After learning more about commercial bookbinding from one of our customers we gained interest in smaller scale DIY bookbinding. We have been researching different methods and tutorials online about making your own books and have noticed most people aren't using the correct glue. When making your own books the binding will have a much better end result if you use hot melt vs. basic glue.
Sure Elmers will work in bookbinding, but hot glue will make your homemade books stay in tact longer. Hot melt allows for flexibility of the spine making opening and closing your book easier.
Some quick bookbinding tips:
- Make sure all your pages are square & in the correct order
- File the edge of the pages to 'Roughen' them (this makes the surface easier for the hot melt to stick to)
- Apply hot melt evenly (a spreader nozzle makes this easy)
- What you use for your spine/cover material plays a large part in the durability of your book.
- We have put together a DIY Bookbinding Kit that is perfect for getting started. It includes a spreader nozzle, hot melt gun and hot melt sticks!
We at Hotmelt.com are currently working on putting a tutorial to help you with your do-it-yourself bookbinding project. Check back with us in a couple of weeks and hopefully we will have it up! Homemade books are a great for recipes, organizing notes, final projects, photos, gifts, etc.
You might also find our blog post on Bookbinding with Hot Melt and PUR interesting!