#bookbinding links

2. Folding of papers to create signatures.

1. Printing out of materials (If you intend to print out a book, not just bind a blank book)

I personally use this cream coloured paper from staples (about 17$), as a nicer paper than the harsh bright white, but also a paper that isn't super high end and expensive.

I just use my hands at first, and then I either use a triangle/protractor/creditcard-type thing or a seal's rib I found on a beach to go over it again to entirely flatten it (normal people who aren't a cheapskate purchase a bone folder. But I've honestly found using a triangle works perfectly for this, so I haven't really been inclined to buy one). Normally after this I set it in a 'press' either squished beneath books, or set inbetween books on a bookshelf that then is tightly wedged with other books, to fold them as flat as possible. As of 2026, normally I skip all the putting into the press part until punching the holes for the signatures, or once it's sewed together and I glue on the linen backing (since I need to put it in the press by then anyways).

Please ignore how messy my desk is god the triangle is beside the papers in the middle to be folded into a signature.

3. Punching sewing holes into the signatures.

I've created a punching cradle for myself, and I use a template to first denote where the holes will be punched and then punch them through with an awl. Then the signatures go back into the 'press'

Difficult to see, but the long piece of paper in the middle has marks along specific lengths where I leave marks for where to punching holes through. I prefer an open ended cradle as that I can hold the papers down with my thumb, but most people prefer a close ended one as the papers in the signatures are exact (which... Yeah I can see why. I find that I get exact enough paper alignment however, but I guess I'm not the most picky perhaps in that manner).

4. Sewing the signatures together

Here there's a lot of variability depending if you want to use ribbons, cord or just sew the signatures together. I use ribbons, since that's the way I learned in hand bookbinding, although that's a bit overkill for small novels. I've whipped up a shoddy but functional sewing frame, which makes this much easier to do. I cut three ribbons to align with the holes in one of the signatures which I'm laying flat on my frame; I tape them to the bottom of my frame and pin them to the frames bar so they align. Then I sew the signature together, passing over and around the ribbons so that the ribbons get clamped to the signatures. For thread, I use white Gutenberg thread (it's just what I have on hand) that's been passed over a chunk of beeswax to both make the threads stick to each other while sewing to minimizing knots, which also makes them a bit stronger and makes the thread last longer. I find keeping the ribbon and thread white minimizes the obviousness in the areas where you can see the thread or ribbons. I buy really cheap white ribbon from the dollar store, since it doesn't need to be nice. I sew using the kettle stitch, so tying a knot at the end of each signature to keep the signatures tight to each other; I press down with my fingers of my other hand when I tie a knot, to make sure it is as close as possible. After that's done, I put it back into the press to flatten again.

A just about finished textblock in the frame.

My (old) beautifully versatile 'press'- there's a half finished book in there, plus a bunch of signatures ready to be punched being pressed. Today I generally just use clamps (the quick release-type, as not having to manually crank them is really helpful) to squarsh the book between books as it adds more pressure.

5. Linen backing

I then cut some linen (I buy those cheap Micheals squares of linen. Also best to be white/light coloured for unobtrusiveness) to paste onto the back of the book; I cut it so it just covers the ends of the sewing holes on the top/bottom, and with about 3 cm of linen off each side of the spine to be glued to the bookboard that will become the covers. I paste it onto the sewn signatures by clamping the signatures between two large books, and then rounding the spine of the signatures, so they can fit nicely within the spine cover once it's made. I do this by lightly hitting the signatures with the flat area of the handle of an Swiss Army knife (normal people use a mallet). I make my own book binders paste to paste the linen down (it's literally just boiled flour and water). Most of the time now I will just mold it with my hands; try to make sure it's rounded evenly the spine and the top and bottoms of the signatures are flush. You can use any glues as well, and most people prefer to use pH neutral PVA since there's issues with acidity in paper and longevity. I use bookbinders paste because it's (theoretically, in my brain) pH neutral, and I'm... A bit cheap. With bookbinders paste, if it's too wet then the papers in the signatures might get wavy though, so you want to make sure it's pretty thick and rather the texture of custard (just follow the recipe properly. I generally make a smaller amount; so usually 1 tablespoon flour/cornstarch to 1/3 or 1/2 a cup of water). I also suggest you try to get the backs of the signatures as close as possible to where you clamp it between the books, as this means that once you've clamped it as much as possible, the signatures will be glued into a closer position to each other, and will not gape between signatures (or at least, not as much) when you are flipping through the book later.

Were ignoring that in this photo I've already added endbands (again, you can move around some steps- I like to add endbands after the bookboard is added as the textblock rests on the bookboard instead of the textblock, which minimizes any bending of the textblock. It's a little annoying to push the needle through the linen on the back, but I don't particularly mind). Rn I tend to do endbands after the linen backing and before bookboards. I like to measure and add lines for where I should be attaching the linen so it's not wobbly.

6. Cut the bookboard

There's a lot of things you can use as bookboard, and I've used varying things as well. I've used chipboard, backs of sketch books, and actual bookboard; many people also talk about thrifting old out of date/offensive books to take apart, or thrifting old shitty binders to rip up. I like to cut the bookboard so that there's a 4 mm overhang from the signatures inside, with a 7 mm space from the hinge for the bookboard.

I find using the heavy duty fixed x-acto blades is best for hand cutting bookboard, as they are the least liable to snap when putting pressure while cutting (I use scalpels for cutting the actual paper, not board, as a rounded edge cuts through cross-grain paper better as the cutting pressure is less horizontal and more downwards, and will not 'snag' the paper and give it little rips which can happen with the above). I find it best to not put a great amount of pressure to get it cut through in one cut, as you're more liable to slip your triangle/ruler- going over it a couple times with more moderate pressure tends to give me more accurate results. As well, using a ruler or triangle that has a flat surface that touches the paper surface will be more accurate as well- there's some rulers out there that hover over the paper since they have a cork bottom, and that means you're going to have more wobble in your cut as well, even when your ruler doesn't move at all.

7. Paste the bookboard to the signatures

I always make marks on everything where it should be aligning to, to keep everything as straightened out as possible. I put paste on the outside of the linen, with cardboard/or some sort of film underneath so no paste gets on the signatures; I then press the cover on, and gently flip it to do the other side. I then place it between books with clamps to press it and it dries correctly without warp. After, I glue on the ribbons in much the same manner. After the ribbons are dried, I trim them along the linen, (or keep a extra centimeter or two on the ribbons off the linen) so it keeps them tidy.

Post ribbon trimming; unfortunately you can't see the outside lines on the linen I denoted for where the boards should be attached. Scalpel which I used to cut the ribbons and the paper is also within the photo (I bought mine off of Amazon for 20$ I think? I got one handle and a pack of 100 blades).

8. Create head/ends bands.

I follow this tutorial for sewing headbands; there's lots of different ways to do it as well. For materials I use DMC embroidery thread (which is pretty thick... At some point I'll probably try actually thread, rather than embroidery floss as you can get more exact and even lines with thread) and cotton twine- I like this one as that I've found it keeps its circumference even, while other twine I had previously been using didn't always do that.

I now use the double-core endbands method, as seen in DAS's video. For the core I use a faux leather cord from either Michaels or a dollar store, and I use polyester embroidery thread, as I was unable to find proper silk embroidery thread, and it was a lot less expensive then what I've looked at online. I bought a set of different colours from Amazon for 30$.

9. Attaching cover papers and spine.

The way I've done them varies depending on my plans for the cover. If you are doing a different coloured spine to the covers, I tend to paste down the paper of the covers first before the spine paper. It is actually better to paste down the spine before the covers; as the spine paper inevitably will not lie straight. As a result pasting the cover paper over the spine paper hides that issue, and covers the wonky edge with a flush, straight edge from the cover paper.

For the spine, what I do is I first add the title, before attaching the spine paper (I do my titles by printing out the title to the size I want, rubbing graphite to the back of it and then tracing aggressively the title over the spine paper). I like to use Oxford hollows for my spine, and generally follow this guide (also done by one of the renegade bindery folks). I however like to paste in a thicker sheet of paper which over the area of the spine to add some heft to the spine and then curving it once it's dried, before glueing the spine paper onto the signatures. An important thing for when you're pasting paper/cloth to the covers, is that when it dries, if you haven't placed it under books/in a press it'll immediately start to curl the covers edges up. To minimize that, place it in a press immediately after you're done with pasting. Adding endpapers will remove/minimize the effect, although you can also get the covers to curl in the opposite direction then.

Cover paper added before spine, which is not recommended. The previous type of embroidery thread I use for endbands is to the right.

Spine being worked on. For this one I cut out tabs for where the spine goes for an easier fold-over, but either way is fine I find.

10. Endpapers

Make a mark of where the text block ends on the covers; measure the amount of space between the edge of the cover to the mark, so you can make guiding marks for where you want the end papers to go. I cut the end papers and actually line them up before pasting- you want to make sure the paper will align to the textblock, so adjustments are often required to the marks you've made following the edges of the textblock. I apply paste to the bookboard, then align the paper to be just inside the marks, gently smoothing it with my hands (I find doing it with an implement can cause warping/tears in the paper or if it's not staying down go over after using your hands with a tool. It's the same with any paper, although thicker paper definitely can take a lot more, and the stock coloured paper I use my triangle on for flattening, but only for edges). Once the end paper is gently pressed down against the cover, I press a triangle into where the spine would bend the endpapers to begin making a fold there; after going over it once or twice, I then begin to fold the book with the triangle still in, so that the crease remains, and after going over it another few times, I put a piece of cardboard and thin plastic (old overhead plastic papers, but others often used wax paper) and let dry overnight. If you don't add cardboard and plastic, the moisture will migrate into your textblock making it wobbly. Once it's dry (and not cold to the touch. Cold means it's not actually dry) I open it back up to add a small strip of paste on the first page of the text block near the hinge, so that it sticks to the end papers, and leave it again to dry over night with the same set up. And voila! You've got a finished book!

Tracing the edges of the textblock for endpapers

Using a triangle to guide the fold of the endpapers

11. Extras

You can also at this point make a extra cover, or add art to the covers on the book, like a nice title or something. You can also add a waterproofing step, which I've been meaning to get around too in my books. Some people have suggested spray acrylics, or simply clear acrylic medium as well, as it'd work (there's some resources out there about it). I personally apply a beeswax/mineral spirits mixture, which another binder in the Renegade discord has been recommending (it's a 50/50 ratio recipe. I just heated my beeswax slowly in the microwave at 1 min intervals, and then added and mixed in the mineral spirits). It very minimally at worst darkens the paper, and leaves a nice sheen along with making the cover water resistant. The book may be at first a bit tacky feeling, but as your hand oils get onto the cover it'll feel nice and smooth. Today I use clear acrylic spray; I find with the beeswax I didn't like the tackyness, and found you could accidentally add too much beeswax to the cover. Also, less involved and both make the book smell bad for a while, lol.

One note: For the icha icha books I swap around some of the stuff as that the paper I purchased isn't big enough to wrap around the whole book- so I actually attach the spine before the bookboards and wrap the bookboards with the cover paper before assembling all of it, to avoid having a line though the bookboard covers. I prefer the way I've outlined above over this method though as this method I personally find a bit more messy. Or, if your paper wraps all the way around you will simply apply it after the book boards and the spine titling is finished.