Guide Book - Production

Perfect Binding - Test run

• Clamp the stack of paper between two pieces of grey board in the clamp so that a large amount of pressure can be applied to the spine of the book. It is important to clamp as close to the spine as possible so that the glue can be applied strongly and the chance of pages falling out is lowered.
• Using a scalpel, score the pages to create slight grooves for the glue to attach to, improving the strength of the bind.
• Either using your finger or glue spreads, apply the glue to the paper in thin layers.
• Leave to dry and reapply a many times as possible. The key to the binding process is too repeat this as many times as possible.
• A piece of scrim is then glued to the spine of the book, which can then be cut off once the glue is dried.
• The book can then be removed from the clamp and it should open with ease and flexibility.

Laser guillotine

• The laser guillotine was what I decided to use to cut the pages of the book as it has extreme accuracy and lots of pages can be done all at once which will improve the overall finish of the book.
• You start by placing the pages in the machine and then using the nozzle, the blade can be moved backwards and forwards in order to align it with the crop marks on the printed pages.
• The wooden set square is then used to ensure that all of the pages are stack evenly and to exactly 90 degrees, ensuring a smooth and accurate cut of the pages.
• The plastic cover is then lowered over the cutting bed and the levers are pulled at the same time so that the blade drops evenly and quickly.

Production problems and solutions

• Originally I placed the book in the guillotine in the same way as it had been demonstrated, but the laser would not reach the crop marks that I needed to cut through. 
• The problem was that if it was to reach the crop mark then there wouldn't be enough material for the guillotine to hold on to to stop it from moving when cutting.
• To resolve this problem I rotated the paper around so that the pages with content on were the part that the guillotine could grip onto in order to cut successfully. It is known that it can have a slightly rougher cut in comparison to the other way around, so I placed a pice of paper on top of the printed pages to stop it getting ruined. 

• The pages in the back section are being perforated so that the user can rip out the artwork and pin it up somewhere of their choice.
• The test run with the perforating blade worked well, but it does slip easily and if enough pressure is not applied then the page does not rip easily or with a clean line. 

 

Final stage of production

Once the glue along the spine of the book had been layered on thinly around 6 times and left over night, I attached a piece of scrim along the length of the spine with glue and then rubbed it to ensure the gaps in the mesh were filled in order to stick strongly. 
I could then cut the scrim off using a scalpel in order for the cover to then be stuck to the book. Research and advice lead me to decide that the best way to attach the front cover to the book would be to use double sided tape along the front and back of the cover, sticking down 1cm worth. 

The best way to improve strength and increase the chance of the cover staying attached to the book for a long time, there would need to be a crease made either side of the stick tape so that when the front cover was opened it would happen naturally because if forced it could pull away at the tape and cause it to unstick over time. To ensure that the crease I would make is accurate I did a couple of practice attempts. I made a ruler line with the intention to test out accuracy and get myself comfortable with how to position the bone folder in order to get a score along the line. Once I felt comfortable, I made the four creases that I needed in order for the cover of the book to work.

Now that the double sided tape had been stuck to the actual book and also the cover, the book could be cut using the laser guillotine. I had to cut away a rough corner on the front of the book in order to be able to line it up with the content and then once it has been cut into the intended size I will be able to easily be able to cut away at the corner to reveal the section dividers. 

Each of the sides were gradually cut down in order to produce the final book cut to size. 

I am happy with the results that the guillotine was able to produce, a piece of machinery that I had never used until this project and from now on I will be able to consider it as part of the production in other projects. 

Covering the outside of the book research

 Having the book printed has allowed me to see that aesthetically it works well, but in terms of durability it could be further improved by covering the book in an acetate, vinyl or laminate material. I went to speak to the print technician to see what he advised to be the best option, showing me a laminate material and one that was slightly shiny/iridescent. Initially I thought that the shiny laminate would be the best option as it would fit the same concept idea that the original cover design was based on. I took a sample of each of the materials to place over a photograph to see how much the colour would be muted by them. The images show the top laminate to be the clear one and then the bottom one is the iridescent one. The iridescent one seemed to dull the image, meaning it would take away the fresh white print that I ad produced and also darken all of the text on the front of the book. This would be a design problem because then it wouldn't match the colours of the section dividers that it would be next to. If I am to go ahead with the idea of using one of the two in order to protect the book and create a shine to the cover then I will be using the clear rather than the iridescent one.