Hand-bound ICRPG Tome

craft
book
khan

#1

In the midst of some boredom, somehow I decided to print and hand bind my own ICRPG book.

I started with printing both books, Core and Worlds. Regular A4 paper but printed double sided with two pages per page and in booklet format with 4 sheets per signature. Basically you get 16 pages on 4 sheets which can be folded in the middle and results in a booklet. Then you print the next 16 pages on 4 sheets and so on.

I use Foxit Reader, which a very nice, lightweight and free pdf reader and does support this kind of booklet printing out of the box.

Then I lined up all the signatures and marked the position of holes for stitching.

I punched the holes and started stitching signatures one by one.

It was glue time. I needed a book press so I made a crappy one.

Pressed the book and glued the spine two times with PVA. Let the book to dry overnight in both cases.

After that it was time for trimming and sanding the edges to get a smooth result.

I decided to paint the edges gold.

Unfortunately the paint did get messy and peeled off. It was terrible so I sanded it off. Couldn’t get it all off though. Then I reinforced the spine with a small sheet of heavy paper and glued the insides of cover pages.

I edited the cover page to remove the page number at the bottom (I put the red glyph there instead) and printed it on glossy photo paper. I designed a simpler back page too and glued them on the book. Then painted the edges and the spine black with a chisel tip permanent marker.

This was my first ever book binding project and inevitably some mistakes were made. I learned my lessons and have some plans on how to improve next time. I will bind a new version when the next book comes out. I’ll add Blood & Snow too. It will be a huge tome!


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#2

Khan! Khhhaaaaaaannnnn!!!

This project is awesome! Thanks for sharing your process. I love the pictures!!! And the book looks amazing.


#3

Thanks man!

It has some obvious imperfections BUT I love it because when you bind your own book it becomes unique and personal. It truly belongs to you.

Oh by the way, the A4 sheets I used are natural color (yellowish). They look great.


#4

Absolutely!!! I know it has to feel great to have that book and know you did it yourself!


#5

That’s awesome that they’re ICRPG books, but I think I’m even more amazed that you know how to print and bind a book together manually. That’s practically a lost art these days. :open_book: I’m very impressed :exclamation:


#6

Thank you!
God bless youtube. :smiley:

It was way easier than I thought. It took many many hours but was worth it.


#7

I have a whole Pinterest board on book binding. Noice work!!


#8

Very cool! Thanks for sharing the project.


#9

Do share man!

Really interested. Small manual labor quenchs my anxiety, it is great for panic attacks in my case. I’m working on a soda tab chainmail when they happen.


#10

Badass. Really, really cool end product too.


#11

These tutorials should get anyone up and running quickly:


#12

Very nice. I’ve been making hardbound journals for my wife to diary in for several years now. Cool hobby and made it even more interesting when I was in Dublin a couple years ago and went to see The Book of Kells and associated texts.


#13

So…this is embarrassing. I thought I had more pined because Pinterest spams me. But I do have the board!


#14

AWESOME! I bestow upon you a hero coin!!