In this article we explain how to make a book; You can create it for yourself or to make a gift and it will look great, as it will have your personal touch. Making books becomes a fairly simple craft where few elements will be needed to carry out the job; Inside your book, if you wish, you can add memories, phrases, drawings, among others; This would be the best way for you to give an emotional and very personal gift. Here are several ways you could make your book.
Buying any type of book in different shops is a simple task, but there are times when we want to dare and innovate and for this reason we decide to do our own thing, in this case a book; It is a practical, economical and best of all creative craft; a magnificent idea to do it with children, they will love it and they will be entertained.
You can get to make your book only with simple folds of cardboard and paper and then use them for the objective that you want or need the most, such as the presentation of some investigative information on a specific topic, or as already mentioned, to give gifts to a family member or friend.
How to make a paper book?
- To make this book you will need sheets of bond paper (folios), cardboard, glue and scissors.
- Take the sheets and fold them in half, because you most likely do not want such a big book and then proceed to cut them, take the remaining sheets and fold them in half again. If you want the largest book, do not cut and proceed to do it with the folio (sheet) directly.
- Once you have folded the sheets, take one of the pages, which will be the main one, unfold it and you will have marked the center, take the scissors and make a hole in the whole half following the fold line (you only cut a small part of the center).
- Now take the other leaves and do the opposite, visualize the fold to see which one is in the middle and cut following that line, a little on each side, leaving the center uncut.
- Open the sheet, and put it in front of you so that when you look at it it is horizontal and begin to roll it towards you (so that it is in the shape of a tube) and begin to pass it through the opening that you made in the main sheet and as soon as you reach Release the part that you cut from the roll and you will see how they stay inside each other, there you will already have four pages; Depending on how big you want the book, you will have to do the same step with a certain number of sheets; Once you have this ready, proceed to make the back of your book.
- Take the cardboard and measure it in relation to the pages of your book to proceed to cut it, see that with it you can turn the book around and that it also gives you a couple of flaps on either side.
- Now take the glue and glue the first page of the book to the flap that you left on the cardboard and do the same with the last sheet and the other flap, also put glue in the middle of the cardboard so that the leaves adhere better.
- If you want you can decorate as you like to put your touch, for example you could use fabric cutouts or make a kind of frame.
Homemade book
There may be many ways to do this, but basically you will need a program on your computer that allows you to process text, cardboard, and glue; It really is a job that is very simple and easy, follow the steps below:
- You will need a word processor, a computer, printer, sheets of paper, cardboard and glue.
- First you must have written your book, what you are going to print.
- You must make sure that your word processing program allows you to print two pages of text for each page (columns) and do it in the format called landscape; if you have Microsoft Word or Open Office, you won’t have any problems since both have this option.
- Once you have configured the printing well, you must proceed to print in the format that is two columns, in case your printer does not allow you to print double white, you must configure it so that first the numbers that are odd are printed, once once printed put the sheets turned over on the tray of your printer and now configure so that it prints the numbers that are even.
- Take a guillotine to separate the pages of your book, you must make sure that the order of each of the pages is always maintained.
- Now take a thick cardboard or special coated paper for posters and proceed to wrap the pages of your book, looking for a rustic type binding; It is time to proceed to fold the edges of each of the sheets on the part where they will be embedded with the cardboard.
- Take the glue so that you cover the edge of your cardboard with it, you will not need a sophisticated glue, you can use a school eraser that dries quite well.
- Once the paste is done, you must press the margins of your printed paper against your gummed cardboard; To maintain the pressure, take some elastic bands and put them on the book so that the whole thing stays together until the moment the glue dries completely.
Cardboard book
Cardboard books are an alternative that is characterized precisely for being a craft technique that has spread and become quite popular in several countries.
- You must take a piece of cardboard and measure it and then cut it, we recommend that you make it 15 cm x 21 cm but that will be to your liking; with this you will build the cover and of course the back cover of your book.
- Then take some magazines or newspapers and select different images, do it randomly, and then cut them out; In this way you will have obtained the graphic material that you need to paste on the previously cut cardboards, this is the way in which you will achieve a creative design.
- Now take a hammer and some nails and with this proceed to make 5 holes in the edges of your lid, do the same with the back lid and remove the nails after you have achieved the openings. Between hole and hole leave 3 cm of distance.
- Now take the cover, then put the whole group of papers that you want to remain in the book and finally put the back cover, then sew with thread, direct the needle through the holes and press until you achieve the connection you want.
- And ready you will have your cartonero book.
Make an accordion book
Accordion books have the advantage of being able to stop them and thus be able to view all their pages at the same time; that is why these kinds of books are excellent when what you want is to exhibit or expose; These types of books have a great history in the world and are made in various parts of the Asian continent, among which we find countries such as Japan, China, Thailand, India, Korea and Burma. This was also the way the Mayans and Aztecs located in Central America made books; Different artists from all over the world often experiment with this way of making books.
- You will need a long, narrow piece of paper, cardboard which can be the back or front of a cookie or cereal box, glue, and loose paper.
- Take the long piece of paper, lay it out in front of you horizontally, and fold it in half from left to right.
- Visualize the top of your paper and flip that corner all the way back and then fold it over.
- Now turn your paper and then you should pull its edge towards the back, towards the crease and fold it.
- Then you must lift the first page and insert the loose paper there and cover the surface completely with a layer of glue, do not abuse the glue, it should be a thin layer, start in the middle and make lines that go both down and upwards.
- It’s time for you to take your folded sheets and glue them to the bottom in one corner of the cardboard, leaving almost zero gap in relation to the outer edge.
- Now remove the loose paper and fold it in half with the glue on the inside.
- To complete your liner, cut out the cereal box, leaving a narrow edge all the way around.
- Using this lining as a guide, proceed to cut the second one.
- Use the loose paper and glue to the other side of the page and lastly put the lining on top.
- Open the book and use the palm of your hand to smooth out both the first and last pages, trying to make the glue stick better.
- Write the messages or illustrate, keep it simple or decorate the way you like to match your personal style.