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Exerpt from How To Make Your Own Book By Harvey Weiss

Binding: Stapling and Sewing

The term ‘binding’ is sometimes used to describe the
cover of a book. For example, you might refer to a book as hav-
ing a binding of leather, or being bound in linen. But binding
also means the act of attaching many pages to one another to
produce a book. For example, if you are stapling pages together
as described below you are binding a book.
There are several different ways to bind a book. The two
most common ones are explained here.
Stapling
al pages to exactly the same size. Pile them up. Then staple down
along one edge. That's all there is to it. The staples may not look
very neat and this edge of your book may have a somewhat unfin-
ished look. But this can be easily fixed by pressing on a piece of

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cloth adhesive tape over the bound edge. This tape is strong and
sticks well. It comes in a roll and can be found in mloth adhe-
sive tape over the bound edge. This tape is stost art or stationery
stores. A common brand name is Mystik tape. It comes in vari-
ous widths and in many beautiful, bright colors. A 2-inch width
is best for our purposes. Another way to hide the staples is by at-
taching a separate cover as explained in the chapter on Covers.
There are two disadvantages to this kind of binding. One
is that the finished book will never open up completely. The sta-
ples are pinching it closed along the bound edge. You can't lay
the book down on a table and have it stay flat unless you hold it
down with your hands. The other difficulty is that there is a limit
to how many sheets of paper the stapler will fasten. The heavier
the paper the fewer sheets you can use.
If your book is very small (about 3 inches wide) you
can make it out of four-page sections and staple the sections
together through the fold. This will take care of the two difficul-
ties, but a 3-inch-wide book has very limited uses. (It is a size
for pocket memos, tiny pictures, short poems, etc.) There are
special staplers which have a very long arm. These will let you
staple through the fold of a normal size book. But such staplers
are rather hard to find and not worth buying unless you plan to
go into the bookmaking business.
Sewing
This is a neater and more permanent way to bind a book.
It is suitable for a hundred pages or for eight pages. A book that
is bound this way is" center-sewn." The drawings on the next
page show how it is done.
If you are sewing only a few pages together you can
use a plain, heavy, button thread. But if you are binding
a rather large book, or making a book that you expect will get
hard use or using heavy paper it would be a good idea to use a re-
ally heavy, strong thread, doubled up if necessary. I have always
used a thin, braided nylon fishing line which is called squidding
line. It looks nice and is almost unbreakable. Any fisherman is
liable to have some. (Three or four feet is enough for several
books.) Or you can buy a roll in any sporting goods store. Get
the thinnest. (Don't use the glassy-looking monofilament fishing
line which is hard to knot.)
When several four-page sections have been sewn
together you'll find that the pages which are in the center
will tend to project out slightly beyond the outer pages as
shown below. This is of no consequence if you are mak-
ing a book of only twenty or thirty pages. But if your
book uses heavy paper and there are many pages you may

prefer the edges flush and even. In this case you will have to do a
little trimming. Use a metal ruler and a single-edge razor, or a very
sharp knife. Press down hard on the ruler so that the paper won't
shift. Take your time and make as many passes with the blade as
necessary. This is a rather delicate operation and must be done care-
fully. But when you are through the entire book will have a neat,
professional look and you will no doubt decide it was worth the
effort.
 It is possible to sew together individual pages, as well as
four-page sections. However you can't sew along the centerfold-
-as there is none. What you must do is punch holes along the
edge and then sew the pages together. The result will be some-
thing like the edge stapling already described. The drawings
show how this kind of binding is done. A book bound like this is
said to be "side-sewn."

Glueing
There are many times in the making of books when you
will want to do some glueing. Here are some methods that will
produce a neat, permanent job.

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 There are many different kinds of glues and pastes to
choose from. A white paper paste, or "library paste," is good for
most purposes. It is thick, inexpensive, and available in any five-
and-ten-cent or stationery store. It is quite easy to make your
own paste. A little flour and water is all you need. Put a couple of
spoonfuls of flour in a cup or small bowl. Then slowly add water
and stir until you get a thick paste.
A white casein glue such as Elmer's is another good glue.
It is more expensive than paper paste but most useful when you
are pasting down heavy or nonporous materials. If you wanted
to paste down a leaf, or some grass, or a lock of hair, a white
casein glue would be the kind to use.
Rubber cement is best avoided because it will stain the
paper and isn't very permanent. The very strong glues such as
the epoxies or Duco cement are not really intended for use with
paper.
When you are pasting down a large piece of paper it is
sometimes helpful to thin your glue or paste with a little water.
This will let you brush it on more easily and evenly. Use a good-
sized brush. A 1- or 2-inch wide paint brush is much better than
a delicate little watercolor brush with scruffy bristles.
In general it is best to use the least amount of paste that
will do the job. When the paste is applied too heavily it will take
a long time to dry and will be more likely to cause wrinkles and
buckling.
When you have finished your pasting it is important
to place some heavy weights on your book. The more the
better. This will help avoid wrinkling. Professional book-
binders have special presses and whenever they have done
any pasting they put the book in the press and keep it there
overnight.
Let's take an example of a pasting job and see just how
it should be done. Suppose you were making a book of trees,
and you had a photograph of a tree clipped from a magazine that
you wanted to include in your book. First, trim the clipping to
the size you want. Place it face down on a piece of newspaper.
Using a good-sized brush spread the paste on the back of the
clipping. Then pick it up and lay it in place in the book. Put a
piece of clean paper over the clipping and smooth it down. Rub
from the center toward the edges to remove any air bubbles. If
any paste squeezes out from under the edges wipe it up with a
bit of damp rag. Then close the book and pile as much weight on
it as possible. Let it dry for an hour or two or overnight.

Covers
Any book will be enormously improved if it has some
kind of a cover. The cover doesn't have to be cloth or cardboard
or particularly heavy. As long as it has a somewhat different ap-
pearance from the inside of the book you can consider it a cover.
If, for example, you made a twelve-page book using a different
color paper for the outside section you would have a cover of
sorts. The different color would seem to "frame" the inside and
give it a little more importance.
If you have already made a book and then decide
after it is finished to add a cover you can simply cut a piece
of paper as shown below and fasten it permanently in place by
pasting the flaps of the cover to the front and back of the book.

A handsome cover can be made by using a piece of paper

that has a nice pattern on it. Some of the larger art stores carry
decorative, printed papers. Or if you rummage around your
house you may be able to find printed papers that you like. How
about maps, charts, or wallpaper? You can make your own pat-
tern by pasting down on paper clippings from magazines. You
can make allover patterns quite simply by printing with a cork or
rubber eraser. Put a dab of paint on the cork or eraser, then press
it down on your paper.
Sometimes the paper you find may be too thin to make
a good cover. A road map, for example, is printed on fairly thin
paper, and will also have creases from being folded up. In a case
like this you would have to paste it down carefully on another
sturdier sheet of paper.
 Hard Covers
A hard cover will make your homemade book look im-
portant. It will dress it up as well as give the inside pages some
protection. The method for making them shown here is quite
simple, but even so you should work slowly and carefully if you
want a neat, professionallooking job.
The kind of cardboard you use for the cover is very im-
portant. It must be stiff and strong. Shirt cardboard or the card-
board from boxes of store-bought merchandise is usually too
thin and flexible. Corrugated board is also to be avoided. Take
a look at a regular, hardcover book and notice the stiffness and
thickness of the cover. This is what to look for. The cardboard
that is used for the backs of large drawing pads is usually suit-
able and cigar boxes are made of a heavy cardboard that is ideal
for our purposes. If all else fails you can buy a heavy cardboard
called chipboard at any well-supplied art store.
Because cardboard is not a very good-looking material
some kind of paper should be pasted down over it. Any decora-
tive paper of the sort mentioned on the previous page can be
used.
The other item you need is some cloth tape, such as
Mystik tape. This tape has a strong adhesive on one side, is
available in many colors, and comes in several widths. A 2-inch
roll is best, though you could get by with a 1&1/2-inch width
if nothing else is available. Surgical adhesive tape can also be
used. And still another possibility is plain cloth. Sailcloth, heavy
cotton duck, canvas, or any similar strong, tough material can be
used. A white casein glue, like Elmer's, will hold any cloth like
this onto the cardboard.

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