2016-02-03 Bookbinding (IMG) Image I watched a bunch of videos about bookbinding and decided to make a book. It's a bit time consuming but quite simple, you only require paper, cardboard, string, and cloth. (IMG) Image * Cut your paper into bifolia (2× the intended page size). * Collect your bifolia into sections. I used 4 bifolia per section, yielding 8 leaves (a quaternion). * Punch holes through the sections. * Cut some strips of cloth, stitch sections together. (IMG) Image (IMG) Image * Clamp the book and glue the back. * Glue the endpapers (not shown), glue the cloth strips on them. I made my endpapers with suminagashi, ie. adding soapy ink and soap water in turn carefully on a tray of water, then laying a piece of paper on it. * Trim the edges with a guillotine or a crafts knife (I skipped this step with this book). * Form the book so that the back has a slight curve. Clamp down, and gently hammer the back. This will make it easier to lie the book flat and accommodates for the thickness of the covers. (IMG) Image * Make and attach headbands (the red things). There are fancy ways of doing this, but I just rolled a piece of cloth, glued it to shape, and coloured it with a red marker. * Cut the covers and the cover cloth. Use the book itself as a measure. (IMG) Image * Glue the cardboard to the cloth, glue a strip of paper on the inside of the back for reinforcement * Glue the endpapers to the covers. Clamp down * Enjoy your book! One of the more challenging things about the whole thing is actually using the book for anything... (IMG) Image (IMG) Image