Annotated Bookbinding Checklist
| Print and cut paper in half | |
| Collate pages for signatures | |
| Fold into signatures and crease with bone folder | DAS Bookbinding – Folding and Punching Holes |
| Punch holes | You can use the technique shown in the DAS video above, but a punching cradle is very helpful for this. Talas – How to Use an Awl Guide Punching Cradle |
| Press under weight for at least an hour, up to 24 hours (Rotate half of signatures the opposite way to balance the stack) | For weight you can use a book press or do something simpler. I use two 6″ x 6″ x 1″ blocks of wood with hand weights on top of them. |
| Cut endpapers to same size as a page from the signature | 5.5″ x 8.5″ |
| Sew endpapers and signatures together into a textblock | DAS Bookbinding – Case Bound Book 2 Sewing Note 1: As these books are small, I don’t use tapes. Note 2: Sewing endpapers to signatures is not standard procedure, but it strengthens the connection between textblock and cover |
| Weight completed textblock | |
| Spine liner — cut to just the size of the spine | I use this to stiffen the cover over the spine, making it easier to attach a label that doesn’t wrinkle. |
| Place textblock in finishing press and coat spine with glue (2-3 layers) | A finishing press is not essential, but it does make things easier. Ingenius Designs – Quick and Affordable Finishing Press Build |
| Glue on mull | Extends about 1 inch on both sides of spine Annesi Bindings – Gluing the Book Block |
| Glue ribbon placemarker to spine | 9″ ribbon with 1″ attached to textblock |
| Glue or sew on headbands | DAS – Homemade Stuck-On Headbands DAS – How to Sew a Two Color Headband |
| Create and glue Oxford hollow to spine | Just covers the spine width, shorter than the endbands Annesi Bindings – How to Make an Oxford Hollow |
| Make book cloth or use premade book cloth | Journals in Time – Making Book Cloth with Heat ‘n’ Bond Start at 6:16 for Heat ‘n’ Bond section. I actually iron tissue paper to the back of the Heat ‘n’ Bond after it’s been ironed to the cloth. |
| Cut out book cloth | Height 8″ Width 11″ + spine width + spine gap |
| Cut book boards | 4.25″ x 5.75″ (10.7 x 14.6 cm) |
| Place book boards on inside of book cloth and determine spine gap. | Calculating Spine Gap Measurement Spine gap = width of spine + 6 mm on each side Once you’ve determined your spine gap, T-handle spacers are very helpful for getting placement of bookboard and spine liner correct. |
| If using, glue spine liner into place. Then glue on boards and place under weight until glue dries | Talas – How to Case-In a Text Block |
| Trim edges of book cloth to 0.5-1 inch | |
| Trim corners of book cloth | A corner miter tool can make these cuts more consistent |
| Turn in the edges (If you are using a Cricut pattern for the cover pattern, this is when I would iron it on) | |
| Place the cover under weight | |
| Center textblock in cover to check fit | |
| Glue mull to boards | |
| Place book in book press (perferrably a nipping press) to allow glue to dry | |
| Glue endpapers to book boards | I carefully keep smoothing the paper as I slowly close the cover, otherwise wrinkles in the paper are likely. |
| Place book in book press and allow to dry overnight | |
| Glue on labels |