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JamesDarrowBookbinding Tutorial by-nc-nd

Published: 2012-04-11 22:56:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 701586; Favourites: 17712; Downloads: 9296
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Download for a larger view! - Journal with books and additional info - Click here for a video I uploaded on how to sew your book!

Eden Workshops - A Bookbinders Resource. Here you will find free tutorials, learn at home DVD's, equipment and materials.

Please read everything before asking questions. I understand this can be confusing, but I may have already answered your question.

This took me so long to make! You're welcome

Materials : (with links to purchase / more info)

• Paper : The paper is the most important part of the book, you'll want something that is durable and practical to the purpose of your book. I'm using Strathmore 18 in. x 24 in. 80 lb drawing paper. Strathmore website
• Paper (endpaper) : I'm using scrapbook paper, a thicker paper with interesting designs. Endpaper on Wikipedia

• Glue stick : Anything will do. I prefer using ones that are purple and dry clear. Elmer's Disappearing Purple School Glue Sticks
• Spray adhesive : Again, as long as it works anything will do. I had some Duro All-Purpose Spray Adhesive around when I was making this. Be very very very careful when using this! Read the instructions on the can. When I was using the spray adhesive I would prepare the paper inside and the go outside to spray it.

• Thread : When making your book, you'll want to use a thread that is durable and easy to work with. There is a thread specifically for bookbinding, but it can be a bit expensive. An alternative to that would be to use dental floss (I've never used this method before so I can't say how well it'll work). You can also use beeswax coated thread, again, it can be expensive to purchase. I just used a generic thread doubled over to be stronger, this has worked fairly well for me. Embroidery thread works great too! (thanks everyone who mentioned this)
Coats & Clark Ecru Upholstery Thread was recommended, it might be worth a try considering the price.
• Needle

• Ruler
• Scissors (fabric scissors optional but could be useful)
• Pencil
• (optional) Cutting Board / Paper Cutter
• Canvas
• Binder clips

• Fabric : For the cover, something you wouldn't mind looking at! I recommend buying some scrap or discount fabric when you first start and later buy something a bit nicer.
• Ribbon : You can use either a strip of fabric or some ribbon if you choose to add a bookmark. Example of what I would use

• Heavy weight : Some heavy books will do, in my case I have an old projector.

• Awl : Something sharp and pointy. I'm using a tool from Bead Buddy 4 Piece Reamer set. The red and yellow ones work great

• Chipboard : You can also use a thin wood or foam. I wouldn't recommend using anything else as they might not be as durable or easy to work with.

• Anything else you want to decorate your book with.


Book Terms :

Book Block : All the sewn together sheets of paper that make up the pages in the book.
End Paper / End Sheets : The first and last paper of the book. They connect the cover of the book to the book block.
Signature : groups of folded paper. I take 4 folded pieces of paper and group them together. When you sew you are sewing the signatures together.



Diagram of a book



You may use this tutorial in part or whole to teach others, please don't remove my name or URL. Also, it would be great if you send me links to books you create using this. I want to see what everyone is capable of! ♥

To sew your book without having to fold it, view this tutorial
Related content
Comments: 2107

LaReinaBuena [2018-01-31 03:30:11 +0000 UTC]

thanks <3

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Nitmi [2017-11-15 15:44:19 +0000 UTC]

Thank You!

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DubaiBunniesUAE [2017-06-08 06:48:16 +0000 UTC]

Beautiful work

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MyrddinvanderWind [2016-12-12 10:56:34 +0000 UTC]

thanks to your tutorial, I've found my dream job! Thank you so much for that.

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ForsakenStrange [2016-09-12 05:23:35 +0000 UTC]

Would asking for a custom book cost anything?

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Metalsowa [2016-03-29 20:21:45 +0000 UTC]

Wow nice

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SeeThirty [2016-01-10 02:40:42 +0000 UTC]

Hi. Please forgive if this has been mentioned somewhere, but, every time I try to search for 'book making canvas' (to affix the text block to the cover), I am coming up empty. Could you at least tell me what kind of canvas? I see so many varieties in google, and I just want to be sure I get the right one.

Thanks. Noob here.

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ChaoticShort [2016-01-09 11:46:32 +0000 UTC]

Cool

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BlueLakeKylie [2015-12-11 15:51:55 +0000 UTC]

Hey, I have a question--Are there any substitutes for the canvas? I tried using really thin cardboard on my first book, and I guess it worked, but I was wondering if there are any better ideas.

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haileydawn93 [2015-10-27 22:35:55 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much for this Tutorial! I love it and I'm going to try this out as soon as I finish my homework for the day!! I'm so excited to understand this now!

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Turtlemun [2015-09-27 23:03:33 +0000 UTC]

I used to just staple and glue lol.

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Rachgraceh [2015-09-26 08:07:30 +0000 UTC]

Thanks so much for making this amazing tutorial! I've wanted to make a book for ages, but didn't really know how to start. This was endlessly helpful! rachgraceh.deviantart.com/art/…

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acrvv [2015-09-13 11:52:21 +0000 UTC]

Hi!
First of all, thanks for posting this! I've already done four books or so, but I have a doubt: I don't quite understand how do I have to cut the corners of the fabric. If you could explain it to me I'd be even more thankful!

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minusfractions [2015-09-09 18:37:36 +0000 UTC]

I need to try this!

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jbthomas8789 [2015-08-27 23:28:39 +0000 UTC]

I will take you up on the offer of making me one.. If your still interested? I work around 60hrs a week 😒 so making it myself seems impossible. So if you can how much? And do you have patters or designs for men?

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Kinsara [2015-08-25 00:11:45 +0000 UTC]

I made a whole stack of notebooks to use for next semester's classes! Thank you for the tutorial!
kinsoliloquy.tumblr.com/post/1…

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KaosAdventus [2015-07-09 23:36:06 +0000 UTC]

Bless you for this XD
I followed this epic tutorial for creating my BoS. The page-folding (I folded an entire set of 500 pages... and only ended up using 200) and sewing took the longest for me, but this was incredibly easy to follow and with how my book turned out, I'm quite proud of it; and thankful to you for posting this, lol.  

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JamesDarrow In reply to KaosAdventus [2015-07-11 23:15:05 +0000 UTC]

I'm happy to have helped

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choupette-amoureuse [2015-06-03 22:33:18 +0000 UTC]

I started my own one today, it's very easy ! As I'm not very good with handcrafts, I was scared, but that's so well explicated ! I'll finish it tomorrow and link up my picture of it !

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JamesDarrow In reply to choupette-amoureuse [2015-06-06 00:02:32 +0000 UTC]

I'm happy to hear that and I look forward to the completed book!

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ReGaSLZR [2015-05-29 00:34:09 +0000 UTC]

Congratulations on the DD!
This is a very nice tutorial, thank you for making it!

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JamesDarrow In reply to ReGaSLZR [2015-06-06 00:02:08 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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ReGaSLZR In reply to JamesDarrow [2015-06-06 01:20:34 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome

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VivanSolem [2015-05-20 17:56:18 +0000 UTC]

This is really helpful. Need to try out this technique out.

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oliverthor2102 [2015-05-12 04:29:14 +0000 UTC]

hey i was wondering if you could make me a custom book same size as the one in your example but the cover can be pretty flowers or roses same with the inside. thank you if you can. and if you do how much would it be???  $$$

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konekobio [2015-05-04 13:43:32 +0000 UTC]

well... i want to make a book by myself and i'm a bit confused
how do you connect the third signature? i mean yes there is a picture but i can't see how you are doing it even if i zoom in more... maybe i'm blind

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Ansharus [2015-04-28 10:47:38 +0000 UTC]

I simply love your tutorial and it gave me the idea of making a present for my girlfriend: A self made book that bundles all our emails/text messages of the past 3 years. I already made the fabric cover (I embroided a custom pattern on it) and already made put all the messages in a nicely formatted PDF document, so the only thing I still have to do is print it out.
As you can imagine, the combined page count is somewhat high (500+ pages).
Do you think it's possible to bind this many pages using this technique?
I'm probably going to use 90gsm paper, and I'll be using signatures of about 8 sheets (giving me around 16-17 signatures in total).
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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JamesDarrow In reply to Ansharus [2015-04-28 18:55:34 +0000 UTC]

Congratulations and best of luck to the two of you. 

I personally haven't attempted to make anything nearly that large but this method should work. Possibly what I would recommend is to make into a couple of smaller books, maybe by date or even message type.

Let me know how everything works out. 

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FedeFernandez [2015-04-27 15:10:43 +0000 UTC]

I've been following this tutorial to make the journal of Gravity Falls, but I had problems gluing the canvas. What kind of glue do you use?

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JamesDarrow In reply to FedeFernandez [2015-04-28 18:51:34 +0000 UTC]

A PVA glue should work. Please feel free to share the completed book, I love Gravity Falls.

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FedeFernandez In reply to JamesDarrow [2015-05-28 22:36:14 +0000 UTC]

I've recently finished it. Thank you so much for the tutorial and you can check out the result here: linguerpicuet.tumblr.com/post/…

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KaraNari [2015-04-25 21:27:14 +0000 UTC]

I am wondering if it is necessary to glue the ends before putting on the binding piece? I only have 3 signatures with three pages each as I am making a really small booklet. Thanks in advance!

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JamesDarrow In reply to KaraNari [2015-04-25 22:57:28 +0000 UTC]

Seeing as it is a smaller size you could probably get away without gluing first. Larger books however I would recommended gluing first. Please feel free to share your book when you're done!

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KaraNari In reply to JamesDarrow [2015-04-26 14:03:26 +0000 UTC]

My book turned out pretty good for a first try! Thank you for your tutorial, it was very good! Here is what I made: karanari.deviantart.com/art/DI…

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JamesDarrow In reply to KaraNari [2015-04-28 18:47:58 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for the link

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KaraNari In reply to JamesDarrow [2015-04-26 01:26:27 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for the tips! I did end up gluing it and because it was so small I ended up gluing the first and last pages to the book cover to make it sturdier and to give it a better chance of holding together. I will definitely share it when the glue dries!

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Light-and-Dark [2015-04-22 17:02:32 +0000 UTC]

This is really neat. I have a cosplay planned for hopefully some time this year that requires a large book. If I can't find anything that'll work I may just give this a try.

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JamesDarrow In reply to Light-and-Dark [2015-04-25 14:33:34 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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aztec58 [2015-04-11 10:19:57 +0000 UTC]

beautiful craft <3

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JamesDarrow In reply to aztec58 [2015-04-11 18:03:18 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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aztec58 In reply to JamesDarrow [2015-04-12 20:47:59 +0000 UTC]

you are so welcome 
thanks for the tutorial

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Randomnessgirl101 [2015-03-24 22:09:29 +0000 UTC]

... Oh my gosh... I know what I'm doing the next time I have all this stuff!!!

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JamesDarrow In reply to Randomnessgirl101 [2015-03-27 00:09:47 +0000 UTC]

Good luck

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Randomnessgirl101 In reply to JamesDarrow [2015-03-28 04:38:34 +0000 UTC]

thank you!!!

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StanisDanny [2015-03-24 21:41:16 +0000 UTC]

This is just perfect, AWESOME!
Thank you very much for sharing, it's so easy to follow!
Thank you!

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JamesDarrow In reply to StanisDanny [2015-03-27 00:09:39 +0000 UTC]

Thank you

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Shiranoko [2015-03-24 17:00:57 +0000 UTC]

this is just brilliant!

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JamesDarrow In reply to Shiranoko [2015-03-27 00:09:32 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! 

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kadajs-kitsune [2015-03-20 15:52:03 +0000 UTC]

This is a brilliant tutorial, thank you for sharing!

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JamesDarrow In reply to kadajs-kitsune [2015-03-27 00:09:25 +0000 UTC]

Thank you

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