Paperback book from beginning to end (writing, photography, publishing, printing, and binding!)

I did it again!

This one will be a gift to all my library programs coworkers at our meeting tomorrow (hopefully I finish binding all of them by then)… :grimacing: I’ve got 2 of 9 down so far.

I took all photos that appear int he book during our RV trip in 2018-2019, wrote about each place we visited on a blog, then adapted some of the posts to include them in the book. I also created some poems to go along with some of the photos.

I printed all pages at home, then used @Edel’s wonderful video to learn how to bind the book.

This time I decided to go the paperback route to save time, so I only sewed for the binding—no glue.

I sewed the signatures together, then to each other, and finally I sewed the paperback cover onto all signatures (I trimmed the signatures a bit so the 8.5 x 11 cardstock would easily wrap around them).

I did modify the signature binding just a tad. I sewed right through every signature as I bound each together, as the paper was thin enough to make this easier.

Finally, I used some colourful duct tape to hide the sewing on the cover, as well as to just make the cover prettier.

Thanks for looking!

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Wow! Must feel so satisfying to create a whole book by hand. I felt that way when I finished a short zine, but this effort is way beyond that. (!)
Love the rainbow tape on the binding, and the whole project! (Even has an oh-so-official ISBN number, I see.)

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What a satisfying and impressive project!

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This is great! It looks so neat and professional. Well done you.

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I love it!

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I am sure they will be so touched by this! It’s such a cool and personal gift.

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What a labor of love! You are becoming a bookmaker extrordinaire!

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This is so special. The libraries will love it, and wow, ALL by hand? Amazing!

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Thank you for your kind words, everyone!

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