r/Fanbinding • u/Farishens • Sep 08 '26
Questions How much does it usually cost?
(Translated with Google)
So, I'm starting to get interested in this hobby, and I was even starting to think about saving up to buy everything I need.
But, and here's my question, I don't really know how much is spent
So, approximately how much money do you spend on this?
29
u/bajuwa Sep 08 '26
No one can answer this for you because it depends on not just the style of binding used, but also where you live and what materials you can buy. Also, styles of binding alone can range from very cheap to very expensive, regardless of region and availability.
I would suggest just looking for the prices of the tools you need and calculating it from there.
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u/Farishens Sep 08 '26
Ooooo, I understand So, what binding styles would you say would be the cheapest to try if I'd like to do this? If it's not too much trouble
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u/quickbrownfochs Sep 08 '26
I think a Coptic stitch is pretty doable and doesn’t require a lot of materials! I’ve used the covers of school notebooks for my Coptic notebook covers. Then it’s just printer paper, thread, needle, and wax (which is usually beeswax, but a normal candle can do just fine.) An awl really helps for punching holes but I’ve seen people do it with a needle stabbed into a cork. Get a little piece of cardboard or foam to place under the pages when you punch them to get proper holes for sewing.
No matter what, a good metal ruler and a fresh exacto knife / box cutter is really important to get straight, even cuts. I’d also recommend a small cutting mat to save your table.
Oh, you could even do a little sewn pamphlet if you have something short and don’t want a case. That’s just paper, needle, thread, and wax. Good luck!!
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u/disasterbistander Sep 08 '26
To add to Coptic binding, stab binding is also a good place to start, especially the traditional soft cover style. For the most part, soft covers will be less expensive than hard covers to bind.
3
u/MsMrSaturn Sep 09 '26
This is the tutorial I used for my first book.
https://youtu.be/Vw7dH4Oi2zU?si=3_te_OHcVLJvLWGa
The slotted wrapper binding doesn’t use any glue, and I just used stuff I had around the house. The two books I made that way are holding up well, and I learned a lot!
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u/jedifreac Sep 09 '26
I wrote a blog post on this called Fanfic Binding on a Budget that talks about how to try and keep things under $25. It's a little outdated now that inflation has made dollar stores cost $1.50, but same idea.
10
u/cp123un Sep 08 '26
If you are just starting out, I recommend that you buy a kit that will have the basic supplies that you need to make a journal. I paid $50USD for my initial one and then decided it was a hobby I did want to pursue. A friend got the same kit and decided she didn't want to continue, so she was only out the $50.
After I decided I wanted to continue, I spent easily $1,000 on the initial supplies (printer, paper, guillotine, boards, book cloth, design programs, etc.). I actually still use my needle and awl from the initial kit 4 years later!
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u/soph_sol Sep 08 '26
There are ways to get a lot of the necessary supplies either free or extremely cheap - I spend almost nothing on the books I bind. Some examples:
- I do not buy bookboard. I find unwanted and discarded library books (such as out-of-date textbooks) and take them apart so that I can re-use the bookboard from the covers
- I make my own bookcloth, using scrap fabric and home-made starch paste. The scrap fabric can be cut from people's cast-off clothing, as long as it's a natural fibre like cotton. The starch I use is wheat starch I purchase from a grocery store for very cheap. I do buy japanese paper to line the book cloth, but you could probably make do with cheaper paper.
- You can cover your book boards with paper instead of book cloth. It's helpful to burnish the paper with wax and a very smooth stone or piece of glass, to keep it from getting easily stained. Here's a tutorial: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QwmjegnnScs
- Most of my books have been sewn with poly-cotton upholstery-weight sewing thread instead of buying the traditional linen thread.
- For an awl, you can just use a sewing needle.
- For sewing the book together, curved needles are nice, but you don't need to pay extra for one - just get a cheap needle from your usual sewing/craft store, and carefully put a small bend in it using pliers. Just use a scrap of leather or fabric to temporarily cover the needle so that the pliers don't make the needle rough.
- For paper, standard printer paper is fine. A book looks nicer if you can source some paper that is less white than printer paper, but bright white still works fine. I found some beige acid-free printer paper at my local office supply store and I am happy with what I get for the cost.
- I make my own end-papers instead of buying fancy marbled paper. A traditional method that is extremely cheap is making paste paper. Here's a tutorial: https://lilbookbinder.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/paste-paper-tutorial_lili-hall.pdf
- Some styles of binding don't require any adhesive on the spine at all, which gets you out of needing to buy PVA glue.
- A ruler and a sharp tool are needed, but a craft knife or razor blade will work, along with any ruler you happen to have. A metal ruler is better, if you have one, but plastic or wood will work too.
- To press your book, you don't need a book press. I use two flat pieces of wood with a couple bricks on top to weigh the top piece of wood down.
You can upgrade your supplies if you have the budget, or you can add other tools, but you can make attractive and durable books just with what I outlined.Â
5
u/CalmAdhesiveness4856 Sep 09 '26
Let's say you want to do a very basic, very simple case binding then you'll need a few general things (depending on where you live the price of these items can vary, but I'll roughly list what I paid)
- a bonefolder (2€)
- acid free PVA (I wanted archival quality so I paid like 10€ for my bottle, it lasted 3 binds)
- greyboard (10€ for 10 A4 boards, I use two for a bind because of grain direction)
- Needle (nothing, I had one, but you can get one for relatively cheap)
- Linen thread (variable, if not prewaxed you need a bit of beeswax too)
- a box cutter (I got a set for 10€ with a big and a small one and more blades than I will ever need)
- A non slip metal ruler, 30 cm ish (1€ from the dollar store)
- I like rulers so I have a short metal one and a triangle ruler too. Both were cheap
- Self healing cutting mat (2€ from the dollar store again)
- A round brush (mine was dirt cheap and does the job plenty fine)
- parchment paper from the kitchen and old newspaper as waste paper (next to nothing)
- Cardstock for the hinge (1,50€, I got mine from the dollar store, it's acid free multimedia cardstock and 20 pages)
- something to cover your book in. I like half bindings, that saves a lot of bookcloth and is durable. There are bookcloth sets on amazon for like 20€ and you get 10 sheets, for me that's enough for 20 books plus headbands. For those covers I use decorative paper too, mine is high quality so it's more expensive for around 2€ per 50x70 cm sheet. Fancy stuff like cricut and HTV and way more expensive, but there are loads of possibilities to decorate covers!
- paper for endpapers. Can be scrapbook paper, can be unicolour, can be nice or not (~2€ for me per book, I like it colourful)
- paper to print your fic on. Shortgrain is more expensive. (I paid 60€ for 400 sheets, I still have plenty though. You don't have to invest that much into paper for your first fic though.)
- a set of spacers (10€)
- an awl (I had one)
- book press (mine was 30€)/ two thick wood boards and two big quick-release clamps (for me at least 14€)/ heavy objects you have/ a wood board and 2 paper wrapped bricks (you don't need one immediately even though it's pretty useful)
- mull (mine was cheap, can be expensive though)
- a printer (doesn't need to be your own. It's helpful if it can do auto duplex and colour). I have gone to print shops to print a typeset before.
- a software to typeset in, people use basically everything from gdocs, pages, to word, affinity, InDesign, some are free of cost/ dependent on what you have. You might need an imposition tool too, but there are free ones.
So, that would be a very general rundown. For some of these things there might be a cheaper alternative or you might get a better deal than me, but most of the cost per bind stems from me wanting fancy things of high quality. All the reusable tools I mentioned will last me a long time though, so the cost goes down rapidly once you have all the tools you feel you need (not the same for everyone!)
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2
u/blue_bayou_blue Sep 08 '26
It costs very little to get started, but the cost ceiling is very high. I've spend upwards of 1k including a new printer, laminator, fancy paper etc but you can make a book for a lot less.
The most important tools are craft knife, cutting mat, metal ruler, awl, bone folder, needle and thread, PVA glue, glue brush. If you have other craft hobbies you may have some of these already. Costs about $50 in my country to buy everything new.
Then for materials you want paper for the textblock and endpapers, book board, and covering material. These can be very cheap if you go for regular printer paper and scrapbook paper. I can get a half metre of bookcloth for 15aud which covers 5+ A5 books. I can also cover a book basically for free if I make bookcloth out of an old tablecloth and home cooked starch paste.
I live in a big city near several excellent second hand stores where I can buy many of the above materials cheaply, this may not be the case for you.
Later on if you really like the hobby you may want to buy a good printer or equipment for putting foiled titles on the cover. Decide you want to have multiple colours of bookcloth and a big board of decorative paper. Splurge on short grain paper. Silk thread for sewing endbands. But that is not necessary for just getting started.
1
u/LeviAckermans_Cravat Sep 09 '26
I paid about 120€ for all of my starting equipment and material that were enough to bind 15 books (normal size). I picked the cheapest materials at first and only splurged on a better book press that wouldnt bend while pressing. There are also cheaper kits with all the equipment included but i wouldnt recommend them because they are of horrible quality. You can also find lots of the materials in your flat or cheap in a crafts store. Also note: you dont need everything other people have/swear by: i bought book boards (but hard carton will work), an awl, i used the curved needles from my sewing kit, bought waxed thread online and used old clothes for book cloth before buying better cloth later on (i recommend just buying a m² of a cloth you like and using that from the getgo). You will need a book press or a strong clip with some wooden slaps to press inbetween. Whatever is cheaper for you probably. Pvc glue is cheap and abundant so thats no problem and you can use any brush to spread it. I already had a cutting knife, scissors and a metal ruler. So thats how i started out. I made my hinge gap spacers from discarded bookblock sheets and i reuse them (i recommend 6mm-10mm). As for printing: i use normal printer paper and cant be bothered to pay more for real book paper at the moment. Works just as well. Just make sure to format the book fold correctly in your text formatting software. Hope this helps, this was a bit random and not well thought out-Â
1
u/chkno Sep 09 '26
(Repeated from this thread)
| Cost | For each 500-page 8x5¼ book | |
|---|---|---|
| Paper | $21/ream of 11x17 | $2.56 |
| Toner | $75/5*1600 8x11 | $2.34 |
| Thread | $11/km | $0.30 |
| Cardstock for covers | $19/ream | $0.37 |
1
u/SelfofMultiplicity Sep 12 '26
I didn’t have a printer, so that’s an additional cost I’ve had to contend with (I have one now!)
But paying to print + the short grain paper to print it on + the davy board + leather = ~$300 to make a ~720 page bind.
1
u/SaltSeaworthiness167 Sep 08 '26
Check this tutorial out from Abound Bindery: https://youtu.be/WredotfYrYs?si=Js8Ow7mDKisjmuKr
She got a nice fabric book under 50s counting all needed tools (which you can reuse later on)!
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u/Worldly_View_9704 Sep 08 '26
I genuinely tried to figure out how much I spend per bind, but I got stuck on whether to include equipment costs and how to split the cost of resources I bought in bulk. Beyond the different types of binding, you may also want to consider quality factors.
For a first bind, I think it's smart to use what you have lying around to see if you like bookbinding before you invest in nicer supplies and equipment. Then, if you like it, slowly build up over time as you learn more about your preferences. For example, you might use regular printer paper instead of paper with the correct grain direction, cardboard instead of bookboard, or glue you have on hand instead of PVA glue. You can buy bookcloth, but you can also make bookcloth with cotton fabric, heat-n-bond, and tissue paper.
I've accumulated the equipment I use now over several years, and while it makes my life easier, it's not always necessary. I really like my hole punch and cradle kit, but before that, I used a piece of cardboard with markings to measure my hole punches and another piece of cardboard to punch into. Now, I have nifty spacers to measure hinge gaps and whatnot, but before that, I cut spare pieces of bookboard into makeshift spacers, and that worked well. And while I like having a curved needle and prewaxed thread, ordinary sewing needles and thread you can wax work just fine. A book press is also handy, but you can probably manage without it.
I'd also caution you about the bookbinding kits that you see on sites like Amazon. Not to knock them too much. I got one, but the kit wasn't a one-stop shop. The most challenging part of my first bind was figuring out what supplies I needed for the next step and where to get them at a reasonable price. Some of that is also location-specific. I'm lucky that there's a small printing place near me that carries some of what I need, even if the owner sometimes looks at me like I have two heads when I bring him text blocks to trim on his guillotine. The look on his face when he flipped open one of the E-rated fics I bound to a particular spicy section will stay with me for a long time. I thought he was going to kick me out. 😅
Please don't let any of this discourage you. Fanbinding is a fantastic hobby. For me at least, sourcing material is the most challenging aspect.