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3 Comments

  1. strangerontheearth
    June 27, 2016 @ 12:32 pm

    I made a travel journal recently. I used matt board for the covers, and book binding repair tape (3″ wide) for the spine. It has three signatures made from a variety of recycled pages. My husband helped me put it together. It was very challenging. We did a variation on a straight/pamphlet stitch.

    It was very sticky, punching holes in the repair tape. Can you suggest a sturdy material for a spine? Is the book stronger if you use one big piece of heavy paper for the cover(s)? Would love some advice! Thank you!

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    • Ali Manning
      July 5, 2016 @ 10:36 pm

      If you want to have hard covers like the mat board then you’re on the right track by using a soft spine and sewing your signatures to it. But it’s hard to punch and sew through sticky things! Instead of the tape, you could use a variety of materials for the spine, such as book cloth or sturdy fabric. But what I would be tempted to use is Tyvek. You know those tyvek envelopes that you get in the post office – they’re super strong but thin plastic. You can buy roll of the stuff but I would just recycle an envelope. It can decorated with acrylic inks if you don;t like the plain white.

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