Hi, Everybody!
Today's Special Mini is something easy and quick that anyone can do. Learn how to make hardcover books for your dollhouse! The supplies and the steps are pretty easy.
SUPPLIES:
1. Printouts of your book layout
2. Scissors
3. Clear Packing Tape
4. Strong clamps (large and small)
5. Recycled paper board from food packaging
6. School glue
7. Tacky/Quick Dry glue (Aleens or Scotch)
8. Glue stick
9. Rectangular piece of white paper
NOTE: All of these steps are shown and discussed in the video. But if you like reading steps or are visually/hearing impaired you can get the gist of things here.
STEP ONE
Take your PRINTOUT. Use SCISSORS to neatly cut out all your images. The only individual image should be the cover. All other images should be cut in one straight line - almost like a strip of negatives. Depending on your design you should have a cover, a strip of "front matter" (title, copyright, etc), and one or more strips of ten images that will make up the pages of your book.
STEP TWO
Set the cover image aside - for now. Take each strip and accordion fold each image. Make sure you get nice, crisp, even folds. You can use a bone folder (optional) or just use your fingernails to pinch a straight crease. Stack the images in the order you want them to be in your book so you won't forget. Once you have all the images folded and creased take your GLUE STICK and add glue to the back side of every other image. You will glue each side-by-side image together to make a front and back book page. Do this for however many strips you have making sure to stack strips in the order they should go in your book.
STEP THREE
Once all your pages are glued take your small STRONG CLAMP and clamp the front edge of the book. The back edge of the book will be exposed. This is the part that will be the spine of your book. DO NOT glue the front edge or your book will open backward and you will have to throw it away and start over.
STEP FOUR
Grab your SCHOOL GLUE and add a thin strip of glue to your exposed edge. Not too much or the glue will seep in and mess up the inside of your page. Squeeze the edge tight while you apply the glue to make sure it stays just on the edge. Let this dry completely for ten minutes. You can speed up drying time by putting it in front of a fan or using your heat gun. When the thin strip is completely dry you will add a thick strip of glue and let that dry completely, too.
STEP FIVE
While your book spine is drying, it's time to assemble the cover. Cut a strip of CLEAR PACKING TAPE large enough to cover your entire cover. Tape it carefully to the front of the cover and burnish it to remove any air pockets. This will also bring out the luster and shine of the tape. Cut the edges of your border on an angle. Crease and fold the cover on both sides of the spine. Flip your cover to the back side.
STEP SIX
Take your PAPER BOARD and test it against your cover to make sure it fits before gluing it. You may need to make some small trims to get it to sit right. You want the paper board to be a hair or two smaller than the cover image so you can wrap the border around it nicely. Use your glue stick to glue one square to the left side of the cover, one square to the right side of the cover, and the strip to the middle. They should not be butted up against each other. There should be a hair or two widths of space between each paper board piece. Add glue stick or tacky glue to the border and stick it down to the paper board. Once dry, fold the cover again along the spine to set the creases. Inspect your cover to make sure it's nice, even, and professional looking. If it is - set it aside to dry. If not, toss it in the garbage and start over.
STEP SEVEN
Your book should be completely dry now. Remove the small clamp and give the spine a test by gently opening the pages and checking to see if your book opens without falling apart. Also check to see if you've got any glue seepage on the inside of any pages. If you did - your pages will flake apart where the glue was when you try to open the book and you will know because you will make an "aw, man!" kind of sound at seeing bits of your image ripped away or from having two pages stuck together. At this point you will toss this in the trash and start over and be sure to be careful with the glue. Don't feel bad. In the process of creating this tutorial I had to toss about 5 of these in the trash and start all over - printing, filming, and everything! Most of the time it was because of the glue.This is how I came up with the brilliant idea of printing a few copies in black and white first - I'd messed up too may of my precious colored versions. And as I don't have a color printer right now I was getting frustrated. Luckily, my sister had printed about seven or eight sets in color for me. Anyway, practice makes perfect. Just don't practice in color. IF everything turned out well - woo hoo - you are two-thirds of the way done. Now you will take your RECTANGULAR PIECE OF WHITE PAPER and glue it to the spine of the book. Not too much glue. This paper should wrap around the pages almost like you are giving your book a thin, white cover. If you made the sheet too big you will use your scissors to trim it to the size of your book pages. It should be even and flush with the pages all the way around the book. Let this dry completely.
STEP EIGHT
Add a small bead of TACKY/QUICK DRY GLUE to the paper board on the inside left cover. Quickly, but carefully and neatly take your book and glue the left side of the white paper you just wrapped around it to the paper board. Use your thumb and gently press towards the spine to get a nice, secure bond. Make sure the book spine lines up with and sits on top of the middle cover spine. Let dry completely. Repeat this step for the right side of the cover. DO NOT ADD GLUE TO THE CENTER COVER SPINE.
STEP NINE
Once your book is completely dry - test it to see if it opens nicely. You should not have any tearing, looseness, or pages popping out of the spine. The book should open freely just like a real book. If you have that - you're done! CONGRATULATIONS. If you don't have that - NO PROBLEM - just toss it in the trash and start all over.
STEP TEN (OPTIONAL)
If you want to take the realism of your mini a little further - you will want to add a crease near the spine of your book. For that you will need a large STRONG CLAMP. Just clamp your finished book almost near the edge of the spine and let it sit for a few minutes. When you remove the clamp it will leave a dent in the book. Voila!
This is a basic beginner mini tutorial that you will be glad you took the time to master. It's not hard. It can be done in under an hour. And the possibilities are endless in terms of the types of books you can make. HAVE FUN!
I would much rather you gather your own images and make the books YOU and YOUR DOLL like, but I realize some people may not have the time or skill to create a book. Or maybe you like the fan book I made and want one for your little coffee table. I am including MY book for your personal use. Please don't alter it, sell it, add it as one of your collections in a kit or anything like that. If you use it please give me proper credit and link back to this blog post - not directly to the image itself or generically to the blog. Use this link:
http://todaysspecialminis.blogspot.com/2016/07/create-hardcover-books-for-you.html
