Beginning Bookbinding
Jun. 17th, 2025 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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everykindofcraftYay new crafting community!
I just started getting into bookbinding / fanbinding. I got really into it conceptually a couple years ago and bought all the supplies but didn't really do anything with them until now. I've been using Renegade Bindery's formatting tutorials and Sea Lemon's binding tutorials. It is tremendously fun. I've done the first couple (Fairgoers by renwhit and a collection of King Falls AM fics) with quilting cotton + heatnbond + tissue paper for book cloth, but I recently got a bunch of leather for free, so I may start experimenting with leather covers too using Ingenius Designs' tutorials.
On my docket is
- "mulberry down!!" by Nicole Kornher Stace, already printed and sewn with book cloth prepped, needs edge sanding
- "Ceylon, Assam, and Darjeeling" by Sciosa, currently working on formatting
- Something that will allow me to do a wacky patchwork style cover using scrap fabric sticking to the heatnbond to avoid having to sew it
- Working on figuring out iron-on page gilding. Probably needs edge sanding first as the unsanded paperback I tried it on didn't adhere evenly though the tiny iron helped.
- Acquire acid-free paper for prints going forward
I just started getting into bookbinding / fanbinding. I got really into it conceptually a couple years ago and bought all the supplies but didn't really do anything with them until now. I've been using Renegade Bindery's formatting tutorials and Sea Lemon's binding tutorials. It is tremendously fun. I've done the first couple (Fairgoers by renwhit and a collection of King Falls AM fics) with quilting cotton + heatnbond + tissue paper for book cloth, but I recently got a bunch of leather for free, so I may start experimenting with leather covers too using Ingenius Designs' tutorials.
On my docket is
- "mulberry down!!" by Nicole Kornher Stace, already printed and sewn with book cloth prepped, needs edge sanding
- "Ceylon, Assam, and Darjeeling" by Sciosa, currently working on formatting
- Something that will allow me to do a wacky patchwork style cover using scrap fabric sticking to the heatnbond to avoid having to sew it
- Working on figuring out iron-on page gilding. Probably needs edge sanding first as the unsanded paperback I tried it on didn't adhere evenly though the tiny iron helped.
- Acquire acid-free paper for prints going forward
Yay!
Date: 2025-06-17 08:43 pm (UTC)It's a cool hobby. I've got a tiny one that a friend made for me -- about 2" tall, the size you could hang as an ornament. I've also seen bookbinders at historical recreation events.
>> I recently got a bunch of leather for free, <<
Leather opens a lot of options. You can do a wraparound cover that people like for sketchbooks. You can emboss or carve it. Some leather already has heavy texture; some takes dye well; and so on. I love looking at leather-covered books at craft faires.
I love the cover on your pictures! Would enjoy seeing more of your later projects too.
Re: Yay!
Date: 2025-06-18 05:35 am (UTC)I'll definitely have to experiment with the leather! Lots of possibilities.
And thank you re: cover!
Re: Yay!
Date: 2025-06-18 05:45 am (UTC)In fact there are different types of tricks you can do with spines to support those. If a book will be held open flat often, like a sketchbook, then a fabric spine (rather than just glue or whatever) will help that work. You know how, if you glue a lot of stuff onto pages, it makes the book fan out? A book bound for collage can have short strips of paper inserted between the pages to prop them apart a little bit, thus leaving room for embellishments. And there are other tricks for working with different kinds of paper, like the thick heavy paper for watercolor, where you might want a leatherwork needle to sew it. Just a few fun ideas you might run across in making books.