How to Make Handcrafted Books

In Steven Pressfield’s "The War of Art," he compares the writing process to the plight warriors face on the field of battle. And like all great battles lost or won, they must be commemorated. Whether you are a middle school student who has conquered your first collection of poetry or a veteran who has completed an auto-biography, present your conquests in an original, handcrafted book so you will not forget all of your hard work.

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Thick cardboard
• Scissors
• Glue or tape
• Printable paper
• Printer
• Fabric (optional)

1. • 1
       Book covers and spine should look like this.

     Cut a 9.5-by-12 inch piece of thick cardboard. Holding the cardboard in landscape orientation, make two folds in the middle about 1 inch apart. This gap will be your spine, and the two halves will be the front and back cover.
   • 2
     Cover the cardboard covers and spine entirely with your choice of either paper or fabric. Glue or tape on the material, but do not wrap it too tightly; the book needs to be able to close.
   • 3
     Create a cover page, title page, dedication, table of contents, and include page numbers on each page of your writing using a word processing program.
   • 4
     Go to the "Page Layout" tab of your word processing program, find the "Pages" section, and select "Book fold" instead of "Normal." This will make it so that each piece of paper will be printed landscape with two pages of your book on each.
   • 5
     Open the "Print" tab, and select "manual duplex" printing, which will allow you to print on both the front and back of the paper if your printer has this capability. Print all of the pages and fold the stack in half, so that the first page is on top. Using the page numbers, check to see if they are in numerical order and adjust them if necessary. If your printer doesn't have two-sided printing, take your book file to a copy store for double-sided printing.
   • 6
     Lay your cardboard book open flat and place your printed pages with the fold matching up with the cardboard spine. Open the printed pages to the center. Staple twice vertically down the fold so it attaches to the spine. Now decorate the book to your liking.