Okay, I said on Friday that we would burn the cover art–but I ran out of time, so I’ll show you how to convert the paperback cover into a hard backed cover.
Now, make sure you have the press-board pieces you cut out last time, and you will need some muslin (or other stiff, but not thick, material–old t-shirts work okay…bedsheets would work better) cloth and a drill. Grab some scissors and a drill while you’re at it.
Before I forget to tell you, lay the press-board pieces from last time onto the book’s front and back paperback covers. Mark where the front corners go.
Mark the spine of the paperback for drilling (yes, book lovers, you will be drilling actual holes into an actual book). Make a line from top to bottom of the front cover approximately 1/4 in from the back of the spine. Next, measure the book you are recovering–for smaller books, you will need to divide the back cover into quarters, for larger books, you will need more holes to make the new binding more stable. I used three holes (dividing the book in quarters). (see picture below–I had to make another hole, so don’t worry about the spacing, just use the visual to familiarize yourself with the idea)
Now, use the drill and make VERY PRECISE holes. If you make them too far toward the spine, the book will not last as long, and you may put the hole out of the spine–THIS WILL RUIN YOUR PROJECT. If you make them crooked into the interior of the book, you will not be able to read the book (not always, but sometimes). If you have a drill press–use it. I don’t, so I have to eyeball it. It is stressful!
Now that you have the holes, you will need your cloth. Cut a piece that will wrap around the spine (covering all of your holes with a little to spare–see picture at top of post) and also cover about 2/3 of the front cover and the back cover, so that it looks like a too-small dust jacket.
Take a needle and some heavy thread, or I like to use embroidery floss or the good, non stretchy dental floss. Stitch the material to the book by sewing in and out of the holes. I like to start at the bottom with a knot, and work my way up and through the spine, then back down, then tighten it up by lacing it through the stitch lengths and around the back of the spine to the other side all the way up–making criss-cross patterns. (See picture at the top of the post) BE CERTAIN THAT THE CLOTH WILL LAY FLAT AGAINST THE BOOK. IF IT DOESN’T, START OVER.
Once you finish, knot of the end of the string and get some waxed paper. Place a piece of waxed paper under your cloth (between the back cover and the cloth) this will make it so that the paperback cover doesn’t stick to the press-board. You can see how the paperback book layer is followed by the waxed paper, then the cloth and the cover in the picture at the top of the post.
Rub glue all over the cloth. Get it into every pore, but don’t get so much that there is standing glue.
This next is the hardest part. Taking care not to wrinkle the glue-soaked cloth (and it is VERY easy to do) place the press-board cover onto the paperback, matching the corner marks to the corners of the book. I like to put the press-board slightly toward the spine, and then press it into the book while shifting it into position by matching corners. This keeps the cloth tight and doesn’t allow it to pucker.
Once you have the boards in place, put the entire contraption (it should look like the picture at the top of the post, by now) under several heavy books over night (or 8 hours) until the glue dries.
Next time we will have to burn our pattern into our cover and probably glue it to the rest of the book. Hopefully we won’t stretch into 4 posts. We’ll see. Also, I have an ONLINE STORE coming soon, so keep an eye out!