Bookbinding was an accidental discovery that has been an enjoyable learning experience for me. Special thanks to the YouTube rabbit hole.
I don’t know why I never considered making books to be doable. My earliest experience with making books was folding printing paper in half, using construction paper as a cover, and stapling the fold. Turns out, that’s considered a form of bookbinding.
Hahaha… (*°ヮ° *)
Starting off, there were a lot of binding techniques that I wanted to learn because they looked nice and fancy, but I knew that I needed to get better at the basics first. So I started with perfect binding.
What is Perfect Binding?
Perfect binding is when you use a layer of adhesives (glue, thermal glue, etc.) to hold the pages and cover together at the spine of the book to create a perfectly flat, uniform book. Perfect-bound books are usually used for softcover books, and the pages are individually glued together. Most commercial paperback books use this method of binding because it is easier and more cost-effective for mass production while maintaining a clean, professional look.
Perfect Binding Materials
This is a basic view of the materials I use when making books. I have other book presses depending on the size and thickness of the books I’m making. You’ll also want a durable stainless steel ruler or any ruler you can’t accidentally cut. I like using the non-skid Bazic ruler I got from the 99-cent store when everything was still 99 cents. It makes cutting a lot easier since the ruler can’t move easily while I’m cutting.
I use either the black mini-metal clips in the photo or bulldog clips for bookbinding. I’m not a fan of the standard binder paper clips, and I don’t recommend using them. This is mostly because the binder paper clips tend to cause dents on the paper. All clips do it, but I’ve noticed that the binder ones are more visually obvious, especially when you need to keep stacks of paper clipped for long periods.
Unless your budget allows for a perfect binding machine (a good commercial-grade one is a few thousand), I recommend only making small, thin-paper books since other binding methods are better suited for thicker books.
Most likely, you’ll be working with a makeshift book clamp or you bought a book press on Amazon.
FYI: Most book presses on Amazon are NOT worth the high price tag. I’ve bought a few to try out from there, which is why I am not recommending anything. However, if you do not have the tools or skills to make your own makeshift book clamp, then I recommend you wait for a sale or buy a flower press. Flower presses are very similar in size to a normal, basic book press for almost half the price.
The most common glue that most people recommend for bookbinding is PVA glue, which is affordable and accessible in any craft or department store. It’s the easiest glue to work with. While you can use a glue gun for bookbinding, I don’t recommend it unless you are quick to spread the glue evenly on the spine and put the covers on. There is also thermal binding, where you can put a glue strip on the spine and use a thermal binding machine to melt the glue evenly on the spine. There are a few cheap ones on Amazon (less than $100), but, again, if you’re just starting and want to keep costs low, I wouldn’t recommend it.
For the covers, I recommend going with a heavier GSM than your inner papers. So the order should be inner paper (lowest GSM) -> end paper -> cover (highest GSM).
What is GSM? GSM stands for grams per square metre. It’s used to measure the weight of the paper. The higher the GSM, the thicker the paper. Usually, when buying reams of paper, you will see the paper weight (in lbs. for USA) and the accompanying GSM value. For example, most reams will have something like 20lb, 75gsm (or 75 g/m^2) on the product cover.
For me, I like to use 90gsm for my inner pages, 176gsm for the endpapers, and 300gsm for the outside cover. This is mostly because I found out that the 176gsm paper I use does not handle glue very well.
Even though I don’t sell a lot of perfect bound books, perfect binding is still a good starter project for me to try out different types of PVA glue brands to work with. It allows me to test how easy it is to apply, how quickly it dries, and its overall durability.
My first perfect-bound book was a small 4×6 in., 30-sheet blank book with a yellow construction paper cover and two folded light blue endpapers. I still have that small book with me as a test book. It’s not environmentally friendly to throw out test projects, so I use the pages for scratch paper and to practice hand-cutting the edges with a ruler and an X-ACTO knife.
Since then, I’ve made a few more perfect-bound mini-books to give out for free. I mostly give them out to family, but when I have enough extra materials from my orders, I make mini books out of them as freebies for my buyers. This ensures that my materials can have a chance at a second life. Depending on the shape, I’ll either hand stitch them or glue them after perforating the pages, making them easier to rip out.
Let me know what you guys think about the perfect binding method. Feel free to share any tips and tricks you’ve learned over the years.
Thank you for reading!
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