It’s been a while since I have shared any making of here on this blog. But while I made this mini book the other day I remembered taking some photos:
Step 1: The individual steps are really like for any book. The first step for me is always the cutting and folding of signatures and then cutting board for the covers.
In this case, the pages have a format of approximately 1.3cm x 2xm big.
Step 2: Step two is the covering of the covers. In a miniature book this small you don’t have to worry as much about warping as in a larger book. For the pages it is exra important to align all fibres because it moves with less ease anyway. But for the covers I am not that bothered about grain. I have not even checked how it all works out in this case. For the covers I used left-overs of a fun dotted fabric I still had lying around.
Cutting the corners obviously works just the same as for a big book. I recently treated myself to some corner guides, and this was the first try using them.
I do find it harder to get neat corners at this format, especially with fabric, as the slight fraying looks gigantic.
Step 3: The pre-punching of holes works just the same as for big books. I cut a punching template exactly the same way. Jogging the signatures is tricky, though, as gravity just doesn’t assist as much as you might be used to from larger pages. Essentially I just push them with my fingers best I can.
For book of this format I like to use the linen buttonhole thread by Fil Au Chinois. It is a thin 3-ply thread and comes in a variety of colours. I went here for “tango”.
And because is nothing of we don’t challenge ourselves, I decided to go for a 2-needle Coptic binding. Two needle sounds deceptive. It is called thus, because you need 2 needles for each piece of thread, one on each end. For this binding I worked with four needles.
The sewing is exactly the same as for a big book.
Although the sewing procedure is exactly the same, it can be a little fiddly to get the knots to all sit in the right places. And you have to remember to not cut down on the extra thread you give yourself for knotting – although the book is smaller, your fingers are not. (A piece of advice I like to give, but often fail to follow.)
But if you just follow through with all the steps as usual eventually you get to attach the back cover, and you are finished. Here’s my finished mini book:
