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!
Khairani
Hi ive made a zine that i wanna sell. Its the 8 page zine that folds in itself without stapling or bunding. Printed 100 sheets of it but i made the mistake of printing on hard paper and now it wont fold as nicely due to added thickness. Im just wondering if you have any tips of going around it?
mikkomix
That’s a tough one! How big is your paper? What’s weight on it?
Luke Yancey
These tips are really great, but according to your photos, it seems to only work with a small amount of pages. Do you know if the above methods could work for a large amount of pages as well? I currently have around 150 pages that I need to find a way to bind. I could go to a local print shop and see if they offered any methods, but I want to accomplish the task with the cheapest method available. What would you suggest?
mikkomix
If you have a stapler that can handle more sheets of paper, you should still be good to go. You will just need to make the necessary adjustments to the cover to accommodate the added thickness.