The tutorial that I followed included adding these decorative end tab things so I figured I would do it too! That part was super easy and I had all of the materials at hand (book cloth and a piece of leather twine.
Then, to make the cover, I used 2 canvas artist boards from a local dollar store. 'Real' bookbinding cover material is quite expensive where I live (~30 dollars; vs the 2 bucks this canvas boards cost). Sadly, the book binding cloth I did buy, was only available in sheets that were not large enough for the entire book. I therefore had to use two pieces so I have a seam on the cover. To press the cover closed, my previous press (2x6 boards) wasn't sufficient so I enlisted the help of two cutting boards. I placed some paper between the cover and the boards to help mitigate getting glue on them. The larger boards also help stop the covers from warping as the glue dries.
Once I was satisfied sufficient time had elapsed for the book to dry (24 hours, I was being extra careful) I took it out and here we are! You can also see here that the assembled package is sitting on the portion of my desk that isn't finished yet. I'm still working on my table top as time permits.
Here's the book on top of the Kingdom Death rulebook. Same size! You can also see here that the cover of my book is filthy. I hadn't cleaned my desk sufficiently and this book cloth shows everything, plus I was a bit messy with the glue so now I have some smudging. I'm not happy about that and will have to be more careful next time.
Once the cover is open you can see how I affixed the construction paper which serves as the inside cover. Most books will have a piece that continues the full length (it would be loose and cover the expansion page) but I didn't have large enough paper that was acid free. It would just be aesthetic though so it doesn't bother me like this.
Open book. You can see how the spine is flexible and no portion of the pages are lost due to the binding process. Some binding methods cut the spine off of the signatures (the sub assemblies) and glue them direct to the spine, which results in a loss of some of the image. Because its sewn it doesn't have that issue. It's super sturdy with the stitching and aside from all of the drying time, and the travel time at each stage, across the city to find supplies for the next step, this probably took around 4 hours to do. Not bad when compared to other hobby projects! I will definitely bind the next batch of Wave 4 rulebooks when they come out.
Cool project! Thanks for sharing.
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