Has anyone use a bookbinding kit like

http://www.hollanders.com/books/ViewProduc...ec-94463c0cfa00

I'd be curious to get the details on who has tried this and where to best get supplies.

Brent
(Who is a recovering Moleskine addict... "Hiiiiii Brent")

I've always wanted to try it too. Maybe sometime I'll scan some of the stuff out of my printing book and put it here. There's a section about it that has a lot of diagrams- how trim and fold paper properly, how to create signatures ect.

Very pretty. (And yes I had to ring the bell.) There is a place in Greensboro that sells bookbinding things too.

I've been to Hollander's in Ann Arbor and it is an awesome store. After a few months searching Michael's and various local scrapbooking stores for paper, that place was a revelation. I've not tried the kit you linked, but I have used their board, decorative cover and leaf papers, thread, and bone folder . . . if it's the same quality stuff I don't see how you could go wrong.

I'd urge a trip to the local library and a look for these authors:

Manly Bannister (honest!)
Edith Diehl
Arthur W. Johnson
Aldren Watson

All have put together instructive manuals on binding that I find very useful, although Diehl's two-volume colossus is perhaps a little more detailed than one might want starting out. You'll get a sense of what's required in terms of skill before paying for the kit (that style of binding will probably be most clearly described in the Aldren).

Oh, make sure to avoid any fiction references for Bannister. He wrote some really awful pulp sci-fi in the appropriate era.

If you want to try bookbinding, I recommend starting with simply made books. I have led workshops with adults and children in making one-sheet books with good success. Binding a hardcover book is not terrifyingly hard, but to do "Fine Bookbinding" requires a lot of skill and invested time. Try making some of the one-sheet books you will learn about in books you will find in your local library. The ones listed above, in another reply, are good and there are many others available. Try looking on the Internet, searching "one sheet book", "accordion book", "concertina book", all of which are folded from sheets of paper and need no special skills. Also, look for "single signature book" and "pamphlet book", and variations on all of these search terms. Regarding buying bookbinding kits, you need to remember that the kit manufacturer anticipates a level of skill in designing and assembling the kit. I know I don't have the skill to make an object as craftsmanlike as the one shown on the box tops of a lot of kits I have seen. Be wary and stay within your skill level until you are ready to go to the next step and expect to be frustrated. There is a book on boatbuilding somewhere in which the author recommends that every prospective boatbuilder have a comfortable chair among the tools in his/her shop. The chair is where the boatbuilder sits to figure out how to solve the newest problem encountered in building the boat.

If you are interested only in making blank books, you can have a wonderful time sorting through the many book forms, choosing and trying those that are most appealing to you.

If you want to make a book with content, such as an "artist's book", you have the whole adventure of researching book design, typography (even if you plan to do yours in manuscript), book history and so many other places this stuff will lead you.

I made my first book in a junior high school printshop class and have been making them now and then ever since. It is a lot of fun and very pleasing to start with a few simple materials, a sheet of paper, some text you like, images that you scrounged or made, put them together and end up with a real book.

Enjoy your journey. You will find a lot to hold your attention if you don't try to become too complicated too soon.

Flexicat gives some excellent advice... esp. love the key point of the chair... found that so vital when building anything...

also have a look at Japanese bookbinding techniques... as they are very simple to do and are exceptionally strong... with the bonus of looking great

cheers T

Its called the "moaning chair" and its vital in boatbuilding...

Have yet to try my hand at bookmaking, but its on the list... I'm still selecting paper.

If you're just getting started, before you buy a Hollander's kit you may want to take a look at this video:

Bookbinding - A Traditional Technique.

For less than $20 it's a bargain, and covers what weeks in a bookbinding course does for a lot cheaper. You really don't need a kit once you've watched this video. I took notes and screenshots, organized my notes, and that kept me busy for months.

Also, the kits with pre-bound bookblocks don't help you learn to sew on tape or cords, which is a basic skill and makes for a stronger bound book. Kits are convenient, but limiting in their creativity in my experience. You don't get to choose your bookcloth or endpapers, for one thing. And you don't learn how to bind from the ground up.

That said, Hollanders has some of the most beautiful endpapers and other paper for binding I've seen, and their supplies are fantastic. Talas.com is pricey but good as well, and there are videos at papersource.com you may find interesting to teach you how to use PVA (bookbinding glue).

Kevin A. Smith has also written a series of books on binding arts/techniques I cannot do without as a hobbyist bookbinder. They're pricey, but excellent. Especially the non-adhesive binding. With your favorite paper, some leather suede, and some waxed linen thread you can do medieval bindings that are absolutely breathtaking. The bindings at renaissance-art.com employ Kevin's original non-adhesive bindings work.

But I'd start with the Bookbinding: A Traditional Technique DVD if I were you - or see if there are bookbinding classes in your area to attend. It's an obsessive hobby, and once you show people what you're doing, your family will want you to make books for them. "Can you do this sort of binding?"

And then you'll want to rebind your handwritten journals and go in search of a computer program to do that, and... it never ends. Heh.

Nope but I did use a make your own journal kit. I also just made a book-letter for a snailer. I have some Medovalis paper that I plan on turning into a blank book with a soft leather cover.

Kurt

Well thanks, everyone, for the advise and tips. I finished my first binding over the weekend, and I'm rather pleased at this first attempt.

Turns out there is a dozen or so really good binding videos over on youtube. Between online researching and these videos, and the nice folk over at John Neal Books (I did not know I worked only a few miles from these guys) - I was able to mostly cobble together a personal journal. For paper I ended up using the pages out of a Levenger notepad. I did a cloth binding to finish it up, and I cannot wait to finish my current journal so that I can actually start writing in this one!

And if I can do it, just about anyone can! So if you've wanted to try your hand at this, go ahead and give it a go. I could even help a total novice get started, but I'd get out of my depth pretty quickly, but I'll help if I can.

Brent

Hey Brent! Glad you were able to find the place. It's like a hidden cove of small and wonderful things.