Binding a hardcover book is not as hard as you may be thinking. Once you know the process you can do it easily. But before you get a perfect hardcover book you'll need to practice. You know the old saying - " Practice makes a man perfect". Same is the case here. If you are doing this the first time use some rough materials. After you have some confidence you can go for the original books. Here is a simple tutorial on how to bind a hardcover book.

First of all see that you have all the materials ready. Here is a list

• signatures
• hard cover
• sharp object for making small holes (awl)
• heavy thread
• PVA glue
• blade
• ruler
• thick paper for wrapping around the cover

The procedure for creating the hardcover book is as follows

Take the topmost paper and fold it to half. The spine is present at the fold. Keep all the papers below it in correct order. Now make four holes on the spine. See that all the papers have the holes at the same points.

Fold all the pages and make a signature by grouping four to six pages.

Now comes the difficult part - stitching. For the first signature take the needle into the first hole, out of the second hole, then into the third hole and then out of the fourth hole. This is for first signature.

Take the second stack and attach to the first one. Take the needle through the first hole of second stack, then into second hole. From here go to the second hole of first signature, then through third hole of first stack. Now go to the third hole of second signature then through the fourth. This will attach the two signatures. Continue in this way for other stacks. In order to practice take four signatures and stitch to get the correct idea.

After stitching all the signatures apply the PVA glue thoroughly over the entire spine. Clamp this strongly and let it dry completely.

Meanwhile take the hard cover and cut two pieces the size of the paper. Cut one more for fitting on the spine.

Place these three pieces of cover on a large thick paper ( for wrapping around the cover ) Apply glue and stick the cover pieces on the thick paper. The cover is ready.

Now apply glue on the spine of the cover and the book. Attach them together and hold them tightly using a clamp. Let them dry.

The next day you will have your own hardcover book.