Sunday, August 10, 2014

Sixteen Pages

P1080337a

Typecast236

FOLDING INSTRUCTIONS:

P1080325aStep One: Lay out your sheet in landscape format. The first fold will be the left half behind the right half. See the dashed line for reference.
P1080326aFirst fold completed. The front cover is in the top right corner.

P1080327aStep Two: Fold the bottom half up, behind the top half. See the dashed line for reference.
P1080328aSecond fold completed. The front cover is on the right.

P1080329aStep Three: Third fold marked as indicated by the dashed line. Fold the left half behind the right.
P1080330aThird fold completed. The front cover is on top.

P1080331aStep Four: Staple the booklet together along the spine. Note that the book is cover-side up, the staples' ends will be crimped along the inside middle of the book.
P1080332aStapling completed. Note the staples crimped along the inside middle fold of the book.

P1080333aStep Five: Cut a bit of paper off the two edges with their pages folded together. DO NOT CUT THE SPINE BY MISTAKE.

P1080335aStep Six: (OPTIONAL) Round the corners using a corner punch. Do so by punching out one half of the pages at a time, so as to not overwhelm the punch.
P1080336aThe completed book, ready to be decorated or used as-is.

Post-Script: Photos via Lumix G5, typecast via Hermes Rocket. The corner punch is an option you might want to consider, as it lends a nice touch to the overall look. Another option is to use as thick of printer paper as you can find (90+ pound), along with an optional card-stock front cover, which will give you a full 16 pages of interior volume to work with. These can make simple gifts for kids of all ages.

There are a number of ways, described online, to make simple books like this, most of which involve folding, slitting and taping, and result in books with double-folded pages, not as neat as a professionally made book. This method I prefer to those others, as it looks in appearance closer to a Moleskine-style booklet. Though it requires a standard-sized stapler, it doesn't use adhesive tape, and I think will serve a person better, both for oneself and as a gift.

Finally, if you feel really creative, you can figure out how to make a PDF template for creating laser-printed booklets, like for mini-zines, tracts or hand-outs. You'll want to start by making a blank book, but don't yet staple or trim the edges. Instead, mark each page with its number and top orientation. Then unfold the sheet and you'll see how to layout your document's individual pages in software to result in a professional-looking mini-zine or tract.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home