Finished this a while back for a PHM exchange. I followed @amessinpictures (insta) lectern tutorial and it was amazing! It includes a model for you to input your measurements.

Since the tutorial doesn’t work with perfect-bound books I ripped this copy apart and used my sewing machine to make signatures. Then sewed it like a regular textblock before rounding the spine. A fun challenge!

Favorite part is the endbands😙 I tried to channel the astrophage scene through them.

I made this sketchbook for my daughter's 7th birthday. The text block is removable so I can replace it when she fills up all the pages.

So in recent years the scout organization had moved away from paper back books to these spiraled ones. The issue that I have with them is that having so many holes the pages kind of crease up the page and then fall out or they simply unscrew from the spiral. I was thinking about binding it in leather. What are your guys' thoughts, opinions, and advice on this?

A dos-à-dos binding of Lawn Boy and Dick in a Can by beebee_kate. These are two Star Wars modern AU textfics full of irreverent joy. Two legal quarto sized books sharing the same back cover.

For the uninitiated, modern AU is short for "modern setting, alternate universe" fan fiction. These are stories created by fans and for fans, self-published online. Modern AU can sometimes bear very little resemblance to the existing work, instead utilizing tropes, character names/appearance, characterizations, or themes from the original IP. (For example, a Game of Thrones modern AU could be Daenerys and Cersei transplanted to a high school setting, maneuvering to become Homecoming Queen.) Both "Lawn Boy" and "Dick in a Can" are textfics, meaning they are epistolary stories in the form of text message screenshots.

This was my first ever dos-à-dos and I figured I might as well go as weird as possible with these two fics. The Pringles book features a 3D printed can covered with a cannibalized can of pringles (that opens with a surprise inside.) Lawn Boy (based on a famous Craigslist listing) was covered with faux green fur trimmed--or "mowed"--to look like the name of the Craigslist listing.

This was also my first competition entry ever, to the reddit r/bookbinding Discord contest, from a while back. But I haven't shared it here, yet, so thought I would. If you're curious about these stories and would like a laugh, they are quick reads and you can read them here: Lawn Boy and Dick in a Can by beebee_kate

I was at the gallery today and took lots of notes, but funny leave a space for the postcard. What would you do. I could hinge it from the right, but the following page is half text (which I could rewrite) the book won't be opened too frequently, but I would like it to last. I'm happy to have the postcard in portrait orientation.

I can see two options,

--a glued rice paper hinge, leaving space for it to fold properly,

--stitch in a folded strip and then tip in the card. The book is a standard stitched and glued block with fabric covered board covers. So I'd have to somehow work around existing stitches.

Hey everyone!

Just as the title says. I popped open my Danny Ketch Ghost Rider omnibus vol 2 and noticed my spine doing this. I've never seen this before... any advice would be really appreciated!

Thank you!

The thinnest thread Ive been brave enough to try yet!

I really enjoy collecting football stickers and have done on and off for major tournaments since Euro 96. Sometimes I complete the albums, sometimes I don't.

This time around, following the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams, I decided trying to complete a 900+ sticker album was not feasible, so I thought I'd construct my own abridged version.

The result is a modest 14-page album containing 29 stickers - the generic 'introduction' stickers at the beginning of the Panini album and all England stickers.

It was constructed using a simple pamphlet binding of 7 sheets of 160gsm card (producing 14 pages for stickers), with book cloth along the spine to hide the stitching. A single sheet of black 160gsm card was stitched in also, to create the end papers. The covers are constructed of grey board and are covered with the original Panini album cover material. A small pocket was included inside the back cover to hold any notable stickers I wanted to keep, but not stick in the album.

My daughter and I opened a several packs for the enjoyment factor, but the "missing" stickers in this album were ordered from Panini directly.

I have never seen binding like this before! Anyone know anything about it?

Its pages are falling out, the spine is gone, and it’s brittle. But I can’t bear the thought of letting it sit like this. I wouldn’t throw away the hardcover.

I recently noticed that Hollinger, Gaylord Archival and Talas are all selling a “pre-cooked” wheat paste that only requires mixing with cold water. They’re presented as creating the same paste as the standard version you cook yourself.

https://www.talasonline.com/Wheat-Paste-No-301

https://hollanders.com/products/wheat-paste-8-ounces?variant=20702572183606

https://www.gaylord.com/Preservation/Conservation-Supplies/Adhesives/Pre-Cooked-Instant-Wheat-Starch-Paste/p/52000

Does anyone have experience with these? Are they known to be safely equivalent to the standard paste?

This post asking if toner reactive foil would work on bookcloth - Link HERE - was my first post made here... 3 years ago. And 3 years later, I come back with my findings. This was completely experimental, I am a n00b doing things MacGyver style.

In the original post, people far wiser than myself told me not to do it, that it would most definitively damage the laser printer or that the toner probably would not stick. So I got an old, cheap second hand printer (Epson AL-M400), to prevent myself from losing my mind should this not work and I'd end up ruining a brand new printer. I have no access to a cutting machine (Europe based, our libraries do not carry craft corners) and I really wanted the foiled look on binds I wanted to eventually make.

So I tried it, it did work, as you can see the toner did stick. I used a piece of white bed sheet (cotton with a small % of elastane), backed with Heat'n'Bond and silk paper. My first try got stuck in the printer, so in the second try I taped it to a piece of printer paper and it went through with no problems.

The printer setting were: Paper type: semi-thick; Print Quality Fine; Visibility: For color Graphs and images. The first time I tried max toner output in the best printing quality and it got stuck in the printer (with no extra sheet of paper as backing).

And as you can see in the first two photos, the toner stuck to the fabric. So I ran it through my laminator with some foil. The foil didn't bond in the middle because I had overlapped foil, I guess it didn't get enough heat to stick. I used a clothes iron (temperature set to the lowest it could be on) to make the foil stick in the middle and other places that had gaps.

[Video of Foiled Sheet] The foil stuck at about 90% overall, there were some really small details that probably didn't have enough buildup to stick the foil. I didn't press too much - maybe I should've - but I was afraid to lift the foil in the places it had stuck on already.

So basically yes, it does work, on real fabric even. But not without CONS. My foil is cheap - right out of Aliexpress - but I guess any kind of foil it will rub off eventually. With casing in the book, as you can see in the photos, some of it rubbed off from the spine with my quite rough handling of it. Just holding it leaves shinny flecks on my fingers. I could try some fixative spray, but I am afraid of yellowing the fabric. I guess if you laminate the fabric before casing in the book, the problem is solved?
(Video of the foil after casing and handling. Please, ignore the book's construction flaws, it's my very first finished bind and cutting and gluing things at night in low luminosity is not a good idea, kids).

There is a binder on Instagram that printed and foiled on actual bookcloth, so it will work too that way. If hers rubs off like mine does, I didn't ask, I only watched a couple of stories of her doing it - xkokonati on Instagram -.

So, TL;DR: I tried it and it worked, toner printed on home-made bookcloth made out of a smooth mostly cotton sheet backed with Heat'n'Bond and silk paper. The foil stuck, but will rub off if you handle the book too much.

Would I recommend doing this? Only if you are just getting into the hobby and absolutely have no other option of attaining the foil look, if you're not making something expecting it to last and only if you have no problem in quite possibly damaging your printer. Will work if you want to make a trophy piece that will not be handled much.

Again, this was an experiment and I might have got lucky. The probability of damaging your printer his VERY HIGH, proceed at your own risk if you try it for yourself.

I messed up the cover trying to use a white paint pen on the cloth for the title. It just absorbed into the fabric and left a giant white spot. I improvised the cutout letters and I actually like it a lot more than if I had used the paint. Nothing on the back because I didn’t know what to put there. There are many flaws with it, but I’m happy with it. I think I did pretty good for my first time.

Interesting experiment! one-piece leather lip, handmade marbled paper and engraved bookcloth.

(At some point I'll remake the bookshoes; these here have been test specimens and are a bit tattered)

This took me a while. Some new techniques and experimentation.

Marbled paper from Jemma Lewis. Brown leather half binding.
A clamshell box with inlaid label.

So I glued my text block and mull (100% cotton fabric) and put it in my press, then left for a trip, came back 2 and half days later and the text block seems solid and the mull is good and on there, but it’s still a bit sticky/tacky, and I am curious what I can do to solve this or what? New to bookbinding so any help is appreciated!

For context, I bought the mass market paperback of ASoIaF not too long ago. I read at a snails pace unfortunately and don’t always have time to do so. Recently I just found that the pages are splitting and the spine of this book has been bent in. I personally handle my books as carefully as I can and make sure I’m not bending them out of shape. As these are mass market I completely understand that quality is NOT the main focus of these books. I also understand that paperbacks will of course be damaged but this issue is quite bothersome to me. Any tips or suggestions as to how I can fix this issue are greatly appreciated!!!