{"id":43,"date":"2014-04-30T19:00:12","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T18:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stronans.com\/blogSHK\/?p=43"},"modified":"2014-05-08T19:35:49","modified_gmt":"2014-05-08T18:35:49","slug":"the-construction-of-my-first-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stronans.com\/blogSHK\/2014\/04\/the-construction-of-my-first-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Constructing my first book"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is a direct continuation of my previous post on my\u00a0first attempt at a book<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So the next\u00a0step after producing a new book block as mentioned in the last post was to glue the signatures\u00a0together along the spine. I had tried this by bracing the book block with G-clamps<\/a>, two planks\u00a0of wood and two cut to A4<\/a> sheets of old floor laminate. This was an absolute pain to line\u00a0up\u00a0\u00a0properly while you were trying to hold\u00a0the book block in place and you were trying to tighten the clamps at the same time; so I got hold of an old book press (more of which in the next post). This allowed me to lay down a layer of flexible binding glue over the threads and tapes on the tightly gripped backs of the signatures and 4 hours\u00a0later place a layer of mull<\/a> over the top and put another layer of glue over that.\u00a0As the use of rather flimsy ribbon to provide tapes for the first book block had been a bit of a failure I\u00a0bought actual book tapes from the stationers<\/a> I had found which you can see in the first photo below.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1452\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next trick was to add a bookmark ribbon which is glued about 2 inches down the spine to avoid it being easily pulled out. There are\u00a0also\u00a0headbands<\/a> glued under the mull (something I should probably have done for the bookmark ribbon as well). \u00a0I cut the other end of the\u00a0ribbon at an angle just as you find them in mass produced books and I sealed the edge against fraying by coating the very end of the ribbon with clear\u00a0nail varnish. Be careful you don’t use too much as you will end up with a wet look to the end of the ribbon.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1455\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I neglected to take any pictures of the steps of gluing in the end-papers and then gluing the book block into the cover. But this was due to the fact that that part of the process can be fiddly and you need both hands to co-ordinate the process.<\/p>\n

I had cut back the mull and tapes to about 2 cm as shown in some of the tutorials on the web and felt that this was possibly too little area to hold the book block in place. Consequently I think I put too much glue on the mull and tapes when merging cover and block and I managed to glue parts of the spine onto the cover. This is a no-no as this means that the book cannot flex properly when opened which meant I had to do some bending and slight stretching with a knitting needle pushed down the spine of the book once the glue\u00a0was dry so that the book would open properly. Not an ideal situation and I will have to be more careful next time.<\/p>\n

I should also mention\u00a0that I used some plastic sheets (old poly pockets<\/a>) to separate the glued book cover and end-papers while I had them pressed\u00a0so that the paper of the book and the inside end-paper did not warp from the moisture from the PVA glue. The poly pockets are easy to get hold of and any excess\u00a0dried glue will simply wash off or wipe away after it’s dried. I pressed the finished book while it was drying using the\u00a0simple expedient of placing the completed closed book between the two wood laminate sheets mentioned earlier and then piling weights from a weight training set on top for some 12 hours before the book\u00a0was presented and taken away.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1464\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I also think that I put generally too much glue on the end-papers, tapes and mull as the book covers bowed\u00a0slightly after completion. Although that may have been due to the fact that the book was finished a day before my wife took it away as a notebook at her music course and had it packed into a suitcase for most of the late drying process. I had made the covers completely flat before being added to the paper block by\u00a0placing the completed cover opened and flat and using the weight pressing method described above overnight.<\/p>\n

Things that I learned<\/span><\/p>\n