Bookmakers often get some puzzled responses when they tell others about what they do. What does that mean? You design book covers? You’re a writer? Wait, you mean you take a bunch of papers and stack them together and make books?! … Why?? Aren’t there factories for that?!

Funny thing is that while some people find the idea of making a book by hand completely absurd, there seems to be quite a large number who appreciate handmade journals and sketchbooks for the time, energy and skill that is put into creating them.

And despite the fact that yes, there are paper mills, printshops and binderies with lots of big machines that can churn out stacks of books, the skill of bookmaking is far from obsolete. There are book arts programs and centers all over the world. At New York’s Center for Book Arts, there’s a waitlist because almost every class fills up weeks in advance. On the West Coast, the San Francisco Center for the Book offers great bookbinding classes for kids as well as adults.

Of course, you don’t have to take a class to learn bookbinding — if you’re good at following written instructions, there are plenty of online tutorials that will walk you through the process to create a basic book structure.  

For the most basic sewn book with a paper cover, check out this great tutorial by blick art materials:

Making a simple-side stitched book 

(Note: By the way, this is a great one for kids as well as adults and could be incorporated into school lesson plans where students have created their own series of artwork or collection of poems and writings which could be presented in book form. And for you mom’s and dad’s out there, when the pages of your kids’ comic books start coming apart, this simple side-stitch is a great way to put the books back together without worrying about dangerous staples.)

Another online tutorial with remarkably clear written instructions and detailed photographs takes you through how to sew the pages of your book together and even put a hardcover on it. It’s divided into two parts:

Make your own journal

(Note: If you like these journal-making tutorials, you should go ahead and download the information onto your own computer. Many of these sites are quite old, and should the webpages move or expire, you won’t have access to them anymore!)

And if you’re good at using needle and thread and want to skip out on using glue, check out these tutorials:

Japanese bookbinding and Binding with coptic stitch

Once you grasp the basic bookmaking skills, it’s time to start making your own variations in terms of style, size, shape, material, and design. For those of you who’d like to share your handmade book designs with others, you could post them on the flickr handbound books pool. Be sure to leave a link in the comments section of this post so that we can all get a chance to see them!

July 7th, 2006