Bind Your Own Books and Zines

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 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 cut the pages to size.

Then, I collated the pages and made sure the sheets were all the same size.

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.

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

I separated the zines, and cleaned up any excess glue.

Then, I cut my cover. I made sure to print on heavier paper to keep the zine protected.

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

I used a scorer to shape and fashion a hard spine for the zine.

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

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 let it dry, and it was all done!

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 printed the pages the way I wrote it out, and it worked out perfectly.

My 16-page zine ended up being printed on only 4 landscape sheets. Quite a thin “book” it was!

I folded the pages and the cover in half. Unlike the first method, you don’t need much of an allowance for this cover.

Making sure to keep everything aligned, I stapled everything together along the spine.

And here are how the two types of binding came out looking! Try printing and binding your own books, zines or even blank pages for a DIY notebook!

Want to learn all about the Art of Pressed Flowers?

Get the digital download mini zine available on iBooks, Etsy and the I TRY DIY Shop.

You can also sign up for the next scheduled workshop!