Studio Brief 03: Study Task 6.0

Binding Workshop

Binding methods mock ups

Figuring out which binding method your going to use for a publication can be really hard. Luckily for us we had a class in binding methods which was a good way for me to not only explore methods but also to try and make some myself.


Perfect binding

Perfect Binding is a widely used soft cover book binding method. With this binding method, the pages and cover are glued together at the spine with a glue. The other three sides of the book are then trimmed as needed to give them clean “perfect” edges.

To assemble a perfect bound book, you need to form a crisp block of paper. Then the spinal edge of this block is roughed up with blades or abrasives. This exposes more paper fibers and increases the bonding area for the glue. Glue is then applied along the roughed up edge of the first page. The cover of the book is then wrapped around the block of pages and it adheres to the glue along the spine. After the glue has cured, the three open edges of the book are trimmed as needed to give them nice clean edges. In picture 1 you can see the final result of a perfect bind.

Needle stitch

The needle stitch is also a widely used book binding method and can be combined with a hard or a soft cover. With this binding method, the pages are stitch together with a special kind of string.

To assemble a needle stitched you need to make three holes in the paper in the middle of your book. After doing that you can use a needle and some string to attach all the paper together. In Picture 3 you can see the final result of a needle stitch. 

After doing both methods and actually feeling what they are like I choose to do my own publication with a Japanese-String binding combined with a stock cover from G.F Smith. I choose for the hard cover so I can easily attach a polaroid to it without it falling out all the time.