even if it took forever for me to write this up for you, apologies again about that!
These are the materials and needed to create your own books, or just the ones I use. I will include alternatives that have worked for me as well.
Paper. This one is self-explanatory because you need paper to make a book. However, if you are not printing your own books, you could use other materials for an artsy touch. Generally, I use regular 11" x 8.25" copier paper because I simply got used to it.
A ruler. Crucial to measure and mark out places to make holes, and really, you need one for most things bookbinding.
Pencils. You absolutely need pencils. Marking out places to make holes and generally, you should just have a pencil on you.
A bone folder. These are just tools that provide a clean folded edge. Now, it does not necessarily have to be a bone folder. Truthfully, I have used the edge of a die, a butterknife, or just my fingernails before I got my own, and they worked as well as I needed them to. If you are making a book with signatures (a section of paper folded to make a unit), something to fold paper crisply is extremely useful.
A printer or access to a printer. Not really a material, but worth mentioning. This only applies if you are making a book with printed words or images in it.
Glue. PVA glue is what some bookbinders use, but Elmer's school glue works perfectly fine.
A large metal needle. This is for sewing the signatures together. I use a regular sewing needle that I bent so it is easier to maneuver, but preferably you should use one with a larger eye and a stronger build. Sewing needles can prove to be too flimsy and annoying.
Waxed thread. I use a roll of Japanese waxed thread that I happen to have in my home. However, a thick sewing thread or any strong enough thread can work. You can buy it pre-waxed, or wax it yourself, but I prefer the former.
An awl. Or, something similar to poke holes through 12-24 sheets of paper. For a while, I used a thumbtack and I found it worked really well.
A corkboard. Not strictly necessary, but especially useful as a surface to poke holes through paper into without damaging what is underneath.
Scissors. You have to cut a lot of string and occasionally paper throughout this ordeal.
A boxcutter. Not necessary, but helpful if you need to straighten out paper edges.
A paper trimmer, or access to one. I know my school has one and I used it often to trim some of the edges of my paper. It works more efficiently than a boxcutter for this matter, but having perfectly aligned edges of pages is difficult and often unnecessary, to be perfectly frank.
Cutting mat. A need especially if you're using the boxcutter as a tool.
Paintbrushes. I like having them in multiple sizes for convenience. They are mainly used for brushing glue onto the spine of your freshly made textblock, or used as intended to paint handmade hardcovers. (I used my finger to apply glue on the spine actually. A lot. It does work if you need it to.)
Fabric. You can use this to cover your book's cover. You might want to use a different texture, style, or color for the spine of the book.
Chipboard. I use this to make the two covers of the book, and also the spine. Basically, it's sturdy, compressed wood pulp. I use a 2mm or 80pt thickness.
Cardstock or construction paper. This is used for the inner part of the cover, covering the edges of the outside fabric. Can also be used as the backing material for the spine.
A bookpress. Again, not strictly a "material" but a tool. A real bookpress is two strong pieces of wood, connected on four corners by screws that you turn down to press the texblock of a book to lay flatter. Honestly, I do not have one of these. There are multiple tutorials on how to make them (Here and Here), but I use a bunch of very heavy books to lay flat on top of my pages.
If you have any other suggestions or recommendations, feel free to share in the comments or reblogs!
The materials we use in bookbinding have a huge influence on how books function, so I thought I would make exhaustive posts about them. Let's start with paper, because books are mostly made of paper these days.
Paper is made from pulped plant fiber, which you stick in a vat of water. You should probably mix it to disperse the pulp a little (it is called hogging the slurry which is one of my favorite terms). Then you dunk basically a windowscreen (the mold) with a detachable frame (the deckle), scoop a bunch of pulpwater with it, shake it around a bit to get the fibers to interlock a bit, and wait until it mostly stops dripping. Then you take the deckle off and turn the mold onto a felt. Here is a video of Western papermaking. Here is a video of Eastern papermaking.
Paper has grain. Okay, think of window blinds. They strongly prefer to be folded one way. You can fold them the other way, but it takes more effort. In the same way, whichever direction most of the fibers are running is the grain direction, and the paper prefers to be folded along them. Machine-made paper just dumps all the fiber on a conveyer belt and it gets pulled along and mostly lies in one direction, so it is quite straightforward to determine grain direction. Obviously it isn't visible, but if you try bending it you can figure it out. Also if it is laid paper the grain will always be running with the chain lines. The laid lines are the tiny closely spaced ones, the chain lines are the bigger and more widely spaced ones running perpendicular. Grain in handmade paper is usually subtler but it is still there. If you get a little stack of printer paper and fold it around a bit I bet you can tell which way the grain runs.
Let's talk about fiber now. I don't know much about the subtleties of Eastern fibers but most repair tissue seems to be made of kozo.
We use Eastern papers for repair. Most of it is made of the inner bark from kozo plants. It has lovely long fibers that make the paper strong even when it is very thin. Like tengujo, which is great for stabilizing documents with text on them because you can see right through it. We use sekishu for general purpose guarding and hinging and everything. Moriki is good for corner and outer hinge repair because it is thick and comes in lots of colors.
You can make Western paper out of lots of things, but my main opinions regard cotton versus wood pulp. Cotton rag paper is gorgeous. Linen is equally glorious. Gold stars. You cut up rags and throw them in the Hollander beater until they are pulp and they make lovely soft paper that lasts forever. I hate people who work on books from before 1840, because the paper is mostly cotton. If it is torn, it is probably a scarf tear and you just put some paste on it and maybe a little tissue and it just wants to be whole. Beautiful.
Wood pulp is terrible for making paper, but it is cheap. It got popular around the 1850s, and so all the books from then until maybe thirty years ago are disgustingly acidic and crumbly. The fibers are too short and lignin breaks down and it is just a bad scene. The smell of old books: hide glue and decaying wood. How romantic.
Here is a needlessly pedantic post I made about the paper we use at school, which talks about concerns in choosing paper. Basic questions include: How large is the book? What is it for? Should the paper be flexible or should it have more body? You will need a heavier paper for a scrapbook than a novel. That sort of thing.
This has been your first installment of me rambling about materials. Stay tuned for probably parchment or leather next.
