The Year of Crafting: Book Rebinding
This one is difficult to assign to just one month because I’ve been taking my sweet time. *Technically* this is June’s craft. but it is a June, July and beyond craft. As lovely as a time crunch is to trying things out can be helpful it’s also nice to know when to calm down and take your time. Book rebinding is keeping the same text block but swapping out the cover. As of writing this, I have rebound one and a half books.
This is a craft that involves making books more beautiful or more aesthetic and therefore I adore it! This has become my obsession. I’ve watched the same 3 Youtube videos practically every day. If you want to watch them check them out below!
DIY Paperback to Hardcover – by Extra Cosy Crafts
Turning Fanfiction into Hardcover Book – by Jess Less
Rebinding Inspiration
On top of rewatching Youtube videos over and over again, I’ve also been adoring the Instagram account thatsmybookshelf. It.Is.Fantastic! The account owner is rebinding her entire bookshelf to look like Penguin Clothbound Classics. It is satisfying to the max.
My Rebinding…So Far
My favourite part of The Fantastic Mr Fox rebinding is the back pocket. The cover design was inspired by Felicity Fox’s dress in the Wes Anderson movie adaptation. In the movie, the fantastic Mrs Fox has a row of pockets along the front of her dress. To pay homage to that in a bookish way I sewed a pocket onto the back of the cover to fit a library checkout card. I don’t have fancy equipment so this design was hand stencilled and hand-painted on.
My current rebind is taking quite a while because I am painting a design all across the front and back cover… I am not very good at painting so it’s a slow process. Probably not hard to guess which book this cover is for.
On and On and On It Goes
I’m enjoying taking my time and working my way slowly through this process. I could see this being a craft I keep at for the rest of the year as projects strike my fancy.
Hannah
Check out past crafts here: Bookbinding
