The story of the book

The story of the book

First there was nothing.

Then all the tools started to be gathered up

Ruler

Bone folder

Brush

Scalpel

Needle

Thread

Pen

PVA glue

A Triangle

Thick Cover Card

Fraynot

Cover Cloth Material

Medium Thick Spine Card

Page Paper

First my guide was crafted: a piece of paper was folded and the actual size was marked on the guide. Then MY size was decided and two finish marks added. It was divided in halves two marks made to the sides (10mm) of each of them.

8 Little ‘V’ shaped parts cut out

Three pages were taken for each section

And folded with a bonefolder

The guide was aligned with the inside of each section

8 holes were punctured in each section using a needle

A thread was inserted into the needle

The sewing started from the outside of the section fold

And continued from bottom to top

At the end of every section a gentle tuck was made to ensure that the thread was nice and tight, it was always pulled in the direction of sewing

Second section was added to the end of the first one and the sewing continued

The first section stitches were connected to the following one by inserting the thread through the other sections stitch

At the end of every section it was tucked

and the ends were bound together by inserting the needle between the two sections

Then forming a loop

knot tied up

section to secure the whole book, then the

This was done twice with the last thread was cut

The thickness was measured

then a piece of fraynot was cut 15mm were added from each side to the thickness of the spine

A card spine piece was cut out of the measured thickness

PVA was applied on the spine

Rubbed to remove any bubbles and make sure it’s rigid

the fraynot was glued and centred

Rubbed again to secure it and left for 5 minutes to dry

Spine card covered in glued

The card was glued on the fraynot

And rubbed to get rid of bubbles

Then using my Guide the final size marks were made

And my access paper was cut of with a ruler and scalpel without putting pressure on the paper. Using a lot of strokes.

The same was done on all three sides.

The card pieces were cut for the cover of the final size +6mm for the height and -�1mm for the thickness

The thickness of the book with the two cover cards was measured and a spine piece was cut out of the size -�1 or 2mm.

The parts were put on the cloth material and 20mm of cloth was measured from all 4 sides + two gaps of 5mm were made at the sides of the spine. The positions marked

And the cards glued down to the cloth

The cloth was then rubbed with the bonefolder to push out any bubbles

The cover cloth was bent forwards

and the inside of the gaps was scored with the bonefolder

Corners were bent back at a 45 degrees angle

then cut 1mm away from the card corner

First the top and bottom sides were glued.

Secured with the bonefolder and the access glue wiped off

Then the corners were gently tucked in with a bonefolder

and the other two sides glued and rubbed with a bonefolder

Here’s what my cover looks like

The sections were coated with glue, brushing from centre outwards

And then carefully stuck on to the cover. One side first and then the cover was closed to form a book

I was almost done, I just needed to dry out

I was put under a huge bucket of paint to squeeze me and left like this for an hour to dry

So here I am now in your hands For you to make another one And pass this skill and knowledge To use your hands and share ideas

Photography & Design Rapolas Rimeika Rapolas.Rimeika@my.westminster.ac.uk

Printed on Nine Lives Recycled 80% post consumer waste gloss paper at Westminster University, London 2010