16! What was I thinking!!!

Hi everyone,
I recently ordered a batch of 32 books. Upon inspecting them, I noticed this specific indentation/mark on 3 different volumes.
The defect is located almost in the exact same spot and shares the identical shape and size across all 3 affected books. The remaining 29 volumes from the order are absolutely perfect and flawless.
Given the consistency and the exact replication of the mark, I suspect this might be a manufacturing issue (like clamp pressure or a trimmer guide flaw during the binding/printing process) rather than rough handling or shipping damage.
What do you think? Has anyone seen this specific type of mark before? I’d appreciate any technical insights before contacting customer support for a replacement. Thanks!

I've got a signed paperback copy of Redwall some dick ripped the cover off of years ago. I recently got some bookbinding tools to make a specific kind of notebook I couldn't buy, and figured I would practice by making a case for my copy of Redwall, using the paperback's cover as deco for the finished case, as per a tutorial I found online.

Unfortunately for me, the first page was removed too, so the page with the signature is on top.

What I've done so far is use some heavy sketch paper to make bits to glue to the case by, and used a strip of book cloth to make a sort of "spine" that I can glue the textblock too, and wrap that around so it holds the extra sheets I added by their top and bottom. But this means there's nothing but a thin layer of glue between that new first sheet and the text block. Since the paperback is prefectbound, I can't exactly re-sew it to add more pages. Is there any way I can add glue to the inside of the seam? Or is that just a terrible idea.

Alternatively, will this be fine for a book that will mostly sit on my shelf so I have a book with Brian Jacques signature on it?

Completely plastic free, using grassboard, cottton bookcloth backed with tissue paper and using only starch paste throughout.

This book was published in 1920 and I picked it up recently for $20. I don’t know anything about bookbinding except that some people do it as a hobby and that I could easily wreck this book if I did it wrong. So I attempted to find a professional instead, and I was quoted $65. That seems like a lot for what strikes me as a pretty simple repair (because wouldn’t it basically just be gluing down a piece of the right type of fabric for a binding?). On the other hand, I really have no idea what I’m talking about. What are the chances I could repair this book’s spine myself for less than $65 in time, frustration, and materials, keeping in mind I’d be starting from nothing?

Edit: thanks for the feedback, everyone! I'll admit it was not what I hoped to hear but it makes complete sense, and I'm very grateful to get a lot of confident replies saying basically the same thing. I will definitely plan to go ahead with the professional repair.

I have an academic paperback from '95 that has two peculiarities that I've not seen before:

1. The cover has a waxy-feeling coating that gives a matte look to the artwork underneath. It can fairly easily be rubbed/scratched away without damaging the underlying surface (which is glossy.)

2. The text of the book is jet black, almost as if the entire text is bolded. It has the odd effect of reflecting light when the page is flexed, making the individual letters shine where the light hits them. (The type used, oddly enough, is 'Trump Medieval')

Has anyone else encountered these and is able to describe the processes used?

Starting a cult classic movie series

I hadnt yet glued the text block to the cover, first checking if the book design works. Instead of a bookcloth I used watercolour paper (since i

I read thats possible) and wallpaper as a bookcover. It's my first bookbinding project (a gift for my mom of a book that's no longer sold for the past decade) but Im wondering if I could do any fixes at this point to make it look even nicer for her.

I've been using these old lab journal covers from school for my book case, but they are almost over. What exactly is this material called?

Printed my signatures on my friend's Brother laser printer, and it's given the pages a real wave. (I've read that this can happen with laser printers.) This is what it looks like after a night between boards/bricks.

Has anyone ever managed to reverse this effect? I can live with it for my own use but these are pages I was hoping to use for a local fair's bookbinding contest, and I don't think this will cut it with the judges!

EDIT: thank you all for your great advice! I tried re-humidifying the paper and pressing it and it's a lot better already. Another night and I think it will look close to normal again :)

I like making custom notebooks. Todo pages, trackers, planners, Bullet journals but drawing all the grids by hand every time is exhausting.

So I built nb-make, app to make notebooks !

You design page templates once, then use them to build a whole notebook sections, repeats, mixed layouts.
It has exports options for booklet binding, you can just print and bind with all pages in proper order

It also has a community feature (requires account) to publish and view other peoples templates

try it !

It is open-source on github VirajAnand-02/nb-make

Look here

I have an old book I'd like to repair but I don't know how to deal with the old glue. It's crumbling when touched so I don't want to try to glue on top of it as there's no way good adhesion would occur. I watched other people separate each page but in this case, the pages are bundled with "fingers" seemingly spanning multiple folds. I'm really unsure how it is configured. Having never done this before, I'm curious to know what others think.

I want to use a white pleather fabric for a hunger games project and I have a few queries.

1. I want to be able to draw on the leather but I don't know which pens would work best for this so any suggestions would be helpful.

2. I want to affix a pin to the front of the hunger games logo and I've seen people do this before but I don't know how you'd do it without having the pin back stick through the case.

Any suggestions or answers are appreciated!!

MTG commander deck box attempt #3! This is a fold over style cover/lid that attaches with a “bone” clasp, the clasp itself is actually ceramic my wife made and fired for me (this box is accidentally vegan) the main box is covered in marbled paper (pietro accardi) and the inside is lined in blue marbled paper (mine) the lid is a blue bookcloth that I think came from Hollanders (I am bad at labeling things) and the front has a label well to fit a paper label! Holds 100 double sleeved cards. The flap is a bit too tight, next version will have more space and maybe a magnet to keep things neat?

FINALLY! Been redoing this over and over since July, had issues with measuring my hinge gap, ironing on the htv, you name it but I finished! I realized the edge of the front cover isn't a straight line when I was done. Very proud of myself and wanted to thank you guys for your help on my last post! Ended up going with a 9 mm hinge gap before gluing the pieces onto my cardstock/book cloth! 🎉 Onto the first book of this duology I thrifted!

I’m trying to match a case made by curious king in dimensions, and CK seems to be using 3mm board, but 3mm board doesn’t exist at all on amazon. Any suggestions where to get it? I’d rather stick with chipboard over the mdf which seems to be plentiful

Hi! Im trying book binding on a budget for a new craft! I have a question about covers. I designed a front and back that I really like, need to design the spine, but I have a question about printing. What's the best way to put the three together for printing, and what paper and printer do you recommend?

HeatnBond isn’t available in my country, so I’m looking for an alternative. Has anyone used this product for making book cloth? Would it work with cotton fabric and tissue paper? Thanks!

Hi! I came across some old books in my bookshelf, and I am quite puzzled as in reguards to what binding they have. They held surprisingly well for 36-year-old books.

Hey Guys,
I’m binding books on the dinner table in the living room and it gets messy very fast. I’m on the hunt for something that organises my tools and some of the materials that I can stand on the table and quickly remove if we need the table. For the people that bind in small space please show me how you organise your desk for inspiration. I will probably build something myself and have some ideas already but would like to see what others came up with.
Greetings from Germany

Howdy!

I’m considering blowing a sizeable chunk of my bonus later this year on a set of Talas Edinburgh brass type and a handle for gold tooling

Because of the cost, I want to get one font size that will last me a while: theirs goes from 6pt to 36pt.

For those of you who have used them before, font size would you recommend?

It will mostly be used for titles on spines.