How to Make a Hard Cover Book

nika

Materials (what you need)• Scissors• Glue (glue stick & super glue)• Strong cardboard for your front & back covers measured

slightly larger than the shape of your book (eg. If your pages are A4, you will need 2 slightly larger A4 shaped cardboard pieces)

• 4 Wrapping/decorative paper sized to your story (eg. 4 A4 sized)

• Large wrapping/decorative paper to cover book• Grey led (pencil) & ruler• Hammer• Nail/bodkin (for piercing holes)• Need and thread (for sowing)• At least 4 bulldog clips (for holding the book together)

Binding your book

Make sure your book is in order and facing the right way.

Step one – Add your decorative paper

• Add your decorative paper to your story.• Remember …

– 1st paper will good side down because the undecorated side will be pasted to the front cardboard

– 2nd paper will be good side up. This will be the first page in your book

– Then your story (in order)– 3rd decorative paper is good side down (so you see it)– 4th paper will be good side up (this will get pasted to

the back cover of your book.

Step two – Measure & Cut your cardboard

• If your book is A4, your outside cardboard (hard cover) will need to be slightly larger on the top and bottom of your book. 5mm around the edges is recommended.

The inside of your story will movein later

5mm from top

5mm from bottom

Step three – Clip down your book

• With the bulldog clips, clip down your book to make sure it stays in place

– TIP: put some scrap paper between the clips so that they don’t leave a mark

Step four – Measuring the edge of your book

• With your ruler across the spine of your book - measure 5mm from the edge, across the edge

5mm from the edge

Step five – measure 5mm intervals across your line

• With your ruler measure 5mm intervals across your line

5mm intervals across

Step six – Hammer time• With your bodkin/nail, hammer a hole at

each of your intervals.

– TIP! Make sure you have a board underneath your book so that you don’t put a hole in your table!!!!

Step seven – sowing time

• Now you can start sowing your book together with cotton thread

• TIP: start threading then, back 1 hole, forward 2 holes, back one hole, forward 2, back 1, etc…. This makes the binding stronger.

Making the outside cover

Now the tricky bit, time to make your hard cover.

Step one – Measuring the cover paper

• Place your 2 cardboard covers on your large decorative paper leaving an outside border of 3cm and 1cm in between. Glue them down

3cm

3cm3cm

3cm 3cm

3cm

1cm

Step two – Covering your cardboard

• Cut squares out of the corners (to the cardboards edge) and folder them over (to cover the book).

• Glue them down.

Step three – Pasting the book in• Pull the bulldog clips off your inside book• Put super glue in the inside (spine) of your

hardcover• Place the edge of your book in the spine of the

hard cover making sure you are lining up your threaded edge along the hard cardboard

Line up your threadededge along the edge ofthe cardboard

Step four – Pasting the inside covers

• Paste down the inside page to your hard cover and close the book (this helps to stop creases)

• Open the book and check for creases. Flatten it out with your hand

• Open the back page of your book and repeat process

Step five – Adding your front cover

• Paste your front cover illustration to the front of your book

• You can now contact your book to make it last forever.

Enjoy your book for many years!!!