Saw someone glue their spine directly to the cover board at a workshop last Saturday

I've been binding books for about 15 years now and I keep seeing beginners skip the hinge step. At a workshop in Portland last weekend a guy just slapped glue all over his spine and pressed it right onto the cover board. Looked fine at first but I knew it would crack the first time someone opened it wide. I learned that lesson back in 2012 when I did the same thing to a batch of 12 journals for a friend's wedding. Every single one split down the middle within a month. Now I always tell people to leave a gap of about 1/8 inch between the spine and the cover board so the book can actually flex. Has anyone else noticed this shortcut getting more common lately?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunar897d ago

Did the instructor call him out on it, or was that one of those unsupervised workshops where nobody says anything until something breaks?

walker.julia7d ago

Glue that book shut and you've made yourself an expensive brick.

eva_moore7d ago

@lunar89 probably saw it coming, a loose leaf binder next time and you can actually use the thing.