Toby (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} tobycraig) wrote,@ 2005-06-04 08:44:00 |
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Book Assembly Photo-Journal
Hi, this is really, really long and has lots of pictures, so I've just gone and cut the whole thing. It's a goofy little photo-journal of the book assembly of my stuff for the upcoming MoCCA show. I hope you like it.
In a previous journal entry I posted a bunch of stuff about scanning my pages. After I scanned everything for the first two parts of my book (96 pages) I set about fixing any really nasty problems in photoshop, but I made a conscious effort this time to just ignore stray pencil marks or places where I painted outside the lines. I wanted the final printed copy to reflect more of the look of the actual page than a perfect looking page.
When I had final high-resolution artwork I set about shrinking them and moving panels around for my final book. The web formated pages are around 10" x 7", but my book format is around 6" x 7". More of a square. I usually planned my drawings in tiers. Each page has two tiers. So to fit the rectangular piece into the more square book I just take one page and add to it half of the next page, creating a three tier final artwork. (What was two rows on the web, is now three in print. I hope that makes sense).
So I've got a square page, reduced down to 300 dpi, and then converted to CMYK mode for printing. I take each page and place them in my book design software (sometimes Quark, but in this case I used InDesign at work). My layout was created to print on a sheet of legal sized paper, two pages on each side with the fold in the middle. I ran a few tests to make sure my software and my networked color copier/printer were talking to each-other properly. Eventually I got my InDesign color settings to be as accurate as possible for the printer I was using.
I broke my book into two parts. The 96 original pages had been broken down and reconfigured into 64 print pages. I then cut that in half and basically created two 32 page comics (8 folded sheets). I could have gone even further down to four 16 page comics or eight 8 page comics. These "comics" will actually become what is known as a "signature", (a connected set of pages within a book). The more signatures I had the more binding I would need to do later, but the pages would be bound tighter and look cleaner. *The plan to bind the two books into one didn't come up until after printing. I was initially planning to send two 32 page books to a Print-On-Demand place and just get some standard saddle-stitched books back, but I didn't have time. Luckily I think the book turned out even better than if I had sent it off to a POD. So yay.
Now I've got my printed and folded signatures and it's time to start binding. This is a variation of "Sewing Multiple Signatures on Tapes" that is used for making hardcover books. While making some hardcovers a while back I simplified my method and created an odd little way to make soft-cover versions. I'm going to literally tie my two comics together with thread then glue my cover to the spine.
First I'm going to need some holes, so I need to measure and mark where I'm going to punch those holes.
Next I spread out the signature and pierce it with a needle at each pencil mark (For this I got one of these nice paper punches I found at a craft store).
Now I need to get some thread ready. I've got a five foot work bench that I work on. For every two signatures I usually stretch out my thread from one end to the other and cut that. This will give me just enough thread to get it done and some extra to play with. I take the thread and put it through my needle. You want a needle that is big enough to maneuver in your hands, but not bigger than the holes you made, or so big as to be unwieldy. After threading it, bend it in half and tie the two loose ends together with a fat knot (depending on your thread weight you might need to tie two knots on top of each-other. You don't want the knot pulling through the holes in the paper while you're working.)
Now I've got my punched paper and threaded needle. I put on some comfortable shoes, some background noise (20+ hours of Northern Exposure on my DVR), and have a gallon of water standing by to quench my thirst.
I put my first book down on the work table facing away from me. Grabbing the first signature and flipping the spine back towards me I start with the far right punch and send the needle through.
Then I send it back through the next punch.
Then all the way down to the third punch.
Finally out through the last punch on the far left. I pull the thread tight, careful not to snag the thread inside the book (It tends to ball up inside and if you forget to check you'll get a nice surprise when you open your finished book) also be careful not to pull the end-knot through the starting punch.
Now I flip my second signature onto the first. Take a bit of time to make sure you're putting them in the right order and that the finished book will be correct. This is especially important when you have a lot of signatures, you don't want to sew them in the wrong order. I send the thread up through the far left punch of the second signature.
Then back out through the next...
Now we send it back down to the first signature into the second punch from the left, then back out through the third.
Then back up through the third punch on the second signature, then back out the final one on the far right. You've now returned to where you began. I like to pull the slack back through the holes so that I can pull the loops tight. You want your signatures to be pretty snug. Be careful not to rip the paper or break your thread.
When you've pulled the thread tight and your signatures are bound together it's time to finish off these two signatures. You can just tie a knot with the two ends of the thread or I've taken to sending the needle in-between the two threads just behind the fat knot. Then going back around and through the loop to create a kettle stitch.
Here I'm sending the needle behind the knot.
This goofy diagram hopefully shows the "kettle stitch". (1) Down behind the knot (2) make a loop out away from the book (3) go between the signatures and behind the thread (4) pull the thread back through your new loop. Pull tight.
In this case I'm done with my book so I tie a double kettle stitch. Going back between the signatures and pulling through another loop. If you have more signatures to go then start with the first hole and work back through the others, crossing back and forth between the second and third signatures, then the third and fourth, etc. When you've got all your signatures together finish it off with a double kettle stitch.
The stitch is nice at the end of every pass because it will keep your previous work tight and together while you add your next set of signatures to the book.
Cut off the excess thread and get your needle ready for the next book.
Here's the finished "guts" of my book. If you don't like the results, just get out your scissors, cut the exposed thread and pull the signatures apart. I always mess up on a few books at this stage, it's easy enough to just pull some new thread and start over.
At this point you might want to measure the width of your spine so you can create your cover. I measured 1/4 of an inch and sized my cover to fit. Then printed those out on some tabloid sized paper with a artwork bleed of an 1/8th of an inch.
I printed out my covers on the same networked copier/printer, using a heavier cover stock. Measuring from the left I find my spine edges.
In this case 8 1/4" and 8 1/2".
Now I flip my cover over and measure from the left as before. I put a couple of pencil marks at 8 1/4" and 8 1/2".
Using the backside of a kitchen knife I "score" the paper along the marks. Depending on the cover stock, be careful not to accidentally cut through the paper. You just want to create a groove.
This makes a nice clean fold.
Now I've got an empty cover shell to glue my sewn signatures into.
I've gotten my cover and signatures laid out for gluing. You can use any paper binding glue. I used what was left of my Sobo Glue until I ran out then I used my bottle of Craft Bond. Both work well. I think you want something that will bond to the paper well and still be flexible when dry.
Put a nice coverage of glue on the spine of your signatures. I also like to put some glue on the inside of the cover along the spine, making a little side to side pattern. Try not to get any glue on the face of the pages or the inside covers. If you make a mess just wipe it up.
Squish the signatures into the cover and rub them together (watch out for that glue on your hands!).
After I've glued about five books I like to grab them and slam the spines down on the counter in a stack. Then I put them square on my counter and put a heavy object on top. I keep a bunch of hardbacks, art-books, and phonebooks handy for this reason. I double check to make sure the signatures are as flush as possible inside the cover and rub the spine some more. If you used a lot of glue some may squish out the side, that's okay.
I usually let them dry overnight under the weight before taking them out for cutting. I've had a nice guillotine style cutting machine for a few years, but there are plenty of other ways to cut the books square using a knife, scissors or scraping rig. You could even find a local book bindery and get them to cut down your books. Some copy shops may have book trimmers in house as well.
Here are my finished books. I made 31 copies of my new "Punish the Dead" book and 10 new copies of my "Death Swamp" book (the orange ones) this past week. The sewing takes the longest, I did most of that over a whole week, a few hours a day. The gluing was done in one two or three hour stretch. The cutting goes pretty fast.
This isn't the only way or the best way by far, but it's how I made my books for MoCCA. There are tons of great books on bookmaking and bookbinding. There's even a neat LJ community called "handmadebooks", there are probably other good ones too. Well, that's it. I hope it was somewhat interesting. Please add any questions or point out any errors.
Thanks!
Hi, this is really, really long and has lots of pictures, so I've just gone and cut the whole thing. It's a goofy little photo-journal of the book assembly of my stuff for the upcoming MoCCA show. I hope you like it.
In a previous journal entry I posted a bunch of stuff about scanning my pages. After I scanned everything for the first two parts of my book (96 pages) I set about fixing any really nasty problems in photoshop, but I made a conscious effort this time to just ignore stray pencil marks or places where I painted outside the lines. I wanted the final printed copy to reflect more of the look of the actual page than a perfect looking page.
When I had final high-resolution artwork I set about shrinking them and moving panels around for my final book. The web formated pages are around 10" x 7", but my book format is around 6" x 7". More of a square. I usually planned my drawings in tiers. Each page has two tiers. So to fit the rectangular piece into the more square book I just take one page and add to it half of the next page, creating a three tier final artwork. (What was two rows on the web, is now three in print. I hope that makes sense).
So I've got a square page, reduced down to 300 dpi, and then converted to CMYK mode for printing. I take each page and place them in my book design software (sometimes Quark, but in this case I used InDesign at work). My layout was created to print on a sheet of legal sized paper, two pages on each side with the fold in the middle. I ran a few tests to make sure my software and my networked color copier/printer were talking to each-other properly. Eventually I got my InDesign color settings to be as accurate as possible for the printer I was using.
I broke my book into two parts. The 96 original pages had been broken down and reconfigured into 64 print pages. I then cut that in half and basically created two 32 page comics (8 folded sheets). I could have gone even further down to four 16 page comics or eight 8 page comics. These "comics" will actually become what is known as a "signature", (a connected set of pages within a book). The more signatures I had the more binding I would need to do later, but the pages would be bound tighter and look cleaner. *The plan to bind the two books into one didn't come up until after printing. I was initially planning to send two 32 page books to a Print-On-Demand place and just get some standard saddle-stitched books back, but I didn't have time. Luckily I think the book turned out even better than if I had sent it off to a POD. So yay.
Now I've got my printed and folded signatures and it's time to start binding. This is a variation of "Sewing Multiple Signatures on Tapes" that is used for making hardcover books. While making some hardcovers a while back I simplified my method and created an odd little way to make soft-cover versions. I'm going to literally tie my two comics together with thread then glue my cover to the spine.
First I'm going to need some holes, so I need to measure and mark where I'm going to punch those holes.
Next I spread out the signature and pierce it with a needle at each pencil mark (For this I got one of these nice paper punches I found at a craft store).
Now I need to get some thread ready. I've got a five foot work bench that I work on. For every two signatures I usually stretch out my thread from one end to the other and cut that. This will give me just enough thread to get it done and some extra to play with. I take the thread and put it through my needle. You want a needle that is big enough to maneuver in your hands, but not bigger than the holes you made, or so big as to be unwieldy. After threading it, bend it in half and tie the two loose ends together with a fat knot (depending on your thread weight you might need to tie two knots on top of each-other. You don't want the knot pulling through the holes in the paper while you're working.)
Now I've got my punched paper and threaded needle. I put on some comfortable shoes, some background noise (20+ hours of Northern Exposure on my DVR), and have a gallon of water standing by to quench my thirst.
I put my first book down on the work table facing away from me. Grabbing the first signature and flipping the spine back towards me I start with the far right punch and send the needle through.
Then I send it back through the next punch.
Then all the way down to the third punch.
Finally out through the last punch on the far left. I pull the thread tight, careful not to snag the thread inside the book (It tends to ball up inside and if you forget to check you'll get a nice surprise when you open your finished book) also be careful not to pull the end-knot through the starting punch.
Now I flip my second signature onto the first. Take a bit of time to make sure you're putting them in the right order and that the finished book will be correct. This is especially important when you have a lot of signatures, you don't want to sew them in the wrong order. I send the thread up through the far left punch of the second signature.
Then back out through the next...
Now we send it back down to the first signature into the second punch from the left, then back out through the third.
Then back up through the third punch on the second signature, then back out the final one on the far right. You've now returned to where you began. I like to pull the slack back through the holes so that I can pull the loops tight. You want your signatures to be pretty snug. Be careful not to rip the paper or break your thread.
When you've pulled the thread tight and your signatures are bound together it's time to finish off these two signatures. You can just tie a knot with the two ends of the thread or I've taken to sending the needle in-between the two threads just behind the fat knot. Then going back around and through the loop to create a kettle stitch.
Here I'm sending the needle behind the knot.
This goofy diagram hopefully shows the "kettle stitch". (1) Down behind the knot (2) make a loop out away from the book (3) go between the signatures and behind the thread (4) pull the thread back through your new loop. Pull tight.
In this case I'm done with my book so I tie a double kettle stitch. Going back between the signatures and pulling through another loop. If you have more signatures to go then start with the first hole and work back through the others, crossing back and forth between the second and third signatures, then the third and fourth, etc. When you've got all your signatures together finish it off with a double kettle stitch.
The stitch is nice at the end of every pass because it will keep your previous work tight and together while you add your next set of signatures to the book.
Cut off the excess thread and get your needle ready for the next book.
Here's the finished "guts" of my book. If you don't like the results, just get out your scissors, cut the exposed thread and pull the signatures apart. I always mess up on a few books at this stage, it's easy enough to just pull some new thread and start over.
At this point you might want to measure the width of your spine so you can create your cover. I measured 1/4 of an inch and sized my cover to fit. Then printed those out on some tabloid sized paper with a artwork bleed of an 1/8th of an inch.
I printed out my covers on the same networked copier/printer, using a heavier cover stock. Measuring from the left I find my spine edges.
In this case 8 1/4" and 8 1/2".
Now I flip my cover over and measure from the left as before. I put a couple of pencil marks at 8 1/4" and 8 1/2".
Using the backside of a kitchen knife I "score" the paper along the marks. Depending on the cover stock, be careful not to accidentally cut through the paper. You just want to create a groove.
This makes a nice clean fold.
Now I've got an empty cover shell to glue my sewn signatures into.
I've gotten my cover and signatures laid out for gluing. You can use any paper binding glue. I used what was left of my Sobo Glue until I ran out then I used my bottle of Craft Bond. Both work well. I think you want something that will bond to the paper well and still be flexible when dry.
Put a nice coverage of glue on the spine of your signatures. I also like to put some glue on the inside of the cover along the spine, making a little side to side pattern. Try not to get any glue on the face of the pages or the inside covers. If you make a mess just wipe it up.
Squish the signatures into the cover and rub them together (watch out for that glue on your hands!).
After I've glued about five books I like to grab them and slam the spines down on the counter in a stack. Then I put them square on my counter and put a heavy object on top. I keep a bunch of hardbacks, art-books, and phonebooks handy for this reason. I double check to make sure the signatures are as flush as possible inside the cover and rub the spine some more. If you used a lot of glue some may squish out the side, that's okay.
I usually let them dry overnight under the weight before taking them out for cutting. I've had a nice guillotine style cutting machine for a few years, but there are plenty of other ways to cut the books square using a knife, scissors or scraping rig. You could even find a local book bindery and get them to cut down your books. Some copy shops may have book trimmers in house as well.
Here are my finished books. I made 31 copies of my new "Punish the Dead" book and 10 new copies of my "Death Swamp" book (the orange ones) this past week. The sewing takes the longest, I did most of that over a whole week, a few hours a day. The gluing was done in one two or three hour stretch. The cutting goes pretty fast.
This isn't the only way or the best way by far, but it's how I made my books for MoCCA. There are tons of great books on bookmaking and bookbinding. There's even a neat LJ community called "handmadebooks", there are probably other good ones too. Well, that's it. I hope it was somewhat interesting. Please add any questions or point out any errors.
Thanks!
