Step 6: Take approximately three pieces of plain white cardstock (5” x 8.5”), and fold them together crisply in the center. This produces a booklet of 12 pages.
Step 7: Crisply fold a colorful (8.5” x 5”) piece of cardstock paper in half. It is better to fold it separately from the white pages to ensure a crisp fold. This provides the backing page for the book. Then, place this piece with the white pages already folded.
Step 8: Slide the pages, which now include the backing page, into the long-arm stapler, and staple three times along the fold. One teacher we work with uses her portable sewing machine instead of a stapler and this works very well.
Step 9: Take the cover, completed earlier, and centrally place the shorter (8.5” x 5”) piece of Heat- N-Bond on the inside of the book cover. Be sure equal amounts of the Heat-N-Bond are on either side of the center fold in the book cover. As before, heat and remove the paper.
Step 10: Place one side of the backing sheet and book pages directly over the Heat-N-Bond and then put an extra piece of plain white copier or other plain paper over one side of the backing page. Then, using a warm iron, press one side of the backing sheet paper down and affix it and the book pages to the book cover. The white paper placed over the backing page while ironing prevents scorch marks or residue from the iron marring the backing page. When one side of the backing page is affixed, repeat this step on the other side.
Step 11: Close the book, and iron the outside cover, front and back, to ensure that the Heat-N-Bond is ironed to the covers.
Step 12: Your cloth-bound autobiographical book is complete! Fill the pages with inter-esting stories about yourself and decorate it.
See examples of completed books on the next page.
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Tip: Prepare the pages before assembling the book. Use a paperclip to hold the pages together while working.