Recently I saw a video of bookbinding with linen that was adhesive on one side. I immediately wanted to try it and set about looking for some adhesive linen. Having searched and searched wherever I could I finally stumbled across some on Etsy and bought some. They didn’t arrive for a few weeks and in the process of a busy life and all that I completely forget. Until late one night when I got back from work and saw a package waiting for me. After a very long and frustrating day, all I can say is:
Of course, I began planning which book I would rebind and how I’d go about doing so. Mentally preparing and all that ;). I had a few different books I was sort of willing to rebound. I planned on giving the book a soft feel to it and wanted to pick a story that reflected the cover. I eventually picked a book my sister had given me after going through her books. It was old and definitely looked thrifted. I had never read it before so what fun is it to read for the first time a book that you bound yourself?
The first step was to take the existing cover off. I planned on using a nice and sharp x-acto knife, carefully slicing where the end pages connected to the cover. That was my plan anyway. That didn’t exactly happen. Turns out the spine itself was glued to the cover. And while I could’ve probably used an iron to un-glue it (so to speak), I didn’t feel like it. 😀 So I applied the linen directly to the cover with the text block within. Which was a little weird, let me tell you and don’t necessarily recommend it. But it worked and I got everything to fit.
I measured the right amount of linen needed, giving an extra inch around the perimeter. After cutting it out, I cut the corners at a 45-degree angle, giving about an eighth of an inch of space from the cover. Then I let it sit under a tall stack of books for a bit. After I was assured that the cover and linen were not going to un-stick themselves, I painted the cover the desired color and used a stencil to paint on the author’s name and title of the book. I did the same for the back cover and spine. The final step was to seal it will glue (mod podge, Elmer’s glue, or adhesive spray all work well) and pound in some corner protectors.
Thus, my finished book! Highly encourage you to try doing bookbinding projects with linen. So fun and so worth it!
