How To Print And Bind Your Own Book

I regularly hold Pressed Flowers workshops, and each participant gets a printed copy of my Pressed Flowers Mini-Zine (available on iBooks, Etsy and the I TRY DIY Shop). I've been asked if I have the zine printed somewhere. Of course not, silly. I Try DIY. Here are two ways you can print and bind books or mini-zines yourself!

METHOD ONE: GUM THE SPINE

I designed and printed out the fresh new cover pages for the mini-zine. This might look familiar from the How To Digitize Your Design Work tutorial. My zine's pages are 3.5 x 5inches, and I made sure the cover had an allowance of at least a quarter of an inch.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines
I printed all 16 pages of the zine. Usually, I use newsprint, but this time I opted for some pretty heavy printer paper. For this first method, I only printed on one side of the paper.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines

I cut the pages to size.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines
Then, I collated the pages and made sure the sheets were all the same size.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines

Using the same method as my DIY Notepads, I bound the sheets together with regular glue. I did a small batch all at once to make the most out of the glue and precious drying time.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines

Once the glue was set, I took the bound zines out of the press.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines
I separated the zines, and cleaned up any excess glue.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines
Then, I cut my cover. I made sure to print on heavier paper to keep the zine protected.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines

My pages are 3.5 inches wide, so my cover was cut to about 7.25 inches wide.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines
I used a scorer to shape and fashion a hard spine for the zine.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines

I brushed some glue onto the spine, so I could adhere the zine onto the cover.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines
I placed the pages inside. I knocked the spine on the table a couple times to make sure it was glued nice and snug inside.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines
I let it dry, and it was all done!

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines

METHOD TWO: STAPLE ALONG SPINE

For this second method, I had to go back to my magazine design days and figure out how to arrange my 16 pages so they work out in proper order once I print them double sided, and staple the pages along the fold. You have to remember that with this method, pages are in multiple of 4.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines
I printed the pages the way I wrote it out, and it worked out perfectly.

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines
My 16-page zine ended up being printed on only 4 landscape sheets. Quite a thin "book" it was!

I Try DIY | Bind Your Own Books and Zines
I folded the pages and the cover in half. Unlike the first method, you don't need much of an allowance for this cover.