Rounding the Spine / Bookmaking

Prepping the Boards and Rounding the Spine 

Now that you have your signatures sewn, it's time for the next step.

Supplies:

PVA glue
Sand paper on a sanding block
 (I've used a piece of sandpaper applied to a remnant of a board)
Liner paper (regular white paper)
Cover boards
Your sewn signature
Small brush
Weight
Bone folder

First, you will need to line your boards. Using a PVA mix glue, glue paper liners onto each side of your boards. This paper can be just regular weight printer paper.

When dry you will sand off the excess.
Sanding off is much easier than cutting.


 

Now place the signature between the boards. Pull out the signatures until they stick out about 1/4 inch. Hold the whole thing with a weight.

Using PVA glue and a small brush, apply glue to the signatures.



You want to get a bit into those round edges, between the signatures.



Rub off excess glue with your thumb. Let dry almost 5 minutes, or until damp but no longer sticky.

 With a bone folder start to flatten those rounded spines.

Here you can see the difference between a flattened section and the other.

Lift and pull the fore-edge of your text block, then roll your thumb over the top of the spine to start to round out the spine. You are trying to get the spine to curve in at the top and bottom (not the head and tail of the book). When you have worked over one side, flip the text block and work the other side. You can use a rubber hammer on larger text blocks. This small one won't show a lot of curve.

Here is the finished rounded spine.

Keep watching...

 Soon: The naked part, or in other words, Decorating the Boards...