A Steno Pad for My Thoughts
Blah, Blah, Blah. Connect the dots. This blog is now an archive only. No new entries will be posted, please visit our new blog here.Bookbinding for the rest of us.
I have been wanting to get a album with vellum overlays for awhile to put all my prints and drawings that I don’t have hanging on our walls since we have tons of windows and very little wall space. Knowing how my pile of prints was growing it was getting a little ridiculous without doing something with them. Enter the album. Trouble is this crazy these things are crazy expensive like $60 to $100 expensive and I always seemed to talk myself out of it. Enter Paper Source. You know what they have? Text blocks for bookbinding and they sell the ones with the vellum overlays! (They are sheets are semi-translucent vellum pages between each of the pages.)
I bought the extra large white photo album text block which measures 10″ x 14″ and is large enough for most of my prints. (See what you get in when you buy from Paper Source in this photo.) Perfect and the crazy thing, with the book cover boards, was a mere $23. Count me in. I did it wrong the first time and had to take it apart but I figured out a way it worked for me and I’m pleased as punch and considering all the gifts I can give with all the other $10 and under text blocks Paper Source carries. (They have address books, date books, it goes on and on.) Enough fan fare, here’s the book I covered with fabric.
The fabric I chose is a canvas material so it had some weight and durability to it. Before I started, I looked at Paper Source’s online video of how to bind their datebook using a kit they sell. Some of the information applied but I wasn’t using their linen cloth tape for the spine since they were out and I wanted the fabric to wrap around the whole bit. However, do watch it since it offered helpful information and showed you the basic process. I also looked at the instructions for How to Bind Your Own Hardback Book over at Instructables which was very helpful, too. The trick to me was realizing I needed to cut out a piece of cardstock for the spine section which would lay in between the two book covers the text block comes with. You can see this in the photo below. (Note the white section in between the two grey book covers.)
I cut the white cardstock spine cover bit 2.5″ wide since that was the width of the spine of the text block I bought and just as tall as the covers. When I glued it to the fabric, I left a 1/4″ space on either side of the book covers for the fabric to wrap around the spine and open easily. The fabric was cut so it was about 1.5″ wider all around. It is one continuous piece from back cover to spine to front cover. You glue down the covers and spine and then fold up the edges. Watch that video though so see the corner cutting and the pasting down of the end papers.
See the spine is the piece you have to cut from cardstock which is not included when you buy it from Paper Source. But it looks so cool and professional that I’m smitten. I used Yes! Paste for pasting the fabric to the cover fronts and the rest some Bind-Art PVA glue. I used what I had on hand not being terribly considered about it lasting for a millennium.
Once it was done and weighted down overnight so it dried well then I started putting my prints in. I decided to add the print information to the overlays so I would remember the who, when, what of each. For the prints themselves, I used the adhesive photo corners so no adhesive or tape touches the print themselves. Awesome, now I have room for more prints!
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5 Comments Add your own
1. francie | March 28th, 2008 at 6:59 am
so awesome! thank you. i can’t wait to make a book of watercolors this way.
2. daria | March 28th, 2008 at 7:47 am
so excellent, I love the print album idea, & am delighted to know about the small book blocks. thanks!
3. Emma | March 28th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Very inspiring! Thanks for the links.
4. Stacie.Make.Do. | March 28th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
This rocks in such a big way. Thanks loads!!!
5. Lucy Pope | April 1st, 2009 at 12:24 am
Thank you for sharing your insight! I have a question - did your text block have a mesh along the spine? When you set the text block in the center how/where did you hide that? I am assuming it attaches to the covers to hold it together… I would appreciate your guidance on this - thank you.
I'm curious about your two cents. You smart cookie!
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