bookbinding quitter book prototype

The first two attempts at making a hardcover book were miserable and complete failures. For the first attempt, I used some really simple looking instructions from DadCanDo.com. The instructions were so simple that when I followed the steps and completed the book I ended up with a sticky, bent, unattractive pile of cardboard and paper. Even after having dried for a day and half, the cloth that I used for the cover had dark stains from the glue that I used. Unattractive and shoddy looking –

The corners didn’t stick together the way they should and were coming apart a day later –

And the front pages were wrinkled and generally gross –

The second attempt didn’t yield any better results. After sleeping on it, getting some more supplies and watching some YouTube videos on bookbinding, I finally made a decent hardcover book.

I printed the book in four sections of eight pages. In the lingo of bookbinding these are called the signatures. It took me awhile to figure out that the software I am using (Adobe InDesign CS3) does not make this process easy unless you are a commercial printer. In order for me to print a book on my home printer I have to use a series of programs each requiring some of the same steps. Just figuring out those steps took several hours of searching the Internet, posting on forums and sending emails.

For this hardcover I used construction paper instead of the first few attempts using cloth. Much better results –

I have a few more minor problems to fix, but this stands as the prototype for making the Quitter hardcover book.