Ausfluege ins Paralleluniversum

So the very first thing you should do is measure your book and write it down on paper. Make sure you are measuring from different spots, as book binding is a manual process and sometimes the measurement can vary by 1-2mm. Write down the biggest measurement you get

I write down the measurements for the TOP/BOTTOM and SPINE piece, and add ~3-4mm. This is to account for the inside paper lining thickness and bookcloth when you fold it over the edge.

Adding too many extra mm could make the slipcase too loose and your book will slip out very easily, and making it too tight means you can't put the book in without having to use force and risk damaging the book and slipcase. My slipcases do tend to end a wee bit on the snug side, still easy to push in but need to shake a few times to get the book out, so I usually add a ribbon to the case to make it easier to remove the book.

For this book, my measurements are

SPINE: Length: 210mm+3 = 213mm Width: 32mm+3 = 35mm

TOP/BOTTOM: Length: 137mm+3 = 140mm

Width: 35mm, same as the SPINE piece

DAS measures all the pieces at once. For the FRONT and BACK pieces, you'll have to account in the board thickness into the measurement too, so the math is something like

board thickness*2 + SPINE Length

and the width is 140mm (same as TOP/BOTTOM Length)

BUT, I am bad at math. I had to redo the FRONT and BACK pieces for slipcases soooo many times now I just assemble the SPINE - TOP - BOTTOM pieces first, measure the total from there and then cut the FRONT and BACK. If you hate cutting, and you're more confident in your measurement and math you can also cut the front and back piece at this stage

Another important thing to keep in mind is the grain direction of the board, when you're cutting the pieces the grain direction should be running like this:

Once the pieces are cut, I glue them onto the inside paper lining. Make sure that here the grain direction is also running the same as the board pieces:

After that is done and I have cut the pieces from the paper, I start assembling it:

Make sure that the SPINE piece is sandwiched between the TOP/BOTTOM pieces. A cleaner visual of what I mean by that:

I use the following tools to keep boards in place while the glue is drying:

Magnetic corner clamp, 90° Corner clamp with guide grooves Corner clamp, 90°

Once that done, I note down the measurements for the FRONT/BACK pieces:

As I mentioned before, the formula for the FRONT/BACK Length is

board thickness*2 + SPINE Length

my boards are 2.5mm thick my SPINE length is 213mm so that means 2.5mm*2 + 213mm = 218mm (which is also the measurement my ruler is giving me yay me)

the width for the FRONT/BACK is 140mm (same as TOP/BOTTOM Length)

Once again, make sure the grain direction of your board is correct, glue the inside paper lining to the board

aaaand it's assmebling time!

I like to use my 3kg coin box as a weight for pressing the board pieces down lmfao

After the glue is dry, your slipcase should look like this: