Leather Bound Softcover LotR Set
Introduction: Leather Bound Softcover LotR Set
Today we'll be discussing my creation of a set of leatherbound softcover LotR books for my wife. If you have read my other LotR 'ibles, you'll know that my wife is a huge Lord of the Rings fan nerd. If you haven't, check them out here and here. I'll wait. I don't mind.
You go read them yet? Good. Now, back to the matter at hand.
As mentioned, my wife loves LotR, and I wanted to make a custom set for her since her old copies had been read to the point of falling apart. Enter this 'ible.
For this set, I had a few goals in mind:
(Fairly) Inexpensive - Custom leather sets of books are stoopid expensive
(Mostly) Accessible - I didn't want to have to buy a ton of new tools for this project as I wasn't sure it would work, nor did I think I would be making more books.
Nice to hold - My wife loves her soft cover leather Bible, which I tried and successfully emulated with this project.
Purty - I wanted them to look good while not being overly obnoxious but still be inviting to read. These are books; they're meant to be read, not stared at on a shelf!
Let me say that there are many ways to skin a cat. I have found many different people who are more talented than myself at this and have perfected their own techniques. Please check out YouTube for other awesome people who are far more talented at this than I am. And better looking.
Step 1: Supplies
For the supplies, I used a lot of what I already had on hand. In no particular order this includes:
Consumables:
* White PVA (School) glue
* Superglue
* Barge Cement - I use the ultra brain cell killing formula from Amazon, like this one
* Wax paper
* Glue stick
* Pencil
* Sharpie
* Cotton cloth (I used an old T-Shirt, but I think pros use muslin)
* Synthetic string
* Embroidery floss - I used this set from Amazon. I used white and blue for this book.
* Ribbon - I used this set from Amazon.
* Faux Leather - This is the color I used for this book. 726
I used the same dealer in other colors for the other books.
* Book you intend to make anew - This 'ible is for Return of the King.
* Caffeine
* Design for End Paper - I used the map from my other LotR 'ible. You should check it out if you haven't already. ;)
* Design for your covers. I used the minimalist image uploaded here. I couldn't find the source, though, to credit the creator properly.
* Ball point pen (not pictured)
* Paper for end paper (not pictured)
* Card stock (not pictured) for your new cover to bind to
Tools:
* Ruler
* Embroidery needles
* Clamps
* Scissors
* Cutting mat
* Xacto
* Xacto Sharpener (which I used for rounding corners too)
* Respirator (not pictured) cause <PERSON> will kill your melon otherwise
Step 2: Begin at the Beginning
Start by measuring your book with the cover on it. Measure all your dimensions—length, width, and depth. Measure the spine length and depth. Do it twice cause you forgot to write down your measurements the first time. These measurements will be necessary later if you want to make the new cover the same size as your old cover.
Then do the most gut-wrenching thing you can to a book and rip off the cover (image 4). Bonus points if you can get both the front and back cover along with the spine in one piece. When you're done, you'll have something looking like the book in image 5. This is a good time to measure your book itself to determine your actual book page's size if the cover was oversized rather than the same size as the pages (image 6).
After measuring your new book, transfer the width and height dimensions to a piece of cardstock. If you want your cover to be a different size than your book, now is the time to add to your dimensions. For example, I wanted the covers to be slightly larger than the pages, so I took the width and added 1/4 inch, and I added 1/8 inch to the top and bottom for an overall added 1/4 inch to that dimension. 276