Hi everyone! I wanted to share this leather journal I recently finished. The cover features a stained glass-style rose design with hand-painted details. Swipe to see the back and the details on the embossed spine. I’m really proud of how the colors and textures turned out. Let me know what you think

I wanted to originally rebind my favorite book for a baby shower… but after three attempts of casing in wrong and only a few days left to get it right…. I decided on making a removable hard cover case. It also captured a few of my reader friends who want special cases for some of their favorite books… but don’t want to rip off a special cover. This is a great way to preserve the original cover while adding a cute but protective case to a book.
P.s if anyone has any suggestions for making the pulling the soft cover book out of the pockets easier I’d love to hear them. I want to limit the movement of the soft cover when/ if it has to be removed.

Recently mom gave me a bunch of loose paper and asked me to bind it. Initially I did perfect binding by fanning out the pages and only using glue. While that was sturdy I did find it more prone to damage in the long run. Without hesitating I decided to try overcast binding based on this Video I had seen a while back. And I gotta tell you, it worked amazingly. I enjoyed the entire binding process, and it wasn’t even that difficult.

Few tips:
1. I used a blunt needle, which helped not to accidentally pierce and damage the thread.
2. Having the sewing directions match the direction in which the holes were made helped a lot.
3. Every now and then go back and tighten the thread.

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a very thick hardcover book with 1,248 pages. It's approximately 8–10 cm (3.1–3.9 inches) thick.

I'm mainly concerned about the top of the book. The parts of the cover near the front and back seem to sit a little loosely against the text block, almost as if there is some separation. The top edge of the pages also seems to bulge outward slightly in the middle.

When the book is standing upright, this is more noticeable at the top, whereas the bottom seems to sit much more flush against the cover. The spine itself appears to remain straight.

I realise that the text block isn't necessarily supposed to sit tightly against the back of the cover, and I understand that the considerable thickness and weight of a book like this might cause some unevenness. However, I'm unsure whether the difference between the top and bottom, along with the slight looseness around the top corners, is normal or could indicate a problem with the binding or the way the text block is attached to the case.

Does this look normal for a book of this size, or would you be concerned about the binding? Is there anything specific I should check to make sure the text block is securely attached?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Howdy.

What are some less common things you recommend or found useful?

Crepe rubber squares I've found recently to be very useful for removing a lot of old tape gunk for instance. Though I need to figure out a good brand for purchasing. I was leant this one by someone else.

I'd love to hear random stuff. and bonus if you have a specific dealer you prefer for a reason (as opposed to amazon cheapest etc)

Hi all,

I started to make my own tooling on CNC mill, and it looks like it easy, fast and is working.
My only issue now are designs. Are not very artistic person, so I can’t design my own and I have issues finding existing designs I can copy.

Do you know any books or databases of tooling used for bookbinding? It would be also interesting to distinguish them by time they were used, or where etc.

Hi, I need to bound a book for a class project. It has to have printed words. My professor told me that Michael's has leather and twine but anything else that's helpful?

One letter didn’t adhere on the cover and I tried to reapply just that letter and it looked even worse. Now I’ve been picking trying to get the one letter off to no avail.

Any advice on how to get this off or am I screwed?

Hey everyone. So I kinda messed up and bought the wrong sizes of leather so now I’m planning to make a patchwork journal using the leather scraps I have. However, the leather isn’t thick enough. I want to add backing to make it look right but if I’m going to sell these in the future, it needs to look good and hold the structure.

What backing should I use? I see folks using a material on tik tok but idk what it is. 🥴

Hi!! I’ve never fixed a book ever but this just happened and I would like to try and fix it to where this isn’t visible. I’m just in need of some advice and help. Thank you all so much in advance!

Hi everyone,

I’ve got a hardback bible, relatively inexpensive, but it’s becoming quite flimsy after a few years, it’s some type of cardboard material I think.

I can feel that it’s beginning to get pretty worn down and i want to preserve it as I’ve scribbled loads of notes on the large margins over the years.

I’m interested in possibly getting it bound, preferably with a hardback material, or if leather is easier perhaps this is a better option. I’ve done some googling but I have no idea what kind of shop or specialist could help me. Does anyone know any shops in or around London that could advise and help with re-binding? I’m such a novice I don’t really know where to start… I’ve done some googling but to no avail. Any recommendations much appreciated. Cheers!