• The cool thing about binding your own books is that they can be made to your exact specifications in a way that mass produced objects never could. Do you want a sketchbook made with your favorite kind of watercolor paper? A journal or sketchbook that lies flat? A book printed on pastel purple paper that's easier on the eyes?

  You can go even further, like adding pockets and bookmarks or changing the page color of each section to make it easier to flip through. Look at some examples online to get ideas!

Research different types of bindings to see what would work best for your project. Here are some brief examples:

• Coptic bindings are pretty straightforward to make and attractive, so I think they're a good option for a beginner project to see if you want to persue this hobby further. They also lie flat, which is good for things like watercolor sketchbooks (but, as the spine isn't glued, they're a bit wobbly and probably not suitable for mediums like charcoal or graphite).
• Square-Back Bradel bindings have a much more traditional look, with the spine hinge that is characteristic to case bindings (colloquially known as "hardcovers"). This specific variation makes it easier to line everything up properly by using a base piece of paper cut to size, rather than trying to glue all of your cover materials with no guidelines.
• Sewn Board bindings are like a happy medium between both of the previous options. They are bound using Coptic stitches, allowing them to lay flat nicely unlike most case bindings, but their spines aren't open and unglued like a traditional Coptic-style book, which helps them stay together stronger. As you'd expect from the name, the boards are sewn on, rather than glued, and you add the rest of the cover materials on top, which makes it much easier to line everything up.
• Also, if you're making a smaller book (for example, a oneshot fanfic) or zine, the Pamphlet stitch may be helpful. Rather than buying a specialized stapler for zine-making, this is a good alternative for small batches and, by sewing, you won't have to deal with the staples rusting and becoming brittle overtime.

What aesthetic are you going for? What covering materials are you going to use?

• Honestly, this is like my favorite part of the process: picking out cute coordinating covers and endpapers! You can use basically anything, but there are a few things to keep in mind:
• It's best to cover the spine at least with bookcloth, because paper can easily rip or get worn out with use. You can buy large sheets of bookcloth online for pretty cheap or SeaLemon has a tutorial for making your own.
• I'd also recommend trying to stick with papers that are around cardstock thickness, if possible. Thinner papers may rip more easily or wrinkle when you apply glue. Feel free to experiment with all sorts of different mediums, though! Like, I've used origami paper, the brown packing paper (kraft paper), wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, etc, and I've even seen people online using things like wallpaper, old tablecloths, shampoo bottles, seashells... Go wild!

Books (or the books we're concerned with today, at least) are broken up into a series of roughly equal-sized segments, referred to variously as sections, signatures, gatherings, etc. For the purposes of this guide, I'll be using "signatures," but be aware that other resources may have a different way of referring to the same thing.

The process of setting up your signatures is obviously going to be different based on what sort of project you're doing. If you're just making a blank book or sketchbook, you're basically home free. Otherwise, you'll need to compile your pages in a way that lets you bind them (this process is called imposition). Assuming you already have a fully typeset pdf, I'd recommend using momijizukamori's Bookbinder.js app to impose your document. It has lots of options, including paper size, signature size, and various formats like quartos, octavos, and other funky things going down to sixty pages per sheet.

Also, if you need help with typesetting, ArmoredSuperHeavy has a tutorial of how to do it in Microsoft Word, and they provide links to other tutorials using different programs. (Again, I think it's useful to look at examples of books you already have or others' work online to get ideas!)

Once your signatures are properly imposed and printed out, you can start folding them and poking the holes needed to bind them. Again, the number and arrangement of holes depends on personal preference and the specific project you're doing. Some sewing methods require an odd number of holes and some need an even number, so, again, it's important to know what you're doing ahead of time.

There are different methods of poking the holes: punching cradles (or a makeshift punch cradle using an old phone book) are pretty popular, and sometimes people use a saw to cut all the holes at once, etc. Personally, I align everything using a piece of cardstock that I marked the measurements on and stab the holes at an angle over a spare piece of cardboard, like DAS Bookbinding showed in a video once, but try out some different things to see what works for you.

Again, the specifics depend on your chosen project. Common methods of sewing together a bookblock include: supported methods (where you sew around cloth tapes or cords) or unsupported methods (where you either only connect signatures with a kettle stitch at either end or linked stitches, like Coptic or French Link).

It's also important to remember to attach your endpapers. Most people recommend simply tipping them onto the first and last signature, but I prefer sewing them in. Besides that, there are many different types of endpaper constructions – DAS Bookbinding has a playlist describing their basic function and some variations.

Next, comes gluing up the spine (unless you're making a Coptic-style book, where this step is unnecessary). Put the bookblock under weight again, then glue the spine using acid-free PVA and line it. Traditionally, when lining the spine, you should use something called "mull," which is a netty fabric, but personally I've been using strips of old newspapers. You just need some kind of thin paper or fabric.