Introduction: Paper Book Cover Without Glue or Sewing

By Spines & Splines on Patreon
About: My name is Leonie. I'm an Australian print artist now living in Cork, Ireland. I have a YouTube channel, Spines and Splines, where I post art tutorials, and when I'm not making visual art I enjoy writing music.

Bookbindinding is super fun and you can make really interesting books easily using only a few materials. In this project I show you how to make an easy interlocking cover for handmade books. It's especially useful for books where you don't want a permanent binding, and accordion books where you want both sides of the paper to be seen.

Supplies

Heavy paper for cover: mine is 300gsm watercolour paper with a simple decorative wash

Bone folder

Ruler

Utility knife

Cutting mat

Book block: mine is a mini concertina book made using my accordion book instructable here https://www.instructables.com/Folding-an-Accordion-Book-From-Scrap-Paper/

Step 1: Measuring and Tearing the Paper for the Cover

To start making this book cover, choose some heavyweight decorative paper and measure your book block against it. You'll want the cover paper to be at least as wide as two front covers, two spines and one back cover. I check this by rolling the book block across the width of the paper.

Check the height of your book and tear the covering paper to the same size. You can choose to cut your edges if you want; I prefer tearing because it's a bit more forgiving and flexible than making a hard cut, and the torn edge gives a nice finish.

Step 2: Make Your Folds for the Covers and Spines

Lay your book block on the back side of your covering paper and make a pinch fold where the front cover ends. Fold this over and make the edge nice and crisp by burnishing it with a bone folder. If you don't have a bone folder, make your folds as sharp as possible with your fingers.

When your first fold is done, measure for the left hand spine width against the book block and make a second pinch fold. Remove the book block and make this second fold.

Complete this process until you have two overlapping front cover sections, two spines and a back cover all folded.

If your overlapping cover section is too long, you can tear it back to the same width as the first front cover section now.

I had a little trouble marking my final fold with a pinch mark, so I measured the width of the first spine with a ruler and made an indentation with my bone folder where I needed to make my final fold.

Step 3: Measure and Make Your Interlocking Cover Cuts

Measure the width of the front cover with a ruler, and make a small nick cut with your utility knife at the half way point.

Line the cover up on your cutting mat and make a cut that starts around a quarter or a third of the way down the cover and ends at your nick mark. Basically, the measurement of this cut needs to fall somewhere between half to three quarters of your book height. My book was 4cm tall, so I made my cut 3cm long.

Rotate your book cover 180º and make the same cut in the overlapping front cover. The two cuts need to be in opposite directions: one cut will run from the top of the book towards the bottom, and the second cut will run from the bottom and end before the top.

Step 4: Finish Your Book

Place the book block inside your cover and interlock the two cuts so that the cover holds itself closed around your book. You're done. Magic!