Bookbinding Tips: The Simple Secret to Perfect Page Gilding

This is the story of how a very special book taught me the secret to perfect page edge gilding!
If you are interested in any of the supplies I feature, click the link below for a one-stop shop on my Amazon storefront. Buying there doesn't cost any extra and it helps to support the channel!
amzn.to/3PtVkkX
This video focuses on sanding, but if you want to know more about how to apply foil quill, check out this video next!
• DIY Book Binding Tutor...

[@xdude736]

Rebound my first book last weekend. Learned this lesson the hard way. Thanks for sharing! Your tutorials are amazing!!!

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Yeah, there's definitely a learning curve on this technique. It can be frustrating. Thanks for watching the tutorials!

[@TheMimzez]

your bookbinding videos are super helpful! I'm going to give them all a rewatch when I try to make my own in the future!

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Thanks so much! Knowing that you'd want to watch them more than once is so flattering!

[@rickz840]

Yes, you’re back!! Your videos got me into bookbinding recently, and I’ve loved my journey so far. Keep up the good work mate, you don’t know half how much we appreciate it!🫶🏻

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Happy to be back! It means a lot to know you cared. I'll try to be more consistent this year. I've spent the last few months on a huge bookbinding project that I'll hopefully be ready to unveil soon.

[@aarondaniels629]

​@@ingeniusdesigns same here...i enjoyed both woodworking and tailoring clothes and your videos got me into bookbinding...new favorite skill

[@TheBigDB92]

Glad to see your back. I've recently becomes obsessed with your videos and am slowly gathering the things I need to start my bookbinding journey. You are the obly KZbinr that has made it look straightforward, while also showing common mistakes and owning them. Thank you!

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Thank you so much. Your kind words mean a lot to me. I'll try to live up to them in future videos (which I hope to be more consistent with).

[@Raiinsey]

Ah I'm really happy to see a new video from you! They're always so fun and very informative. Thank you

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Happy to be back! It means a lot to know there are people who care when I upload.

[@daneryta]

This is amazing !!! Thank you so much for always sharing the very best tips !!!!❤

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Thank you for always being such a big support! Good luck in your book re-binding adventures to come!

[@smorrebrodpunk]

omg, i had this with an old book when i first started bookbinding and never figured out what it was! I was too cowardly to keep going, but next time I will!

[@ingeniusdesigns]

You should definitely try it! Here's hoping that patience will be the trick!

[@ImStuckInStockton]

Just found bookbinding KZbin a week ago and my goodness you are a great creator. Love the special effects too. I was watching a video yesterday of someone comparing Schuyler binding to Cambridge and then you upload this. Quite timely. Thank you!

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Thanks so much! I'm glad my quirky editing works for you! Hope to see you around the channel more.

[@Belgarathe]

Thank you for making these videos! I share your love for books-the feel, the smell, and the joy of flipping through the pages. It’s fascinating how much the quality of bookbinding can impact our reading experience. I remember encountering a hardcover book with uneven pages that made flipping through it feel odd, and another with gold gilding that wasn’t uniform. It’s especially frustrating when expensive textbooks, like the $200 softcover for a computer programming class, are poorly bound with just glue, leading to pages falling out with minimal use, making it impossible to resell. I think it would be interesting to review the bookbinding quality of various books, particularly the poorly bound ones, so viewers like me can make informed decisions about future purchases. While I might not take up bookbinding myself (though the double fan technique is tempting and easy), being aware of the binding quality can help prevent regrets when considering of a adding a book into a personal collection.

[@CallMeMeepMeIfYouWannaReachMe]

I'm so excited to try this in the future! Thanks so much for the tips

[@ingeniusdesigns]

My pleasure! Good luck when you start your project!

[@CallMeMeepMeIfYouWannaReachMe]

@@ingeniusdesigns Thanks! I'll probably need it haha. I'm wanting to make a friend a Star Guardian Lux (from League of Legends) themed sketchbook for her birthday in April. Instead of gold I want to try to gild the edges with the Foil Quill fuchsia or their ultraviolet to match her costume. I used to work at a sfx shop for the movie industry so I'm no stranger to sitting there and sanding things for hours so I'm sure I can at least get that part right hahaha. I have the foil purchased already and just need to try it out on some used books I picked up to get a feel for it.

[@tragical-history-tour]

I tried do page gilding a few days ago and had problems with the foil not sticking. While I sanded I used coarse, medium and fine sandpaper as that was all that was available. The edges were smooth but not reflective and I thought that it would be fine. The foil ended up not sticking properly, and after ironing on about four layers, it did stick but it was very patchy. Next time, I should try to use a sandpaper with finer grit than the one I have and see it that helps. Thank you for this video, I'm excited to see how my books turn out!

[@erinswann1581]

Ah! You're back love this tip! I'd of done the exact same thing and just stopped seeing the spots and also learned that if you sand down a rock enough it gets darker, I didn't know that, so that's my fun fact of the day!

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Thanks so much for your patience! I've been working on big things in the background and hopefully I'll be able to reveal them on the channel soon!

[@erinswann1581]

Ah! exciting, can't wait!@@ingeniusdesigns

[@addiemarie809]

So thankful to have found your channel!

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Happy you found it too! Hopefully these videos will be helpful to you now and in the future.

[@seangotosleep]

thank you for sharing your learning with us! i tried my first gilding job last week… and immediately sanded it off. evidently i need to be more patient.

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Yeah, there's definitely a learning curve on this skill, and so much of it does come down to the sanding. Good luck on the next attempt!

[@renzocalcagno6742]

Thank you! I'll have that in mind for my next project

[@ingeniusdesigns]

So glad you found it helpful!

[@phoenix3754]

Can you please make a video on all the books you have done till date. I love when you show some of the books for the sake of examples and I wonder what else have you made.

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Thanks for the request! I'm planning on making that video to celebrate once I re-bind my 100th book! I'll include all my mistakes for everyone to learn from. I should hit that goal some time later this year, so you can look forward to it!

[@phoenix3754]

Looking forward to it. Love your videos. I hope some day I'll finally give in to the temptation and start binding books myself too.

[@HeathenHammer123]

So good! thank you for the information. keep up the good work.

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Thanks for watching! Hope it helps your next project.

[@SaveTheButterflies]

Truly ingenius!

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Thanks so much! I hope it helps.

[@laurensmith692]

Hi! I was wondering (I’m sure you’ve already said this somewhere and I’m not too sure if you use a Cricut machine) but I’m really wanting to get into the cover designing aspect of bookbinding and am looking at getting a Cricut machine. I was wondering if you could tell me if you get your HTV from somewhere else (hopefully less expensive!)? I want lots of colours to experiment with but that is expensive aha. EDIT: Nevermind! I knew you would have put it somewhere! Went through the comments and found you use Siser HTV! I have loved your videos, they bring such satisfaction and are really enjoyable! I hope you make more! (It can be just satisfying and educational to watch you make the books, because I imagine big videos like these would take a heap of time!) anyway, sending lots of encouragement! 😊

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Thanks so much for the kind words and encouragement. It sounds like you figured out the HTV answer on your own. Siser isn't the cheapest by a long shot, but I get the best results from it. If you have any more questions about supplies, I keep a list on my Amazon storefront for your convenience. Buying there is a small way to help the channel too! www.amazon.com/shop/ingenius.designs?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsfshop_aipsfingenius.designs_SVDP3RGNCBQHET5Q6FJX

[@anonimanonymus8567]

Hi Austin! I just found your channel and I like it very much. You are doing a great job! I have two questions - what vinyl cutter do you use for your projects? And in what software do you design your cutouts? greetings from Poland

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Hi there! Welcome to the channel! Thanks for the questions. 1. I use a Cricut maker, although other quality vinyl cutters are likely to work. If you'd like to get the exact same machine that I use, you can find it on my Amazon storefront: www.amazon.com/shop/ingenius.designs 2. I use Adobe Illustrator to design my cover art. Here's a link to a video where I describe the process in depth: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpbcc5h-q9GMlbs

[@Tim_with_Tomes_and_Tales]

Loving your videos. Question: is it possible to turn a glued binding into a sewed binding when making a customized hardcover?

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Thanks for the kind words! Unfortunately, I don't believe that a glued binding can be turned into a sewn binding. Glue bindings involve taking a bunch of sheets cut on all four sides and then just gluing the spine sides together. Sewn bindings involve folding pages in sections of the book and then sewing where the folds are. If that part has been cut (as in a glue binding), then there's not really anything left to sew.

[@artxlife7236]

😳 wow I had no idea this was something I could do at home! Also wondering if I could sand a text block instead of getting a guillotine…

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Yep, sure can! I have a couple of videos on this topic if you need more information about the proper setup, temperature, etc. Maybe someday I'll get myself a book plough to simplify things, but for now sanding works. It's time consuming but a whole lot cheaper! XD

[@jaybarcleyowens]

Can you do something similar to bible pages with under-colors? I am on a quest to re-gild bibles after I add artistic colors underneath?

[@ingeniusdesigns]

I believe that the under-color you're referring to is art gilding, and it's compatible with this technique, but usually you would gild first and then add the art gilding. Otherwise you might sand off the art gilding!

[@yesyes-cq6ig]

Big Fan of these leather binding videos! It got me into binding books. Where do you buy your leather though? I have real trouble finding

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Great question! I actually have a whole video on this topic which you can find in the bookbinding playlist on my channel! Hope it helps!

[@zjgieha]

Thank you for your inspiring videos. I am having the worst time with this gilding and I am appalled to see how easy it look in the video. Could you help me with this please? My vinyl mostly doesn't stick except on limited spots. I tried different pressures and temperature on my iron with consistent horrible results. Can it be the foil quality, or is it completely a sanding problem? I see your amazon storefront propose 4 different foils, I'm not sure which one is best. I'm using "We R Memory Keepers Foil Quill".

[@ingeniusdesigns]

That sounds so frustrating! We R Memory Keepers Foil Quill is exactly the product I'm using in these videos, so it's probably not that. The most common problem is with sanding, to be sure. Temperature can be another issue, but it sounds like you've experimented with that already. This process has a steeper learning curve than almost anything else in book rebinding that I've tried, and I continue to workshop it. I'll keep adding more tips to the channel as I discover them!

[@Dcolbey]

Hello, I have been inspired by you and your videos to attempt book binding myself. I have thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. I am practicing on some old book from my garage, so no big loss if I mess it up, but one issue I'm having is I'm getting what looks like scratches all in the gilding. So I'm not getting a mirror look. I feel like I'm pushing out the air bubbles as you have shown. What else could this be? I do have a picture I could send in. Something you said here was it's never better than your sanding job. Could this be from sanding. Like the scratches you get from sanding across the grain? Thank you and keep up the solid work!

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Hmmm...it's tricky to diagnose without being there, but there are a couple of possibilities. Like you mentioned, scratches from your lower grit sandpaper that weren't properly buffed out can end up appearing in your final gilding. I've also found that sometimes you can overwork the foil, resulting in scratching or cloudiness. Definitely make sure the bottom of your iron is smooth, and don't push too hard with it. If the iron temperature is too high then sometimes the foil will wrinkle as well. Lower temperatures take longer, but slow and steady sometimes wins the race. Often if the first layer of foil doesn't look great, you'll get better results with a second layer on top of it. I hope something there helps!!

[@Dcolbey]

@@ingeniusdesigns thank you! I will try lowering the iron temp and see if my sanding is causing it. Thank you for your time and advice

[@Dcolbey]

@@ingeniusdesigns ok Success! I focused on my sanding this time. It's not perfect or at your level but I do believe I will improve with time. That seems like the issues were from sanding.

[@morganmcleod939]

I keep getting wrinkles that won’t come out and a weird extra reflective section and applying inconsistently. I have my iron set to the wool setting (on mine it’s 6) I’m wondering it’s because the iron is too hot (when it’s lower the quill foil just slides) Any tips on how to fix this? Also if I go over the same spot too many times the foil starts to peel back from the pages and not go on at all

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Yes, your iron may be too hot. The wool setting works great for me, but what actual temperature that is may change from iron to iron.

[@swampedfiasco]

Who's that wizard in the shelf? 1:15

[@JeffreyDaleStarr]

another fantastic video! I'm having the exact problem you mentioned. However, I did sand my edges to a perfect sheen and still have sticking problems. One thing I noticed when doing my gold letter embossing...it was counter-intuitive, but when I lowered the heat and eased up on the pressure, I got the foil to stick better. Could the same thing be happening with the edges? Is the effect of the iron being too hot that the foil doesn't stick as well? Also, can I over-work the foil? Your other videos have been wonderful and every other aspect of my books are worthy of Easton Press. Just still struggling with the page gilding...

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Interesting. It's hard to diagnose without being there, but I would encourage you to experiment with the temperature and other factors. You definitely can over-work the foil. Too much pressure or going over the same area too many times can make it look cloudy or scratch it. Gilding is literally the hardest part of the whole re-binding process. I'll keep making videos on the topic as often as I have new tips to share!

[@deborahbarlow4309]

Hey! It's been ages.

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Sorry about the wait. I've been working on some huge things for the channel, and they're getting close to unveiling, but that has taken time away from my regular posting.

[@ultra707]

But what the Horse do...?

[@ingeniusdesigns]

Glad to see you were playing along with my little game of magical Eye Spy!