Vent: I was trimming my signatures wrong for a whole year

I was at the Seattle library's book arts fair last month and watched a binder use a bone folder to press the folded edges before cutting. I'd been cutting them flat, which caused the inner pages to creep out. That one step makes the text block so much cleaner. Has anyone else had a simple trick like that fix a big headache?

3 comments

3 Comments

annanguyen14d ago

Oh man, the signature thing is so real. I used to get those little paper tufts sticking out on every pamphlet I made. Took me forever to figure out I needed to score the fold line first with a dull butter knife before I even tried to fold it. That little bit of compression makes the paper behave when you fold it, so the edges stay lined up. Total game changer for clean edges.

parker_park89d ago

Scoring first is key, @annanguyen.

carr.brooke14d ago

My first bookbinding class taught me that.