There are thousands of options for using decorative paper in your handmade books. Links at the bottom of this post are places where the p...

Let's be honest.  The first time I was told to pick out a book cloth to bind a book, I thought, Why would anyone want their handmad...

Rice paper and mull are used to strengthen the spine of a book. Mull is a net-like, woven linen or cotton fabric (linen is stronger th...

For most of our bookmaking involving glue [edit: to be clear, not all our books are made with glue] , we use Jade 403 PVA (poly-vinyl acetat...

If you don't already know about headbands on books, you just might always notice them on books from here on out. Headbands are found a...

When a book structure calls for tape, linen tape was traditionally used, and today it is still used by most bookbinders and conservationist...

A common question from beginning bookbinders is if silk embroidery thread or regular cotton sewing machine thread can be used to make books....

Binder's board is what puts the hard in a hard bound book. Also called book board, Davey board , grey board and chip board (although...

We prefer papers that can take handling during the process of bookbinding without too easily denting or otherwise showing signs of handling....

You can make books out of anything. Reclaimed wood, aluminum cans, banana leaves, cereal boxes, butterfly wings, rusty hinges, fishing fli...

For applying glue, just about any kind of brush will get the job done, choosing a size depending on the surface area you are applying glue t...

For making largish holes in leather and book board you can use a hollow punch (shown at left), which has a sharpened tube shaped hole ...

We use two kinds of needles, straight and curved (we'll teach you how to make your own curved later in this post). Which one we use depe...

An awl is used for poking holes in paper and leather (two alternatives are mentioned at the end of this post). There are a few book structu...

A bone folder is your friend. You can probably make books without one, but it's just so darn handy, we wouldn't want to. It perfor...

When we first started making books we used a non-serated butter knife to cut paper. Seriously. Fold the paper where you want it torn/cut, an...