Happy October and welcome to the final Party post!

Having sorted out the pictures and pages, in The Story – The Most Spectacular Party (Part 4), I began looking into how to make them into a real book for each family. I first considered getting them done commercially but I decided it would be both cheaper and an interesting challenge to try making them myself.

After watching a variety of videos, I really wanted to buy the very pretty We R Makers Mint Thermal Cinch Binding Machine but it is seemed expensive compared to similar thermal binders and didn’t have great reviews. All the YouTubers I saw seemed to need special tips and tricks and they were all making small notebooks with thin paper, whereas I wanted A4 size (because I had already designed my pages and realised the writing would be too small otherwise) and a strong bind with thicker paper so the books could be handled and read to and by young children without tearing or falling apart too easily.

Then I saw the most interesting and comprehensive video by BlueprintDIY How to Print Your Book on a Budget! | Step by Step – Organize, Print, Bind, Cut on YouTube. Honestly, if you ever want to make a book or just inspiration for life, this is the one video to watch! After clicking on her affiliate links, I very nearly made the grave mistake of purchasing a binder from America without a UK plug, then I researched and settled for a secondhand office model of the most recommended brand, formerly owned by a Will Writing company.

The machine instructions said only to use binding folders so I bought some unbranded ones to do a trial but, as you can see, the papers do not bind to the plastic section so any card of similar thickness with glue sticks should work for a more conventional paper back book.

This binder grips the pages automatically and can bind up to 300 sheets.

I used 140gsm matte photo paper for the pages and 200gsm card for the front cover.

I planned to remove the plastic because I don’t want them to look like office documents but then I decided to leave it on these as extra protection as it can be torn off anytime and the blue stuck down to the card cover if people prefer.

The final thing I’m going to do for this project, is to make myself a special keepsake copy including the blog posts and story and, perhaps, I’ll add a photo of that here once I’ve made it.

Then, who knows, maybe I’ll make some different books :D

Janine @ Rainbow Hare

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