How to Bind a Book at Home

In this video, actress/musician/writer Catherine Taormina demonstrates how to print and bind a book at home. The first step is to print a series of four-page signatures consisting of standard printer paper folded in half. Next, you sew each signature along its fold to hold it together. After each signature is itself sewn up, all the signatures get sewn together. ...And then there's a bunch of stuff related to creating a tape binding, rubber cement, and so on.

It's a labor-intensive process (and you've got to be at least a little handy with a sewing needle), but the result is impressive -- a book with a real binding that will hold together. Watch Taormina's detailed step-by-step instructions:

For more on Taormina's book of poetry (as shown in the video), and some other online resources, read on after the jump.

How to Bind A Book: Bookstore Quality With At Home Materials Traditional Style With String! How Exciting! Now you can make the book you always wanted! If you are a writer and you have found you must do it yourself, this bookbinding process will fulfill you in some way. I did not include much on how to do the page layout, but page layout does take most of the time and alot of preplanning. If you've gone as far as I have then you will put your brains to that part. The only thing I left out is that you can wax the string. I used regular cotton sewing string doubled. The video spanned a couple of days as I was doing other things and I am losing more hair each day due to chemo for Hodgkins. I am happy to be somewhat functional and making a book has certainly given me a sense of accomplishment. Another thing I have discovered to do differently is to space the front and back cover further away from the spine prior to gluing - more than the suggested 2 spacers in width! That will allow the bind lay straight and flat. This book is print-to-order so if you'd like a copy please contact me for details! If I left anything out or you'd wish to contact me about this video please leave a message for me at myspace.com/rockstarsissy