You know what they say about the couple that binds books together, right? Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever heard that one either, but I’ll go ahead and say they “stick” together.

Just a little Sunday bookbinding to keep things interesting.

Okay, cheesy lines aside, Ryan did get it right when, in honor of our first “paper” anniversary, he gifted me bookbinding materials from Paper Source in San Francisco! (As irony would have it, I too sought out Paper Source for one of his gifts–a calendar of vintage world maps. I suppose it makes it easy when there’s an entire store dedicated to the theme!)

Paper Source has the works when it comes to bookbinding.

I’d be content to accept a paper gift every year as I think we all know I’m a big fan. I’ve already written an ode to my paper planner, wherein I also opined over the reader’s adjustment from paper books to an e-reader (I’m quickly learning to love both.) And I told you all about the paper notecards I’ve grown addicted to fabricating and sending out across the ocean.

Including some beautiful fabric and paper bookcloth.

Well, it was high time to get crafty again and get going on some homemade bookbinding! My creative writing program back at Mills boasts one of the most respected book arts programs in the country, but between thesisizing and teaching and all that reading, I never got around to taking a class, which I definitely regret. Fortunately, my husband had all the confidence that we could cook up some books of our very own. So, come Sunday morning, we fortified ourselves with coffee and breakfast burritos and got to work!

It never hurts to consult an online tutorial.

First things first, we hunted down a decent YouTube “how-to” video so we would have some idea of what to do with the bookboard, bookcloth, PVA glue, paste brushes, bone folder (yes, bone folder), etc. The one above, excerpted from a four-step tutorial on how to make “Your Very Own Hard Cover Journal,” was a helpful start, especially when it came time to glue in the endpapers (more on that later).

Lining up the bookboard.

It didn’t take me long to realize Ryan’s the patient one in this (bookbinding) relationship. He was meticulous when it came to measuring, glue rationing, you name it. So meticulous in fact, that when I got a most unattractive blotch of glue on our first attempt at the cover, he stepped in and added a second layer. I have to say this was a happy accident, as the extra layer of fabric added a nice density and strength to the finished product, especially along the spine.

And this would be the bone folder.

I wasn’t totally helpless though. We also realized quickly how other household tools came in handy: pencils, scissors, rulers, a calculator, an exacto knife, and spare cardboard.

Sizing, then glueing the black base fabric.

But then it was back over to Ryan…

Time for the black-and-white-checkered overlay!

This may or may not have been when I did some laundry, wrote some notecards, and documented the process.

I’m hungry for pages!

Then it was time to adhere the grey endpapers, found in miraculously the perfect size at a local stationary store (Chile, sometimes you really come through.) This proved to be one of the more precision-demanding steps. But as long as you do it in stages in order to let the glue dry and set the whole thing under a pile of books for a good 15 minutes or so each time, all should turn out fine.

This is just to show measure. You’ll want to glue the endpapers to the bound pages first.

After cleaning up the paper scraps, capping the glue, and drying the brushes, we lifted the pile and realized we, er Ryan, had made an awesome homemade book! With blank pages galore to fill! Ryan keeps asking what I plan to write in this book. He gave me two sets after all, this one and a larger one we haven’t attempted yet. For this, I’m thinking travel journal; for the other, more of a scrapbook. But both will no doubt bear witness to our lives as abroadians, as travelers, as seekers not only of the bookboards themselves, but of all the adventures we can fit between.

Voila!

What do you all think? Any bookbinding tales of your own to share? I’ll be sure to follow up when we complete the scrapbook. (Ryan says I’m on my own with that one.)