the perfect notebook

this is what i’m calling the perfect notebook, it’s glued, giving it a perfect bound appearance.. AND it is sewn, so it lays completely flat when opened, without pages coming unattached. it looks like a lot of work. it really isn’t that much work.

when i first learned how to make books. i spent a lot of hours just sewing together signatures. instantly i was in love with the act of sewing paper. after all this time, i still love it. maybe because my love for paper never dies.

book signatures. here is how to make them. for one signature, take two sheets of paper, put one on top of the other, line up. fold in half. crease with a bone folder along the folded edge. this book requires 6 signatures. (always do in even number of signatures). this is a 48 page notebook. ie: each signature has 8 pages, 8×6= 48 pages)

now, it’s time to make a guide for sewing. do this on a separate piece of stock. i used a thick ass cover stock that ended up ripping, so not the best choice.. just something thicker than copy stock. also make sure it is the same length as the signatures/pages/whatever.

mark it, 1 inch in from the edges. then make a 2 inch space. add another mark. then another 1 inch one spacing. do the same thing on the other edge.

now you’re going to want to make holes in the signatures. these holes will be used for sewing. i had to use my needle to do this. it was a bitch. all my awls have gone missing. they’re usually cheap. like, under 3 bucks. if you plan to make more than, 4 of these. buy an awl. it’ll be a lot easier. dick blick has a lot of options.

this is an awesome trick. this is how i figure out how much thread i will need for a book. i use the sewing guide and put thread around it once for each signature i have. for 6 signatures, i went around it 7-8 times.

i used to use a piece of beeswax for waxing the thread. i did this up until 5 months ago when i found this little thing of wax in the jewelry section of michaels. it’s a lot more manageable than that piece of beeswax i used to use.

thread your needle and wax your thread completely. it should get so covered in wax, it’ll look more like twine. good waxed thread will not knot as easily, which makes it a lot easier to sew. grab something, a book, to sew the book on. i used a speedball lino block. i have a few of these. i’ve had them forever. i’m glad they don’t stay lost for good when i lose them. you will want the book to have a hard covered and probably not in the best shape. you will use tape on it.

tape the end of the thread (end = the side that doesn’t have the needle), leaving about 8-10 inches of length.

sew on the first signature. in and out, in and out. pretty easy right? sew on signature #2.. now once you get to the end of signature #2, you will want to take your needle and loop it around the first signature at the end. (the picture makes a lot more sense, i hope).

continue to sew on the signatures.. at the end you will the same thing as when adding a new signature, accept you work your way down the sewing until you reach where you taped the thread to the sewing board/book. when you reach the end, tie into a knot. i usually make 2 knots. trim accordingly.

since the manilla folder has tabs and other rounded edges/things, you’ll need to trim these off. trim it all off carefully, make it as square as possible.

here is how to make the spine. use 2 or 3 binder chips on your sewn book. place the book inside the cover. line up a ruler with your book.. take out the book, leaving your ruler in place and mark with a pencil. now score* the manilla folder.

how to score: use a very dull x acto (or if your bone folder has a sharper tip) and a ruler. you don’t want to slice the paper, you just want to indent the paper.

(*scoring creates a line in the paper that will make a neat and clean folded edge).

yeah, the cover and the book are not the same size at all. first, line up the spine of the sewn book with the spine of the folder. using a ruler slowly start cutting away the excess paper from the book. this will make for a nice clean edge too.

also, cut the folder down to size as far as length. both the book and the cover is during this step.

fabric, it’s probably cotton, and it’s probably wrinkled. i ironed mine. you probably should too, depending on just how wrinkled it is. lay the cover over the fabric and make sure your fabric sheet is big enough. leave an overlay of fabric by 1-2 inches.

3m super 77. the most potent shit on earth. i love it so much. spray the folder as evenly as possible, using the most spray at the corners and through the spine area. spray the fabric, all over.

take the sprayed folder and put it on top of the fabric. use a card to flatten the folder into the fabric. pay a lot of attention to the spine and the corners.

gift wrapping time! no, but kind of. fold over the edges, and cut off the top layer (in the second picture). you don’t have to, but it is a good idea, because less fabric will make for a cleaner edge.

start heating up the glue gun and, start lining up the sewn book with the cover… put a strip of glue down the spine of the cover, and mostly on the sewn part of the book.

looks pretty good right? ok, securing the end papers  to the cover…

almost done. almost done. almost fucking done! okay. “end papers/pages” are (from what i remember from my research into book making, and all those books on book binding and hand-made books.. i could be wrong, but i don’t think so?) the first and last pages that attach to the cover.

line up the “end papers/pages” with the cover and trim sightly, being careful not to cut the cover. attach with little dabs of glue or more spray mount. if you use spray mount, be extra careful of over spray.

all finished! let your book dry (closed) for up to 24 hours with a few heavy books, such as; encyclopedias, dictionaries, medical text books, whatever. just make sure it’s heavy but not heavy enough to totally collapse the spine.