Final result first, of course!
I thought it could be cool to try to interpret what the pixelated enchanted book in Minecraft would actually look like in real life, with proper bookbinding techniques, real leather, etc., and so I decided to make one! Let's have a look at the process.
I started off by folding 95 sheets of A3 size sketchbook paper (110 gsm, a bit thicker paper that you can both write and draw comfortably on). I sorted all of these pieces into stacks of 5. One of these stacks is called a signature, and I ended up with 19 signatures in total.
I put this stack in a book press to flatten them for a few hours, so that it would be easier to chop off the top part of the page. To cut the paper I clamped the stack to the table with a ruler across it to act as a guide, and then I used a utility knife to slowly work my way through the whole stack.
After I had cut all the paper to the right size and format I clamped them together and marked out the 6 holes I needed to sew them together. Two of these will make up ridges on the spine later on.
I sewed the 19 signatures to two jute cords that I simply tied to a chair (the chair acted as a make-shift sewing frame). You can check out tutorials on how to sew on cords on YouTube if you want the details on the exact technique.
After I sewed the signatures together I hammered the spine to round it to the shape I wanted. Then I put it in the book press with the spine on the outside, so that I could cover the spine in white PVA glue. This helps with keeping the shape of the spine later.
When the glue had dried completely I continued shaping the text block by first chopping off the edge if the block to make it completely straight, and then I rounded off the edges with a utility knife and sandpaper.
It took a lot of time to sand it down to a nice and smooth surface. It worked pretty well to clamp the text block between two wooden sheets.
And this is what the text block looks like this far!
With the spine and text block done I sewed the head- and tailbands by hand. The core is 4mm leather cord. and I used two different colors of embroidery thread to make them. Again you can find tutorials on YouTube on how to sew headbands.
