The Making of a Book

I've been making my own journals/sketch books since I learned how in college. Each one gets better than the last, and I always screw up somewhere along the way. That said, here's the latest one.




When making your own book, you must first select & cut the paper to the page size you want, and arrange them into signatures, or little bundles of pages. The signatures are then stacked on top of each other and sewn together to create 1 bundle of pages. You then glue your spine, front and back cover into one piece, cover it with paper(s) of your choice, and finally, glue the sewn page bundle into the book. Easy-peasy...sorta.

Lots of things can screw you up along the way. This time around, it was the width of the spine. I didn't make it wide enough to really fit the book into its cover, so my book "yawns" a bit, meaning it doesn't close completely. With a few weights and time, it will fix itself. It's an easy thing to keep an eye on when making a book, I was watching the Sox lose to the Yanks at the time, so I guess that says it all.






The cover is made with a handmade paper printed and sewn by an Indian textile designing family. The stitching really makes this paper unlike any other I found.




Inside the book is made of pretty basic textweight paper in various shades of blues, greens and purple. It's so delicate, I'm sort of afraid to use it and get it all dirty, like my past handmade books. But I guess that's what happens with use. I think the next one I'll make is a leather bound book. The leather cover will keep it well protected. And nothin' looks better on a book than a worn out leather cover!