Bookcloth - questions for book binders

What qualities does one seek in potential book cloth for making hard cover books?

Is it always cloth?

Would thick paper be okay?

I found a few videos on making fabric into book cloth, but it seems to require iron on interface which I don't enjoy.  Are there homemade options?

Basically, I found all the other ingredients, got a textblock, forgotten about the cloth part.  But I have some pretty, handmade paper that would look really good.

I've broadened my search to "what kind of cloth or paper can i use for bookcloth"?

I'm even more confused now.  

Where do I start if I'm too stubborn to go out and buy bookcloth?

You might try making bookcloth by gluing pretty much any fabric with a tight weave to a lightweight paper. I like cotton duck.

I found a Blog post that has clear and simple instructions for making it at home with natural supplies. She does use cloth but I don't see why the same process wouldn't work for a handmade paper.

Dian Green wrote:I found a Blog post that has clear and simple instructions for making it at home with natural supplies. She does use cloth but I don't see why the same process wouldn't work for a handmade paper.

Cool, looks like thin quilting cotton.  So the cloth imwas thinking of will be too thick.

I know the instructions say any thickness of cloth, but I have doubts.   Too thick and we would have trouble folding it around the board, wouldn't we? Especially with the stretch taken away by the lining paper.

And I don't want it lumpy on the inside cover.

Hmmm.... some new information,  but I still feel like I've missed something important that all the tutorials I've read and watched assume I already know.

https://youtu.be/eEdsrZEWjV4?si=GYylI7tfBGpNwqKk

Gives some excellent examples of commercial made bookcloth and how thick the fabrics are. Stress is given to woven fabric. Also, what qualities it needs to be good at covering a book. Hot foil seems important, as welk as some sort of starch or barrier to preserve it against hand oils from degrading the cloth.

There are, exampls of historical cloths.  

Finishes up with some examples of how to make bookcloth from fabric

I write novels but a side hobby to that is bookbinding. I am much better at paperback novels then making hardcover books, but I have done my share.

The thing I found, as you are finding out, is that it is VERY easy to overthink this stuff. For me and my skillset right now, I use a faux leather that I can buy in HUGE sheets because people use it to make outside upholstery. Unlike real leather, it is very stretchy which means very forgivable to work with.

Is it true to 1500 AD medieval book binding form? No, but it is a decent hardcover. My dream is to someday have a nice leather hardcover for every novel I have written (20 so far) but for the moment I am fine with where I am skill wise. Except for keete stitching: I loath myself for not having that skillset!!

As for other at home procedures: A Cricut can both emboss and deboss, foil and gild. They can also do gold lettering and other book cover details. It has its own learning curve, but can be fun to fuss around with for book covers. A favorite for me is debossing paperback books with one.

When I tested the fabric I wanted to use around a thin index card, the edges meausred an eight of an inch and the corners nearly double that for the little bump where they overlap inside.  That's before gluing the paper to the inside of the fabric.   And before using a stiff bookboard.  

I do feel that is going to be very much the wrong size cloth.  I'm glad I tried it out first before putting any effort into it.

Now I've seen a small selection of book binding cloth in person, quilting cotton or thinner seems about right. They didn't have leather or pleather so I don't know how thick that would be,mbut I imagine leather has more flexibility. We can carve sections of the leather thinner to reduce bulk where it overlaps.

The problem with leather is it is the same as calling something metal: there is a HUGE amount of differences between cast iron or aluminum even if both are technically metal. This is just as true of leather since there is a vast amount of difference in chrome-tanned-leather versus that of top-grain leather. For books; goatskin leather is typically used and not cow hide leather. Then there is the thickness, typically 1 mm thick so that it properly folds.

I have tried leathercraft and it is a real struggle for me. Some of it is having the tools too which in leather work there is a lot to have. I just never could fully commit to the craft, but will say it is on my bucketlist.

But this is also why I say writing novels and bookbinding are two separate hobbies. I have made my own book cloth, but for me it is far easier to buy it at Hobby Lobby in the preprinted sheets then make it. I struggled terribly with glue bleed through.

Uh. I see this thread just now, and here we are, at the deep end again

You can make your own book cloth out of any thinnish, tight woven cloth. Cotton is popular for its uniformity and possibility for a  tight weave. Tight weave is desired to keep paste from squirting through the weave when you glue it. I'd steer away from unnatural and shiny textile unless (see, even here it depends applies) you're covering your book covers (boards) with paper first and then make a 'drum' covering = gluing only the folded down edges on the inside of fabric.

Thickness matters because of the corners. With leather we can pare down at the corners. With fabric not so.

I haven't watched the videos, but here's how I go about making book cloth out of any suitable cloth;

Figure out the measurements of the area that needs to be covered.
Cut a piece of tough, thin, very flexible paper to measurements bigger than your to be covered area (minimum being the height of covers + turn-ins top and bottom, width of covers + spine + joints + turn ins). There's no maximum size, except that at some point it becomes too difficult to handle.  
Japanese handmade papers are popular for this purpose (no grain direction since hand made, grain direction has an effect on stretching and shrinking of paper when moisture of the paste - coming up soon - is added).

Then cut a piece of your selected fabric with edges about an inch more in every direction than that of your paper.

You're going to glue the paper and fabric together with starch paste, which you will cook yourself, like here (lots of useful info in the comments too). This is how;

Find a smooth, non-porous surface to work on that is bigger than your cut piece of fabric. This can be a metal counter top, a marble slab or a slab of thick glass.
Lightly spray your piece of fabric with water to make it a bit moist. Place your lining paper (the Japanese handmade paper) in the middle of the marble slab or similar smooth surface, and apply paste, brushing from the middle to the edges and on purpose let your brush run a bit on the marble slab as well, for 1 inch or more outside the paper edges. Try to get a thin, even layer of paste with as few brush strokes as possible (multiple brush strokes over the same spot of paper might stretch the paper).

Then place your fabric over the paper, with the good side up, 'back side' down on the paper, with as even 1 inch edges overlapping the paper as possible, trying to work from one corner diagonally to the other, smoothing out any air bubbles as you go. A wooden ruler is the traditional tool for this, but creativity is always welcome and encouraged.

As you're doing this, you're also pasting the fabric taut over the paper, onto the smooth slab of non porous material. Leave to dry. When dry, you can lift your DIY bookbinding cloth off the smooth slab quite effortlessly.

Good luck!
And for the next bookbinding question, if you want, add Nina anywhere in the text, and it'll show up in my inbox and I'll see it sooner.