Guides
Planning a bookbinding project means picking the structure before the idea
Pick the structure first, then write a project sheet and build a dummy. A planning method for bookbinding that catches errors before you cut anything.
What to take away
- Choose the structure before the materials. The structure sets every measurement that follows.
- Write down the finished dimensions, the grain direction and the adhesive before you cut anything.
- Model collections held by university libraries are the cheapest way to see what a structure actually does.
- Build one dummy in cheap stock for every real book you intend to make.
Start from the structure, not the idea
Most stalled projects begin as an idea about content and never turn into a decision about structure. A book that lies flat, a book that hangs on a wall, and a book that survives being posted are three different objects, and each one rules out choices the others allow.
Pick from a small set first: pamphlet, multi-section sewn on tapes, coptic, stab-sewn, or case bound. The University of Kansas Libraries publishes an exhibit of its bookbinding models collection that shows why the choice matters.
Its description of the four-hole stab binding, yotsume toji, notes that the folds gather at the fore edge rather than the spine, and the sections are stab-sewn from front cover to back rather than through each fold. That single difference changes how the book opens, how thick it can be, and what paper suits it.
Write the project sheet before cutting
One page, filled in before any material is touched:
- Finished trimmed size, and the untrimmed size you will cut to.
- Number of sections and sheets per section.
- Grain direction for text, endpapers, board and covering.
- Adhesive, and its dilution.
- Board thickness and square size.
- What the book must doopen flat, stack, travel, be posted.
Half of these will change once, and that is the point. Changing a number on paper is free.
Make a dummy first
A dummy is the same page count in the same weight of scrap stock, folded and sewn but not covered. It tells you the spine thickness after sewing, which is the measurement everyone guesses wrong. Thread adds swell, and swell decides your spine width, which decides your case.
Ten minutes on a dummy prevents the most expensive category of error, which is discovering the case is four millimeters too narrow after you have covered it.
Use published model and reference collections
You do not need to own historic bindings to study them. The University of Colorado Boulder keeps a bookbinding structures guide with instructional references and video demonstrations of simple structures: the meander book, three-hole and five-hole pamphlet stitches, and stab binding.
Reference collections like this show that a structure you invented already has a name and a known failure mode.
Sequence the work so drying is not the bottleneck
Binding is mostly waiting. Sequence around that rather than against it.
Sequence the work
- Cut and mark all stock, grain noted, in one session.
- Fold and sew. Press the sewn block overnight.
- Make the case. Press it flat overnight, under boards.
- Case in. Press for at least a day, longer with paste.
Nothing in that list is difficult, and none of the pressing steps can be shortened without visible consequences. Where to put a bench and a press is covered in a small-space setup, and the material shopping order is in what to buy first.
Common questions
How many pages should a first project have?
Should I trim the fore edge?
How big should the squares be?
Can I plan a project without knowing the paper?
In this guide
- Good bookbinding work needs two separate benches: one for cutting, one for pressingBest work surfaces for bookbinding projects: cutting and pressing want opposite things from a bench. A comparison of surface types for bookbinding.
- Bindery equipment lists: they reveal more about bookbinding projects than a portfolioWhat studio inventories reveal about bookbinding projects: published bindery equipment lists show where the work really goes, cutting square, pressing flat.
- Paste or PVA for first bookbinding projects: three questionsWheat starch paste or PVA for first bookbinding projects: three questions on reversibility, speed and durability settle which adhesive to buy first.
- Pricing a bookbinding project: cost per finished book, not per sheetA costing method for binding supplies: work out cost per finished book, count a run before ordering, and know where the money actually goes.
- A small bookbinding room still fits four zones: cutting, wet work, pressing and storageSmall-space setup for working with bookbinding projects: four zones in one small room, how to lay out cutting, wet work, pressing and paper storage when the binding.
