I had an idea to translate sashiko stitches onto an exposed spine over coptic stitches. It was the first time that I attempted sashiko as well. I used the ajisai sashi stitch here.

It’s vertically more stretched than the original pattern but it was a good experiment to understand the measurements and process. Thicker signatures would likely work better. I might even reconsider making the base coptic stitch looser/have less sections because of tension issues when I layered the sashiko stitches over.

Materials: Korean Sun Moon Five Peaks foiled cotton fabric (Sewing Doing), Van Gogh paper (Pepin Press), book cloth, metal button, druzy and glass beads
Thread: Multicolored linen
Paper size: 7.4x21 cm
Signatures: 13
Pages: 208

I felt so good when the cover and text block were separate. I was like dang I did pretty good for my first go. Some things I'm unsure on though.

1) I didn't sow in the end papers, the decorative ones, I did a box glue up after(where you glue along the spine and the edge but not the entire page) I already created, sewed and glued the text block. Maybe I should have sewn them in?

2) did I make my spine too big or is the spacing between the spine board and the cover boards too much?

3) my cover seems too large, length wise. Partially because I think I set the text block too far, should I have spaced it out for the spine a little?

4) The cover and text block are not even or square...thinking making I should have trimmed the cover boards with the text block, so it's all perfectly the same?

Anyway, super fun and learned a lot and feeling more confident in making my wife a book for our anniversary. Thanks for lurkin and given feedback, in advance!

I have been making journals as birthday presents. I’ve only made four, but I think they turned out fairly well.

i found this book at my grandpa's house in relative disrepair, missing both covers and with a weird bend in the spine. what happened to curve the spine like this, and how can i fix it for him?

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my latest project. It features the Yggdrasil tree of life and a runic compass embossed in gold foil on brown leather. I'm really happy with how the wrap-around magnetic clasp turned out. Let me know what you think!

How do i keep the spine from slipping and sliding? 😅

Ordered this used book on Amazon and I take pride in having well-cared for books. Ive never done any bookbinding before, but I've lurked here enough to know it has a deceptively tall learning curve. If its fixable for cheap I may attempt it. But if not, whatever, I got it $6 originally anyway.

I decided to make some prints of fanfics for my pre-readers and editors for Christmas. What do you guys think? These are some of my first projects.

Just today, earlier this morning around 10am, I got my first batch of books INTO a store here in downtown Portland, ME and I finally feel like I’ve crossed a threshold of success with this side hustle that I’m finally over and can convince myself that the things I’ve been doing for the past 4 months have more merit than just being creative for creative’s sake.

A while back I started a YouTube channel to document the process and I’m hoping to grow into a community that I’ve been neglecting for the last decade and I’m really excited about it.

I’ve been researching, practicing, experimenting, and now producing, upcycled fabric hardcover books with as much recycled and/or easy access products as possible. And I’m having the BEST time. I’m starting to do livestreams of my process on TikTok too, which has been a lot of fun

Shameless self promotion here but someone might get something out of my videos.

@very.hot.business on Tk, Yt, and insta

https://www.tiktok.com/@very.hot.business?_r=1&_t=ZT-9AYeuOebvzB

https://youtube.com/@very.hot.businesses?si=xxA66p739WHTiGUa

my question is about cutting bookboard

ive been just kind of hacking at it with a razorblade, which takes so long and results in a kind of ugly line. but ive seen all the people online cutting those quick clean lines, so my question is- what is the most efficient way to cut 2mm board, and what tools do i need to do it?

I'm in the midst of making a patchwork leather journal, I have multiple leather patches ready to be glued together but i'm not sure what glue I should use for them before the final leather patchwork 'sheet' gets glued to the greyboard cover.

The leather is roughly 1.4mm thick and i'll be stitching the pieces together with linen thread so the glue is mainly there to keep each pieces aligned while i punch the holes and sew, so something fast drying would be ideal since ill be glueing 2-3 pieces at a time then sewing.

I want to share my latest work. I make notebooks like this as a gifts for my friends. Recently, I saw a post in this group with a beautiful pattern on the cover, and I decided to repeat it.

Hey y’all. I’m trying to find and decide which material is best for printing covers. I’m looking for something matte and mostly smooth. I don’t want too much of a linen texture. I’ve seen people use PPD printable canvas on Amazon. But they had problems with it being too thick because of its gsm or with it cracking along the hinge. Any suggestions? I’d love to see photos of your book bindings with the materials you’ve used for your covers!

Made it for a friend's birthday. Still have some warping when attaching the end pieces, but that is definitely just poor technique. Also did not get to trim this since oh lord it THICK (1.75"). But, it is sanded and the cover turned it beautiful. I was going to add gold lettering to the front to make it read "Holy Bible." Though, between you and me, it looks tacky and I didn't want to respect the book like that.

Made this for a friend's birthday. I'd credit the artist of the covers, but I know her personally and she requested to be anonymous. It was originally supposed to be a hard cover (see the last image), but the ink bled when I applied glue to it. The ink bled in the softcover too (the little red patches), so I'll need to figure out how to resolve that. I also tried printing on bookcloth and then combined them in 3 pieces. That part actually worked great, though the colors were dull and faded.

Thankfully this didn't need trimming; sanding worked like a charm. I also used bookcloth to act as end pieces. That feels weird for a softcover book, but I already glued them on before I decided to make it a softcover.

Hi everyone! I'm exploring an idea for a DIY bookbinding kit designed for readers.

The concept is a kit that lets you create your own hardcover reading journal, with pages to track books, ratings, favorite quotes, and reflections.

I'm considering a price of $54.99, but the product isn't available yet.

I'd love some honest feedback:

1. Would you consider buying this at $54.99?
2. What would you want included to make it worth that price?
3. Would you prefer this over a regular bookbinding kit or a finished reading journal?

I'm researching the idea before investing in inventory, so critical feedback is especially helpful. Thank you!

Hi, I'm trying to make my own Paper Republic sort of dupe but dont know which leather to use.

I found the leather in the first photo, but I dont know if it could be used to create the exact thickness and consistency of the book in the last two photos.

Thoughts?

Hi everyone! I'm exploring an idea for a DIY bookbinding kit designed for readers.

The concept is a kit that lets you create your own hardcover reading journal, with pages to track books, ratings, favorite quotes, and reflections.

I'm considering a price of $54.99, but the product isn't available yet.

I'd love some honest feedback:

1. Would you consider buying this at $54.99?
2. What would you want included to make it worth that price?
3. Would you prefer this over a regular bookbinding kit or a finished reading journal?

I'm researching the idea before investing in inventory, so critical feedback is especially helpful. Thank you!

Hey everyone! After getting some awesome feedback from a fellow binder on another sub, I just finished updating a free web tool I built called Paper Foundry https://paper-foundry.com specifically to solve a few headaches when printing your own textblocks and notebook inserts.

Most printable paper sites just give you static PDFs that get shrunk by printer drivers or leave awkward 1.5mm cutoff boxes on the right and bottom edges. This tool calculates pure vector geometry in true physical millimeters right in your browser.

What’s in it for bookbinders:

• 2-Up Folio / Signature Mode: Toggle on the "2-Up Folio / Center Fold Line" option (especially in Landscape on US Letter, Legal, or A4) and it splits the sheet into two symmetrical pages with an inner binding gutter, plus subtle top/bottom registration notches and a center fold line for your bone folder or awl.
• Auto-Balanced Even Margins: For Dot Grid and Graph paper, the engine calculates how many whole cells fit and automatically centers the remainder so all four margins around your pages are identical—no weird half-dots or truncated squares at the trim edge.
• Built-In Notebook Presets: Includes standard US Letter, A4, A3, Legal, and A5, plus pre-configured dimensions for Traveler’s Notebook (Regular & Passport), Pocket / Field Notes (3.5 × 5.5"), B6 Slim, and JIS B5.
• 9 Customizable Templates: Lined/Ruled (College, Wide, Narrow 6mm, ISO 7mm, or custom spacing), 5mm Dot Grid (with adjustable dot diameter and grey/black ink presets), Cartesian Graph, Isometric, Hex, Cornell Notes, and Sheet Music.

It’s 100% free, runs locally in your browser with no watermarks or sign-ups, and lets you print directly to PDF or download the raw SVG vectors.

If the mods and community find this useful for making custom signatures and inserts, I'd love for this to be considered for a pin or addition to the subreddit's "Tools and Supplies" resource list!

Let me know if there are any other specific ruling styles, imposition layouts, or trim sizes you use in your bindings—happy to code them in.

looking to practise endbands

I took an old paperback (silence of the lambs) and sliced off each effort. Using what i have lying around i tried some Mouline embroidery floss and some Guterman Poly Thread. with cores of leather, doubled leather, string (waxed) and 3d printer filament.

happy with my efforts so far, lots more practice needed before attempting on a proper project.

I was curious if anyone had other ways of practicing that didn't involve hacking up old books? (not that i mind too much doing that).

Just added a soft cover to the book, just adding pressure to it while it dries. Figured large and heavy textbooks would do the trick.